Pantone Color of The Year 2022 and By The Way, What is Pantone?

If you love creative stuff, you must have bumped into color palettes and color trend reports around websites and social media. If you didn't, it's ok, probably you were a little too distracted to notice. But the fact is, color trends lead way to a lot of what we buy, desire, create and dream of. Even unconsciously, we tend to be attracted to things that are around us and repeatedly are hammered inside our subconscious minds. This said, we will introduce Pantone's 2022 Color of The Year, and it's called Very Peri.

Pantone who?

Pantone started as a company that produced printed color card pallettes for cosmetic brands. In 1962, it was bought by Lawrence Herbert who used to be a worker at the company at the color matching making process, since 1956. In 1963 he created the Pantone Matching System and already had registered a vast color range of codes which resulted in what we know now about color-coding to this day. Its variety on so many different colors possible, varying from tones to brightness, intensity, and gamma, are all uniquely coded. In this way, anyone who picks a color, knowing the Pantone Match System's code, can send a supplier or designer, the specific number related to the color choice and by this code, suppliers have a "recipe" on what colors (usually through the CMYK or RGB systems) they'd have to mix (be either digital or print) to achieve that specific color (or the most approximate color to it). This makes designers' lives easier. Now look around you and pay attention to objects, cars, clothes, electronics... See those colors? Much of what we see in the creative world is colored by Pantone's system.

Learn more:

"The Pantone Color Matching System expands upon existing color reproduction systems such as the CMYK process. The CMYK process is a standardized method of printing colour by using four inks—cyan, magenta, yellow and black. The majority of the world’s printed material is produced using the CMYK process. The Pantone system is based on a specific mix of pigments to create new colours—referred to as Spot Colours. The Pantone system also allows for many ‘special’ colours to be produced such as metallics and fluorescents. While most of the Pantone system colours are beyond the printed CMYK gamut, those that are possible to simulate through the CMYK process are labeled as such within the company’s guides. "

- Design Face UK (official Pantone supplier)

If you'd like to go deeper and understand how the system works, directly from the source itself (Pantone). please go to Pantone Color System Explained

Pantone's Color of The Year 2022

Very Peri is the 2022 Pantone Color, who since 1999, predicts the annual trends according to their researches and market analysis. But exactly what does this mean? It means that researchers, coolhunters, professionals who are paid to do the predictions, come up with tons of information years in advance, about customer behavior, also about society changes (nobody was predicting the pandemic, well, sort of), so this leads to hints along the way so they can come up with common denominators and conclude about the next color. Very Peri is defined as a blueish, violet, with a hint of red color. Immediately when we look at it, we have this sense of calm, and something almost mystic happens. It is really a response to all that has been and all that we expect looking forward to after these last strange and very overwhelming years.

Cool fact: since the year 2000 Pantone has been releasing the color of the year. At that year the color was Cerulean Blue (hello "The Devil Wears Prada" fans), the color of the Millenium. Now, for the first time, Pantone developed the color of the year from scratch. The code for Very Peri is 17-3938 Very Peri, and it is a mix of periwinkle blue with violet undertones.

Images speak more than words, so we'll just scoop some eye-catching references as you catch the vibe and go along with us on this Very Peri journey!

Use of the color of the year Very Peri in decor - (photo: Himla)

You can get inspired by the color of the year and use it in decor ideas! In detailing like throw cushions or even flowers, you create the ambiance with the softness and ethereal energy that Very Peri emanates.

Sunrise Sky (photo: Esther Inwood Young)

Look at the sky! Simply breathe in and see all the colors that nature brings you. Yes, inspiration can also come literally from above. Try looking to the sky instead of looking so often at the screen. You might get insights and creative vibes, just to get your inspiration boost of the day!

Lady Gaga in Gucci (photo: Getty / Karwai Tang)

And there is fashion, of course! Lady Gaga rocks the Very Peri from head to toes from the Gucci label. Here we can get inspired with the use of the tones in makeup, and dress, in total harmony with her avant-garde personality. It proves that depending on the use, a somewhat angelical and ethereal color as Very Peri, can become a strong fashion statement.

The seed is blown to the wind. So now, look for these inspirations and start paying attention around you, and tell us if you've noticed some Very Peri things along the way! Bet ya you will!