Pantone Color of Year Is Very Peri

New 2022 Color Blends Blue With Hint Of Red For Fresh Start

Pantone has introduced a new blue shade, PANTONE 17-3938 Very Peri – a periwinkle blue hue with a violet red undertone – as the Pantone Color of the Year selection for 2022. Very Peri blends the “faithfulness and constancy of blue with the energy and excitement of red” to introduce “an empowering mix of newness,” said the company in a statement.

“The Pantone color of the year reflects what is taking place in our global culture, expressing what people are looking for that color can hope to answer,” said Laurie Pressman, Vice President of the Pantone Color Institute. “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. As society continues to recognize color as a critical form of communication and as a way to express and affect ideas and emotions and engage and connect, the complexity of this new red-violet-infused blue highlights the expansive possibilities that lie before us.”

To arrive at the selection, Pantone’s color experts look for color influences in the entertainment industry, traveling art collections and new artists, fashion, all areas of design, popular travel destinations, as well as new lifestyles, play styles, and socio-economic conditions. Influences may also stem from new technologies, materials, textures, and effects that impact color, relevant social media platforms, and even upcoming sporting events that capture worldwide attention. For 23 years, Pantone’s Color of the Year 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.

“Understanding that the colors we see are now living in the digital space opened up a whole other gamut of possibilities for us,” adds Pressman. “When we select the Pantone color of the year, it must be emblematic of what’s taking place at a moment in time. We were looking at a color that seamlessly moves between digital and physical.”