Pantone adds 315 new colours, including 70 blues and 50 pinks

Pantone is the go-to for swathes of designers globally, and most recently, the company has focused on developing its fashion, home and interiors market by redesigning its guides and adding new tones to every colour in its palette. This update includes 315 new additions, with 70 new blue hues and 50 new pink shades, bringing its library up to a kaleidoscopic of 2,625 colours. It has also redesigned its colour guides (in book and digital form) for this sector hoping to “streamline workflow” in digital and real-world design processes, and the transition between them, by arranging the colours by “colour family” and changing the whole layout so it functions more efficiently for creatives trying to choose and customise their colours.

According to Pantone, the new colours have been strategically selected to reflect current and future trends, and will allow for even more specific colour matching. “The colours that are influencing design today have evolved to reflect shifting societal views, new technological innovations, and a truly global outlook,” says Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute, in a statement. “With the ability to interpret the influence of colour on overall consumer psychology, we have enhanced the utility of our [colour system] with this new collection of engaging hues, enabling the design community to stay on the cutting edge of colour selection.”

Pantone Connect, the company’s digital library, can be integrated with Adobe software, as well as being available to use via it’s own software and apps. The swatches in its books are offered on cotton and paper.

In December each year, Pantone releases its Colour of the Year to much industry discussion (and often skepticism). For 2020 it predicts that Classic Blue (Pantone 19-4502) will be most pervasive and on-trend. The company even made perhaps its most political comment yet in explaining the choice of tone, saying that it symbolised “protection, stability, peace, and confidence, as well as encouraging deep thinking, open mindfulness, and communication” as well as “offering refuge”.

Also looking to fashion, it more recently published its annual insight into the then-imminent fashion weeks and their predicted palettes, sharing 14 colours that we would soon be seeing on the runways.