Cottage Colour of the Year

They are the colours of tranquility and inner peace. The Pantone Color Institute has blended two stress-less shades, Serenity and Rose Quartz, as 2016’s colour of the year.

Considered the global provider of professional colour standards, Pantone says that now more than ever, consumers are seeking mindfulness and well-being as an antidote to the stress of modern day lives. Consumers are welcoming colours that psychologically fulfill the yearning for reassurance and security.

Pantone describes Serenity as “weightless and airy, like the expanse of the blue sky above us. Serenity comforts with a calming effect, bringing feelings of respite and relaxation even in turbulent times.”

The company describes Rose Quartz as “a persuasive yet gentle tone that conveys compassion and a sense of composure.”

“With the whole greater than its individual parts,” says Pantone’s executive director, Leatrice Eiseman, “joined together Serenity and Rose Quartz demonstrate an inherent balance between a warmer embracing rose tone and the cooler tranquil blue, reflecting connection and wellness as well as a soothing sense of order and peace.”

The prevalent combination of Serenity and Rose Quartz also challenges some more traditional perceptions around colour association.

“In many parts of the world we are experiencing a gender blur as it relates to fashion, which has in turn impacted colour trends throughout all other areas of design,” says Eiseman. “This more unilateral approach to colour is coinciding with societal movements toward gender equality and fluidity, the consumers’ increased comfort with using colour as a form of expression which includes a generation that has less concern about being typecast or judged, and an open exchange of digital information that has opened our eyes to different approaches to colour usage.”

2016 marks the 16^th year that the Pantone Color Institute has been declaring a Colour of the Year. Pantone says it combs the world looking for new colour influences. “This can include the entertainment industry and films in production,” Pantone says, as well as “traveling art collections and new artists, fashion, all areas of design, and popular travel destinations… Influences may also stem from new technologies, materials, textures and effects that impact color, relevant social media platforms and even up-coming sporting events that capture worldwide attention.”

PANTONE 15-3919 Serenity & PANTONE 13-1520 Rose Quartz

Photo courtesy of Pantone