Thursday, March 13th 2025
For all designers out there, Pantone’s Color of the Year announcement it’s already a tradition, which first started in the year 2000, right after we all found out that Y2K was a hoax. Well, those of us Millennials who were around at that time at least. This selection of color is meant to set the tone for the year (literally) when it comes to what we can expect in the realm of design in terms of trends, color palettes, vibes and overall aesthetic.
If ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ (2006) taught us something is that colors are not just colors, cerulean is not just blue and 2023’s Viva Magenta is just not some shade of red, there’s a full thinking process and reasoning behind this selection. According to Pantone, “Viva Magenta 18-1750, vibrates with vim and vigor. It is a shade rooted in nature descending from the red family and expressive of a new signal of strength”. At the end of the day, it’s not just about the color, it’s about the symbolism behind it and what that particular color represents, color psychology also plays a fundamental role in this.
"At the end of the day, it's not just about the color"
Viva Magenta is meant to be brave and fearless, and the message is very clear: they’re encouraging us to channel some of that energy into the New Year and whatever project we’re working on. It’s also described as a “pulsating color whose exuberance promotes a joyous and optimistic celebration, writing a new narrative”. How many times have we set ourselves new goals for the upcoming year at the end of the last one? Pantone is basically telling us to do just that, design-wise. We need to see 2023 as a clean canvas ready to be “pollocked”, it’s the perfect opportunity for us to challenge ourselves creatively, try new things, explore new styles and maybe learn a couple of hacks or two. People tend to say that doctors never stop learning… Well, the same thing can be said about designers and artists (at least those who never stop perfecting their craft).
About Viva Magenta, Leatrice Eiseman, Executive Director of the Pantone Color Institute, has this to say: “In this age of technology, we look to draw inspiration from nature and what is real. Viva Magenta descends from the red family, and is inspired by the red of cochineal, one of the most precious dyes belonging to the natural dye family as well as one of the strongest and brightest the world has known. Rooted in the primordial, Viva Magenta reconnects us to original matter. Invoking the forces of nature, Viva Magenta galvanizes our spirit, helping us to build our inner strength.”
Are you ready to enter Pantone’s “Magentaverse”?
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All images attached to this article are not property of Lorem Ipsum and were crafted by the artists mentioned above.
