Pantone Names Color of the Year for 2020

Carlstadt, New Jersey-based Pantone, a provider of professional color standards for designers, unveils its color of the year, 19-4052 Classic Blue. The organization says the dark-blue hue highlights a “desire for a dependable and stable foundation on which to build as we cross the threshold into a new era.”

Pantone says the new addition to the color library mimics the sky at dusk, and its reflective quality “fosters resilience.”

“We are living in a time that requires trust and faith,” says Leatrice Eiseman, executive director for 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.”

Eiseman adds that Classic Blue “challenges us to think more deeply, increase our perspective, and open the flow of communication.”

The blue shade comes as a slightly more muted contrast to last year’s color of the year, Living Coral. The vibrant, pastel shade was met with mixed reviews, and eventually, lead to Adobe and Pantone launching a campaign entitled Glowing Glowing Gone which strived to draw attention to the dying coral reef crisis.