Pantone® Color of the Year

Every year Pantone declares the color of the year that is used by designers and creators around the globe. Brands launch products around the color theme and incorporate the hues in their day-to-day branding and marketing activities.

So, what is the Pantone color of the year? Why is it special? How can app designers and UI/UX professionals use it in their projects? Let's dig in.

What is Pantone?

Pantone is a color institute best known for its standardized color-coding system – the Pantone Matching System.

Pantone also offers services like color forecasting, color consultation, custom color creation, digital color tools, and so on. Moreover, Pantone colors have become a cultural phenomenon, and the announcement of the “Color of the Year” is highly anticipated in the creative and design world.

Color of the Year

‘Pantone Color of the Year’ is a single color chosen by the company to define the mood and spirit of that year. Every year Pantone announces a color that becomes the touchstone for creative industries and professionals in the fashion and design realm.

The Pantone Color of the Year 2024 is ‘Peach Fuzz’. It has been defined as a “cozy and comforting hue nurturing compassion and heartfelt kindness”.

[Peach Fuzz is] a shade that resonates with compassion, offers a tactile embrace, and effortlessly bridges the youthful with the timeless"

What is the Pantone color matching system?

The Pantone Color System (PMS) is a widely used standardized color-matching system. It provides a universal language for color and enables accurate reproduction and usage of colors across different environments, platforms, and materials. PMS colors are available in fan decks as well as digital libraries. This allows designers, manufacturers, and creators to access the colors in suitable formats and create universally acceptable designs. 

Selection process

A team of global color experts at the Pantone Color Institute decides the color of the year. They look for influences around the world and then finalize that one color that rules throughout the year. Anything from cultural and artistic trends to socio-economic conditions can inspire the decision-making process.

Basically, Pantone creates a universal language of colors that enables creative professionals and consumers to predict trends and align with global standards. This year Peach Fuzz has been chosen as the color of the year and brands like Motorola, Samsung, and Fenty Beauty have already started incorporating them in their new collections and product launches.

How to use Pantone color in UI/UX design

App designers and developers can use the Pantone color of the year to align with global trends. This year’s color ‘Peach Fuzz’ radiates warmth and softness, and it can help your users feel the same when they interact with your app.

Here’s how you can use the Pantone color of the year across various areas of your app:

• Primary color: If you are a new brand and you do not have a defined theme for your app, you can use Peach Fuzz as the primary or accent color of your app interface. Balance it out with complementing and contrasting tones.
• Logo and icons: Use the exact color or the shades of the color to create your app logo and icons. Make sure that it resonates with your brand identity and complements the overall theme of your app.  
• App elements: If you want to keep it minimal, you can simply use the color to highlight your app elements like your menu designs, category displays, input fields, forms, progress bars, call-to-action buttons, and so on. Else, simply create an app feed that dominantly uses the color of the year alongside other complementary hues.
• Artworks: If you do not want to change the theme of your key app elements, you can just update the artwork and illustrations within your app. This will refresh your app design and give it a touch of newness and warmth.

Remember, the ultimate theme of your brand and logo design should depend on factors like your industry, business goals, target audience, and so on. This year’s color will be best suited for apps that are centered around wellness, mental health, or creativity as it emits a warm and comforting theme. Else, you can simply use it to create and design temporary and dynamic elements within your app.