After 2020’s muted evening blue, the 2021 joint winner of pebble grey and hazard-warning yellow, and this year’s bright periwinkle hue, in this SPECIAL FEATURE ARTICLE WHERE To Print examines how this vibrant, audacious, and breath-taking beauty – Pantone Colour of the Year 2023 – Viva magenta will not only remain visible throughout the coming year but will also shape the world’s vision in 2023 and beyond.
A new vision for a positive future
Vibrating with vim and vigour, a shade rooted in nature descending from the red family demonstrating a new signal of strength, it is no longer news that global authority on colour – Pantone settled on this bold shade of carmine red for 2023 as the Colour of the Year.
To show its very unique nature, the introduction was indeed special. This is because PANTONE 18-1750 Viva Magenta was first introduced by exploring the dynamism between Artificial Intelligence (AI) and human creativity to create “The Magentaverse”. According to Pantone; “PANTONE 18-1750 Viva Magenta writes a new narrative. Brave and fearless, a pulsating colour whose exuberance promotes optimism and joy. Powerful and empowering, it is an animated red that encourages experimentation and self-expression without restraint; an electrifying, boundaryless shade that is manifestly “out there” and is a stand-out statement. Audacious, witty and inclusive of all, PANTONE 18-1750 Viva Magenta welcomes anyone and everyone with the same rebellious spirit.
“A nuanced crimson red tone that presents a balance between warm and cool, PANTONE 18-1750 Viva Magenta is also a hybrid colour, one that comfortably straddles the physical and virtual, evocative of our multi-dimensional world. Assertive but not aggressive, it is a carmine red that does not boldly dominate but instead takes a ‘fist in a velvet glove’ approach. Exuding dynamism, PANTONE 18-1750 Viva Magenta is a transformative red tone capable of driving design to create a more positive future”.
What does Viva Magenta stand for?
Viva Magenta vividly combines the powerful energy of red with the restraint of violet. It symbolises the balance of immense inner and outer strength. As the world emerged from the COVID calamity, Viva Magenta verily surfaced as a symbol of hope, strength, power and unwavering vigour.
Not only that, it is a colour that appeals to the masses irrespective of (their) personal tastes. The versatile colour descending from the family of “Red” portrays a deep strength embedded within it. It inspires, moves, and reverberates vitality. In a nutshell, Viva Magenta expresses a new signal of strength; brave and fearless, and a pulsating colour whose exuberance promotes a joyous and optimistic celebration, writing a new narrative.
How does it inspire?
When one looks at this vivacious beauty, one is reminded of the vehemence with which we fought, the resilience with which we stood and the emotional balance we needed the most during our massively difficult times. In the words of Leatrice Eiseman, Executive Director of Pantone Colour Institute, “PANTONE – Viva Magenta (18-1750) galvanizes our spirit, helping us to build our inner strength.”
We all love to draw inspiration from nature. The stark beauty of nature shows us signs of something bigger than us, something that is awe-inspiring and something that is universal. This is what Viva Magenta stands for. Inspired by the scintillating red of cochineal, Viva Magenta symbolises the glaring beauty of nature.
The other side of Viva Magenta
While on the one hand, Viva Magenta symbolizes strength and resilience, on the other hand, its bold beauty expresses a passion and desire for life. Viva Magenta is nothing but a balance that is stabilising yet invigorating. When Pantone chooses a colour of the year, it sets the tone for coming trends. As Laurie Pressman, Vice President of the Pantone Colour Institute, puts it; “The Pantone Colour of the Year 2023 reflects what is taking place in our global culture, expressing what people are searching for, that colour can hope to answer.”
Therefore, Viva Magenta is not just a colour. It is an emotion visible in the form of a colour. It is what people want to express in words but cannot.
A forecast of consumer needs
Laurie Pressman further explains that Pantone sets out to; “looking at a colour that highlights our change of perspective”. Significantly, it spotlights our need to feel empowered. And yet, infuse us with strength that we can courageously, positively and fearlessly embrace in a new pathway with confidence to encourage “experimentation and self-expression without restraint”.
Hence, Viva Magenta 18-1750 is indeed a forecast of consumer needs. It further depicts what colour trends will be popular in the industry. So, we expect the year 2023 to be as lively and invigorating as Viva Magenta which will definitely inspire the colours of Food, Pharma, Auto, Cosmetics, Building and other industries.
