It’s that time of year again, where the Pantone Colour Institute announces their colour selection that will reflect the year ahead. This year, the Colour Institute announced Viva Magenta 18-1750 is the colour of 2023!
The Pantone Colour of the Year influences multiple industries from packaging, fashion, technology, and more! Let’s learn a little bit more about Viva Magenta and how they selected this bold colour. Read on to learn more!
What Is The Pantone Colour Institute?
First, we should reintroduce the Pantone Colour Institute. Who are they, and why do we care about a colour they’ve chosen? The Pantone Colour Institute is a business unit within the larger Pantone company. They forecast colour trends, make custom colour solutions for businesses, and even have colour consulting as a part of their services.
Introducing Viva Magenta
Before we get into the reasoning for choosing this colour, let’s set the record straight: magenta doesn’t technically exist!
Let’s get into the science a bit: when we see colours, our brains are registering different wavelengths of light. For magenta, there is no light wavelength that exactly matches this colour.
So how can we see magenta, and know what it is? Our brains process colours using receptors called cones that interpret red, green and blue. By sensing the different levels of each colour, we get colours outside of the RGB spectrum, like magenta!
While the colour doesn’t technically exist, it does have organic origins! The cochineal beetle is an insect whose shells have the natural red pigment carmine. When using this pigment to dye fabric materials, you get a vibrant magenta shade (made of 100% natural dye!)!
In this age of technology, we look to draw inspiration from nature and what is real. PANTONE 18-1750 Viva Magenta descends from the red family, and is inspired by the red of cochineal, one of the most precious dyes belonging to the natural dye family as well as one of the strongest and brightest the world has known.
Leatrice Eiseman, Executive Director, Pantone Colour Institute
Just like Very Peri, Viva Magenta is a shade that reflects our digital and physical lives. As Very Peri was a reflection of the merging of our digital and physical lives, Viva Magenta reflects the resulting deeper connections we have to each other.
The main difference between Very Peri and Viva Magenta is the call to our collective need for strength as opposed to the shift from isolation to digital community that Very Peri represented.
The Color of the Year 2023 speaks to our desire to take on new challenges and try the unconventional while meeting others with compassion.
Pantone (Source)
Viva Magenta’s Impact On Packaging
The Magentaverse is coming to the packaging world! Similar to previus selections for Colour of the Year, Viva Magenta is sure to pop up in many industries besides packaging. It helps that we’ve already been introduced to the hot pink trend through fashion over the last year.
This colour is an “unconventional colour for an unconventional time” according to Pantone. Given the transition the world is making as we adjust to our new reality post COVID-19, this colour inspires us to reach out to each other, while being bold enough to blaze our own paths.
Interested in finding out how you can incorporate this year’s Colour of the Year into your packaging or branding? Contact us today and we can help! Not sure if this colour is right for you? Check out Pantone’s colour matching system to choose a fresh shade!
If you’d like to read more about how to use Pantone colours in your packaging, check out these previous blog posts:
