Pantone Releases Their Color of the Year for 2019: Living Coral

Some time ago, the grand wizards and high priests of Pantone convened in their secret chapel and set about the work of selecting their color of the year. Color chips and swatches were strewn about as tense arguments erupted over which color speaks to our collective consciousness.

Today at the Pantone Chapel, the color gods finally selected the color of the year, and a smoke signal of Pantone 16-1546 rose high above the chimney. And there was much rejoicing.

Yes, 2019 will be the year of “Living Coral,” a color that according to Pantone, “embraces us with warmth and nourishment to provide comfort and buoyancy in our continually shifting environment.”

It’s the color of undersea exploration, a handout from a PTA meeting, Paddington 2, a shirt hanging in Pete Davidson’s closet. It’s playing Stardew Valley with your best pal while eating chocolate-covered cannabis-infused blueberries. It’s a Mister Rogers’ sweater.

"Color is an equalizing lens through which we experience our natural and digital realities, and this is particularly true for Living Coral," Leatrice Eiseman, Executive Director of the Pantone Color Institute, said in a press release. "With consumers craving human interaction and social connection, the humanizing and heartening qualities displayed by the convivial Pantone Living Coral hit a responsive chord."

Packaging designers take note. The Color Gods of Pantone have spoken, and they have turned to the natural world in all its resplendent glory for a soothing color that reaches out with empathetic arms and pulls you in for a warm embrace to help you get over the dumpster fire that has been 2018.