Pantone's 2018 color of the year goes cosmic
Pantone's choice for color of the year isn't just a shade of purple. It's a way of looking at life, the universe and everything.
Hope you like purple, because you could be seeing a lot of it in 2018. The color experts at Pantone have chosen a color of the year for 2018 and it's called "Ultra Violet."
We're not really talking about the ultraviolet light that made that Pink Floyd black-light poster look so trippy on your college dorm room wall. Ultra Violet is a rich shade of purple. Pantone calls it "dramatically provocative and thoughtful."
Pantone made the announcement on Thursday with a delightfully over-the-top set of descriptors including complex, contemplative, inventive, imaginative and enigmatic. It name-drops Prince, David Bowie and Jimi Hendrix. If you weren't excited about purple before, you will be now.
This isn't just a color. It's a search for meaning, an attempt to make sense out of a chaotic world. "Ultra Violet suggests the mysteries of the cosmos, the intrigue of what lies ahead, and the discoveries beyond where we are now," Pantone says. If this color doesn't make you want to sign up for NASA's astronaut corps, then you aren't breathing.
Pantone's 2017 color of the year was a shade of green called "Greenery."
The company tries to reflect the state of the world with its color choices. For 2017, it was all about zestiness and nature. For 2018, Pantone wants to remind us to practice mindfulness, expand our awareness, explore new technologies and take time for spiritual reflection.
It's heartening to know the color company thinks humans can transcend our current mire of uncertainty and political turmoil and strive for something greater in 2018. Maybe we should paint everything in Ultra Violet and see if it helps.