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Pantone Color of the Year

Since 2000, Pantone has crowned one color a year. It's a trend forecast and a marketing event, not a science.

First
Cerulean, for 2000
2026
Cloud Dancer, PANTONE 11-4201
Two-color years
2016 and 2021

Each year the Pantone Color Institute names a 'Color of the Year' for the year ahead. The first, for 2000, was Cerulean, a soft sky blue much paler than the cerulean painters know. Since then the picks have run from Tangerine Tango (2012) to Living Coral (2019), and twice Pantone named two colors at once: Rose Quartz and Serenity for 2016, Ultimate Gray and Illuminating for 2021.

How is it chosen? Pantone describes a year of trend-watching across fashion, film, design and travel, then writes a story about the mood of the moment. For 2026 it picked Cloud Dancer, an airy off-white and the first white on the list. Read the picks as forecasts and marketing: they sell trend reports and licensed products, and nothing measures whether a color truly 'reflects the times' (see color psychology).

The names are a lesson in how loosely color words travel. Viva Magenta (2023) is really a crimson-leaning red, not a true magenta. Classic Blue (2020) is close to cobalt, Peach Fuzz (2024) to peach, and Mocha Mousse (2025) is a milky brown.

Notice the trick behind the names: Living Coral, Mimosa, Marsala and Mocha Mousse each borrow a thing you can picture, the same way coral, salmon and mustard got their names. A name gives a color a handle (see color terms and whether words change what we see).

Swatches

Colors

Sources

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