2016 Pantone Colors of the Year and how they may impact your world

As an Interior Designer, color and the effect that it has on just about every aspect of our lives is something that I am very cognoscente of. In fact, creating color schemes for the interiors I design is one of the things I love the most about my work. While the traditional interpretations of color and how they are expressed in consumer goods have shifted in the past decade, the emotions that color evokes generally do not change regardless. As consumers have become more accepting of gender equality as it relates to color choices, industries where color is a major component of their products, marketing and consumer use are paying attention and adopting this more casual approach.

In keeping up with this more accepting atmosphere, Pantone has for the very first time released TWO shades for its annual selection for “Influential Color of the Year.” Drum roll please……. Here are their 2 choices for the colors that we will see on products for your home and in fashion everywhere in 2016. Rose Quartz 13-1520 and Serenity 15-3919 are muted tones of a rose tone and a cool, tranquil blue.

Think back a couple of decades and we would be assuming that everything created for women will be fashioned with the Rose Quartz in mind, and Serenity will be produced this year on all things for a male market, however, that couldn’t be further from the truth this coming year. Household goods and fashion items are already being produced by a number of major brands who have already been alerted to the selections for products suitable for either gender. The criteria used by Pantone in making its selection each year may include influences from a variety of differing areas of society such as technology, fashion, entertainment, travel and more. As there are so many interests considered, having one or in this case two prominent colors used by designers and manufacturers makes perfect sense.

It won’t be long into the new year before you will begin to see these colors showing up on all types of products in all types of consumers niches.

Now you have a “heads up” about what will be on trend in terms of color this coming year for your favorite products and fashions for your body and your home. Whether you like and can appreciate them both or not remains to be seen and if they turn out to not be your favorites, take comfort in the fact that a year goes by pretty quickly and there will be a new selection for 2017!