Pantone announced Wednesday night that its 2020 Color of the Year is Classic Blue, a shade reminiscent of the sky at dusk.
“It’s a color that anticipates what’s going to happen next,” said Laurie Pressman, the vice president of the Pantone Color Institute, which selects the Color of the Year.
The 2020 color brings us almost full circle to the first Color of the Year, Cerulean, another blue hue chosen in 1999 to likewise capture a moment in time.
“We were moving into Y2K and wondering: Is the world going to fall apart?” said Pressman.
The Pantone Color Institute said it recognized similar feelings of instability gripping the world today, and settled on a shade that offers the reassurance, confidence and connection that people may be searching for in an uncertain global milieu.
True to its name, Classic Blue can be regal, restrained and boundless. But it can also be edgy — even anomalous — utilizing a variety of tonalities, materials and prints.
Pantone has named a color of the year for more than two decades. In 1963, the company created the Pantone Matching System, a proprietary system used in a variety of industries such as printing, graphic design and fashion design to manage colors.
