Pantone has selected ‘Classic Blue’ as the colour of the year for 2020. It is described by Pantone as ‘Instilling calm, confidence, and connection, this enduring blue hue highlights our desire for a dependable and stable foundation on which to build as we cross the threshold into a new era.’
The colour appears reassuring and has regal connotations but importantly has the ability to work across a number of creative outputs with its elegant simplicity. It feels like a reasonably safe colour this year - perhaps slightly more muted than some of the recent year’s colours e.g. Living Coral.
Blue was once the most expensive colour to use in art history. During the renaissance it was sourced from a metamorphic rock called Lapis Lazuli, an extremely rare gemstone that was mined in Afghanistan, making it five times more expensive than gold.
Today, the colour blue is said to represent trust, loyalty, confidence and it is also associated with depth and stability – values we could do with heading into 2020.
Laetrice Eiseman (Executive Director of the Pantone Colour Institute) describes that ‘we are living in a time that requires trust and faith. It is this kind of constancy and confidence that is expressed by Pantone 19-4052 Classic Blue’.
With its qualities and versatility, it will be interesting to see the impact on the art, design and fashion industries throughout 2020.
