This year, Pantone did something unprecedented, they picked two colours for the colour of the year, PANTONE 17-5104 Ultimate Gray + PANTONE 13-0647 Illuminating. And while this is a bit of a cop-out, I’m willing to give them a pass since they picked a very particular palette.
They say this combo is“A marriage of color conveying a message of strength and hopefulness that is both enduring and uplifting.“ [1] And it is, this combo has a calmness, it reminds me of the gentle sun after rain, or the day after a snowstorm. But there is an underlying tension here. This is a colour combination of a washed-out caution sign, warmed up for a new day and looking for sunshine while we're still on edge.
There’s a fun thing when using it for the design. It’s a mid-contrast combo where both colours can be used as the ground and focus. And I like it enough that I made up IG stories and highlight icons with a dose of pop-art/midcentury fun. Let me know what you think, and you can download them below.