For example; according to Fragrance Oils, colour and fragrance are intrinsically linked. Both have immediate impact and can evoke physical, emotional and mental reactions. And with Pantone introduction of the Colour of the Year 2023; how will this impact the world of fragrance?
Described as an unconventional shade for unconventional times, Viva Magenta is said to promote optimism and joy. It’s audacious, witty and inclusive of all. So, as we continue to see more bold, genderless scents that promote a sense of wellness, this description reflects a lot of the trends that are going to shape the fragrance industry. Most importantly also, ingredients that are associated with crimson hues, such as vibrant red berries, lush florals and warm spices are likely to come into focus too.
What Pantone’s Colour of the Year tells us about 2023?
If you’ve never heard of this colour, that’s quite deliberate. For almost 25 years, the colour-matching company has tasked itself with choosing a shade that – according to its extensive cross-disciplinary analysis of prominent hues within art, fashion, design and beyond – not simply captures the zeitgeist, but sets the tone for the year to come. That is why Pantone calls it an empowering shade that drives innovation.
It’s not the easiest colour to wear but it can send a message. See Lewis Hamilton’s defiant layering of the shade after his outburst at the Dutch Grand Prix. The US paint company Benjamin Moore earlier forecast the return of red interior walls, naming the similar – but even more striking – “Raspberry Crush” as its own colour of the year.
Ever since its inaugural selection of cerulean for the new millennium in 2000, Pantone’s Colour of the Year has been a conversation starter – and a prompt to reflect on this current moment. But the company has greater ambitions than identifying trends.
As we stare down 2023, we are no longer reeling from the shock of the coronavirus pandemic; instead, Pantone suggests, we are turned towards the future with optimism, resilience, outside-the-box thinking and technological innovation so as to create a better world.
Why Pantone’s 2023 Colour of the Year is an ‘Unconventional Shade for an Unconventional Time’
In a cultural moment shaped by countless challenges, Pantone’s Colour of the Year for 2023 is a bold shade of red that speaks to the strength and vitality needed for forging a more positive future. PANTONE 18-1750 Viva Magenta, a vibrant and nuanced shade of crimson red, is a study in balances: drawing on both warm and cool tones, the colour’s origins are grounded in nature with an electrifying hue that can be found in both the physical and virtual spheres, speaking to the diversity of our contemporary world.
Now in its 23rd year of selecting the annual colour, Pantone Colour Institute considered the onslaught of challenges that people have faced in recent years, like the COVID-19 pandemic, and how they have shaped perspective, values, and attitudes in finding a colour for 2023. “We chose this colour because we felt that it was an unconventional shade for an unconventional time, something that could present us with a new vision,” Leatrice Eiseman, Executive Director of the institute, tells TIME. Viva Magenta, Eiseman notes, communicates power – but in an assertive, not aggressive way. “It’s a colour that really vibrates with vim and vigour, that demonstrates a new signal of strength, which is something we all need for a more optimistic future.”
Eiseman, who described Viva Magenta as an “animated red, pulsating with movement,” points to nature as one of the main inspirations for the colour selection this year, namely the cochineal dyes derived from insects, that have been used since as early as the second century BC to imbue rich red hues on fabrics and paper. With the increasing influence of technology in our contemporary world, which was strongly reflected in the touchscreen-inspired shade of last year’s Colour of the Year, the dynamic periwinkle blue, Very Peri, having a reminder of the primordial world with a shade like Viva Magenta is a chance to revisit, honor, and reconnect with history, while imagining a brighter future.
“We’re hoping that the symbolism in this colour will create a dynamic world that encourages experimentation,” Eiseman says. “One that leverages the virtual within the physical realm and emboldens our spirit to explore groundbreaking possibilities.”
While the colour has deep connections to both the past and the present, the institute wants to be clear that it’s also a colour that’s undeniably fitting for the present, a shade that encourages all people to live life boldly in the moment. “The name of the colour itself tells you this is a colour to celebrate with, an exuberant colour that promotes optimism and joy,” Eiseman said. “It’s what we call a boundless shade, a real standout statement. There’s no way you’re going to walk into a room if you’re wearing this colour and not have attention go to you. It’s audacious. It’s witty and inclusive – it welcomes anyone and everyone with the same rebellious spirit.”
So, let us then be Fearless and Lively. Let us be Brave and Resilient. Let us be Viva Magenta.
© with editorial support from LinkedIn, Pantone, The Guardian, and TIME.
