Dear friend :
So every year Pantone (a company that sells a color system for printing) chooses a color of the year. It's a fun thing and I always look forward to see what they do. This year (2025) was an insipid brown called "mocha Mousse". A little boring but OK, Pantone, you do you! Companies use this color in their designs and products and you can find all kinds of things using this color or similar colors being marketed. Fun, right?
For 2026 Pantone decided to double-down on the boring while also adding some controversial spice to the mix. The color they chose is...Cloud Dancer White. out of over 2,000 colors in their system they chose...white.
If that's not bad enough they did this during a year where companies are reversing their DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion), ICE is kidnapping and participating in Human Trafficking and (waves hands) ALL THIS is going on, they choose White. Not as a statement or a way to point out the absurdity of everything, but just an "apolitical" statement about peace and calm. Or something. (UGH!)
So of course, the color world is in an uproar and many companies are choosing their own color of the year (COTY). Many people are extolling the virtues of Phthalo Green. Essence magazine has named their COTY as "Black Excellence". Caravan Beads had claimed the COTY is "Rainbow". Look around for the memes and it is sure to be entertaining.
In defense of Cloud Dancer, I chatted with a designer friend and she said that she does find that particular color very useful in Interior Design and at her former company they had used it a lot. And in graphic design we all know the value of "White Space" (which is not necessarily white but spaces where you can rest your eye and your brain to help focus on the subject of a design.) Cloud Dancer is a very useful color for both walls and space. But maybe not the best choice for the times. Like, read the room dudes!
If I were to choose a color for myself for next year I might choose a beautiful blue as a restful color or maybe a vivid Yellow as a companion to action and momentum. Or my usual "Goth Girl Black" which is the color I often favor in clothing.
If you use digital editing software you can defy Pantone and Adobe and get a free version of the Pantone system called FREETONE from UK artist, Stuart Semple. (Stuart is the guy who hates people owning colors so he made the Blackest Black to defy Anish Kapoor who only let some people have his inferior not-as-black-black.) Check out his site for more fun revolutionary colors (I'm not affiliated; just a fan of his Chaos Pixie nature).
What color would you choose for your 2026 COTY? I'd love to know. Please reply here or on my Insta.
(Enjoy the serenity of the bluish grey winter clouds above Reno as seen from the air a couple of weeks ago.) I hope you have a lovely week.
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