Pantone Unveils the 2022 Color of the Year, Very Peri: Here's What It Means and How It's Selected
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It's more than just a color.
The Pantone Color Institute announced its pick for the 2022 Color of the Year. For the first time in the institute's 22-year history of selecting a hue to represent the year ahead, it chose one newly-created just for the occasion.
Named Very Peri, the color is a blend of blues combined with a violet-red undertone that produces a dynamic periwinkle shade – a creation that's intended to symbolize the transformative year we've had, and a new perspective looking ahead.
"Creating a new color for the first time in the history of our Pantone Color of the Year educational color program reflects the global innovation and transformation taking place," said Laurie Pressman, Vice President of the Pantone Color Institute, in a statement.
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The international authority on color trends noted that this shade is meant to reflect the digital world's growing impact at a time of pandemic-heightened isolation.
The particular shade of blue infused with ultra-red is meant to emulate the essence of glowing screens and gaming, which merge the digital world and our physical lives.
"With trends in gaming, the expanding popularity of the metaverse and rising artistic community in the digital space... Very Peri illustrates the fusion of modern life and how color trends in the digital world are being manifested in the physical world and vice versa," the company's release stated.
RELATED: Pantone's 2020 Color of the Year Is a Hue 'We Can Always Rely On' in Uncertain Times
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Keep scrolling for more about Pantone's Color of the Year selection process, the history behind the honor, and chosen shades in years past.
Who chooses Pantone's Color of the Year?
Pantone gathers "representatives from various nations' color standards groups" twice a year to present and debate options before choosing the color for the coming year, according to the company's website.
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What influences Pantone's Color of the Year decision?
Pantone has a global team of experts who carefully examine trends in entertainment, art, fashion and even socioeconomic conditions, according to the site. New technologies, textures, and materials are also analyzed for their impact on color.
RELATED: What Is Pantone? All About the Company That Chooses the Color of the Year
How long has Pantone been selecting a Color of the Year?
Pantone was founded in 1962 and introduced its global color-matching system a year later (enabling a universal set of standards to ensure shades were matching exactly across industries and continents). But it wasn't until 2000 that Pantone's Color Institute began annually announcing the specific shade that it felt reflected the cultural significance of the moment.
According to Pantone, this color selection "has influenced product development and purchasing decisions in multiple industries, including fashion, home furnishings, and industrial design, as well as product packaging and graphic design."
RELATED: Pantone's Color of the Year for 2018 Is 'A Reflection of What's Needed in Our World Today'
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What was 2021's Color of the Year?
While 2022 marks the first time Pantone chose a newly created color, 2021 was the first time the company chose an "achromatic" hue to represent the year ahead: "Ultimate Gray."
But wait, there's more! That same year, Pantone chose another color to hold the 2021 Color of the Year title: the sunny, yellow "Illuminating."
(However, it wasn't the first year two tones were chosen: in 2016, the soft pink Rose Quartz and pale blue Serenity were dual winners.)
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What was the cultural significance behind 2021's Color of the Year?
So, did 2021 reflect the meaning of the two selected shades? Ultimate Gray was meant to evoke "solid and dependable elements, which are everlasting and provide a firm foundation," according to the release, which said that after a tumultuous 2020, people were craving dependability
In equal measure, they reasoned, people were hoping for some uplift, and Illuminating was "a bright and cheerful yellow sparkling with vivacity, a warming yellow shade imbued with solar power," according to the experts.
Though some years nail it more than others (clearly, no one could have predicted the year ahead when the Pantone experts named a "serene" and "stable" color, Classic Blue, to be the 2020 Color of the Year), we have a feeling Very Peri has staying power.
