Pantone, a provider of professional colour language standards and digital solutions, has named PANTONE 19-4052, Classic Blue, as its Colour of the Year for 2020. “A timeless and enduring hue elegant in its simplicity,” says a Pantone press release. “Suggestive of the sky at dusk, the reassuring qualities of the thought-provoking PANTONE 19-4052 Classic Blue highlight our desire for a dependable and stable foundation from which to build as we cross the threshold into a new era.”
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| Leatrice Eiseman, executive director The Pantone Color Institute |
“We are living in a time that requires trust and faith,” said Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute. “It is this kind of constancy and confidence that is expressed by PANTONE 19-4052 Classic Blue, a solid and dependable blue hue we can always rely on. Imbued with a deep resonance, PANTONE 19-4052 Classic Blue provides an anchoring foundation. A boundless blue evocative of the vast and infinite evening sky, PANTONE 19-4052 Classic Blue encourages us to look beyond the obvious to expand our thinking; challenging us to think more deeply, increase our perspective and open the flow of communication.”
The press release continues: “Imprinted in our psyches as a restful colour, PANTONE 19-4052, Classic Blue brings a sense of peace and tranquility to the human spirit, offering refuge. Aiding concentration and bringing laser-like clarity, PANTONE 19-4052, Classic Blue re-centres our thoughts. A reflective blue tone, Classic Blue fosters resilience.
“As technology continues to race ahead of the human ability to process it all, it is easy to understand why we gravitate to colours that are honest and offer the promise of protection. Non-aggressive and easily relatable, the trusted PANTONE 19-4052, Classic Blue lends itself to relaxed interaction. Associated with the return of another day, this universal favourite is comfortably embraced.”
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| Laurie Pressman, vice president The Pantone Color Institute |
Laurie Pressman, vice president of the Pantone Color Institute, said: “The Pantone Colour of the Year highlights the relationship between trends in colour and what is taking place in our global culture at a moment in time, a colour that reflects what individuals feel they need that colour can hope to answer. As society continues to recognize colour as a critical form of communication, and a way to express and affect ideas and emotions, designers and brands should feel inspired to use colour to engage and connect. The Pantone Colour of the Year selection provides strategic direction for the world of trend and design, reflecting the Pantone Colour Institute’s year-round work doing the same for designers and brands.
“As we all head into a new era, we wanted to challenge ourselves to find inspiration from new sources that not only evolve our Colour of the Year platform, but also help our global audiences achieve richer and more rewarding colour experiences,” added Pressman. “This desire, combined with the emotional properties of PANTONE 19-4052 Classic Blue, motivated us to expand beyond the visual, to bring the 2020 Pantone Colour of the Year to life through a multi-sensory experience.”
Classic Blue in Fashion
PANTONE 19-4052 Classic Blue is a poised and self-assured blue hue elegant in its simplicity. Genderless in outlook and seasonless in endurance, this foundational anchor shade enables colour mixes throughout the spectrum, as well as making a strong statement on its own. Emblematic of heritage but at the same time highly contemporary, versatile PANTONE 19-4052 Classic Blue takes on distinct appearances through application to different materials, finishes and textures from shimmering metallics, lustrous sheens and high-tech materials to hand crafted looks and more fragile fabrics.
Classic Blue in Home Décor
Offering the promise of protection PANTONE 19-4052 Classic Blue is a pervasive favourite for home. Creating a stable foundation from which to build, PANTONE 19-4052 Classic Blue injects creative confidence into interiors, transforming a space through unique colour combinations and tonal statements. Easily applied across so many different materials, textures and finishes, PANTONE 19-4052 Classic Blue is a dependable blue that can take you in different directions expressing tradition and elegance as well as unexpected boldness.
Classic Blue in Graphic Design and Packaging
Because of PANTONE 19-4052 Classic Blue’s relation to the sky at dusk, something we see every day, it maintains a perception of dependability and constancy. A colour we respond to viscerally as being trustworthy, PANTONE 19-4052 Classic Blue is an ideal shade for many applications of graphic design. This is especially true for packaging where PANTONE 19-4052 Classic Blue conveys the message of honesty, credibility and reliability that today’s consumers are connecting to.
ADOBE X PANTONE COLOR OF THE YEAR
Pantone has partnered with Adobe Stock to offer a handpicked Colour of the Year collection of imagery to inspire creators and bring colour to life. Classic Blue, Pantone’s choice for 2020, evokes a calm confidence, connection, and a sense of thoughtful stability as we embark on our next decade. With millions of visual assets, from still photography and design templates to fresh 3D and motion graphics, Adobe Stock is an endless resource for creatives seeking visual inspiration and essential design components. https://stock.adobe.com
See the Adobe Stock/ Pantone Classic Blue gallery here:
THE INSIDE X PANTONE COLOR OF THE YEAR
Pantone partnered with The Inside, a digitally native home furnishings brand, to develop a custom Colour of the Year 2020 fabric that tactilely embodies the spirit of PANTONE 19-4052 Classic Blue. The touch of PANTONE 19-4052 Classic Blue was inspired by its transitional quality, and how that manifests in the sky at dusk. Classic blue translates into a soft, velvety texture to print on, further emphasizing the comforting quality of this year’s Colour of the Year. The custom fabric will be available for a limited time to purchase on a select number of The Inside's furnishings and decor. https://www.theinside.com/
LANDR X PANTONE COLOR OF THE YEAR
In collaboration with Audio UX, LANDR, the creative platform for musicians, worked as Pantone’s audio partners to help create The Classic Blue Sample Pack, a conceptual audio embodiment of Classic Blue that explores the multi-sensorial experience of sound and colour as one. The sample pack consists of 200 different samples and loops that bring PANTONE 19-4052 Classic Blue to life, and aims to inspire artists to make their best music.
Limited Edition Pantone Colour of Year 2020 Guides
Pantone will also release limited-edition collections of Pantone Colour of the Year 2020 Formula Guides and Fashion, Home + Interiors Colour Guides as collector’s items for designers, to help them better integrate Classic Blue into their workflow and drawing the connection between the inspiration that the Colour of the Year offers to the colour achievability and consistency that Pantone standards ensure. Guides will feature a specialized Colour of the Year cover including messaging for Classic Blue enclosed within the guide. Available at on Pantone.com, these guides are perfect gifts for designers who are already on the pulse of colour trends, or for up-and-comers who want to deck out their desk with the sleekest tools.
Pricing:
Pantone Colour of the Year 2020 Formula Guide (Coated & Uncoated): SRP $US179
Pantone Colour of the Year 2020 Fashion, Home + Interiors Colour Guide: SRP $US210
Pantone Connect for Designing Digitally with Classic Blue
Pantone Connect, a time-saving colour extension for Adobe Creative Cloud®, includes five different pre-loaded colour palettes featuring Classic Blue. These Colour of the Year themed palettes, along with every other Pantone Colour, are available to browse through and integrate directly into design files within Adobe Photoshop®, Illustrator®, and InDesign®. Pantone Connect also offers designers an easy way to convert to Pantone from non-Pantone colours and collaborate on palettes with teammates. Download Pantone Connect to start designing with Classic Blue today.
For 21 years, Pantone’s Colour of the Year has influenced product development and purchasing decisions in multiple industries, including fashion, home furnishings, and industrial design, as well as product packaging and graphic design.
For more information, please visit www.pantone.com/color-of-the-year-2020
