Here’s to a Bright 2021 with Pantone’s Color of the Year!

When I was younger, I had a teacher who would sing a song while we would make our way to our classrooms. The song was about the many colors that exist (or at least that’s what I thought) and I was fascinated by how many he would name in that single tune. I won’t lie by saying that I remember all the colors in the song, but I do remember the first one he would start with was amarillo, yellow.

The most important thing about that song, though, was that it brought joy to all of us who listened to him singing as we passed by him. It’s a fun memory and to this day I like to think that my work has been influenced by that color ever since in one way or another, to the point that for many years now I refer to Pantone 109c as my favorite of them all.

Now that we are ready to move on from 2020, I find it “illuminating” that one of the colors which Pantone has selected for its color of the year is a bright yellow.

This positive and warm color is just what we need heading into a new year as it brings hope to all who have endured hardships recently. I hope that the brightness and joy of something as simple as a color can have the same effect as it’s had on me over the years, ever since I heard a song about colors.

Finally, I know that I’m supposed to acknowledge the fact that this year we have a second color of the year, a cool gray. It provides a nice and smooth contrast when paired with the yellow but, c’mon… that gray can basically be paired with any color. I’m not hating, I‘m just saying.