The Year of Growing Green with Revitalization
At the end of every year, I wait in anticipation to see what Pantone has chosen as the color of the next year. With every new hue comes a chance to see the influence a single idea can have on the context of the year to come. In 2016, two colors were chosen, Rose Quartz and Serenity, two pale shades that felt serene individually, but together reflected a binary sensibility. The color chosen for 2017 is Pantone 15-0343 Greenery, a vibrantly ripe green-yellow shade that evokes a mindset of revitalization and nature.
On their website Pantone defines the color of the year as: “A symbolic color selection; a color snapshot of what we see taking place in our global culture that serves as an expression of a mood and an attitude.”
With an eye constantly focused on the culture impact a choice in design can make, this selection is fascinating to me. Green in and of itself is a very fluid and easily influencing color in different areas. While green can be relaxing and captivating when shown in photographs, it is not a color often used as the main focus in web design aspects. In web design a primary color scheme of green can be horrific on the eyes, if not done correctly. While it is one of the most complimentary accent colors, it can lack the repose quality of other shades. Even within the book industry world Green has a rather strained reputation. During my time designing book covers for Simon & Schuster, I learned that it is an industry taboo to design a green book cover. Look around – do you see many book covers in this bold secondary color?
Outside the context of design, the choice of Greenery is an influential influence on the choices of lifestyle. With media dominating the market a step back into the scenic view of nature brings out a sense of futuristic revitalization. With rapidly changing markets, green is a transformational shift towards and inkling of what is to come. Diving deeper into the world of technology invokes the need to submerge our sense of being into the assuagement atmosphere of nature. Revitalizing our soul to cohesively involve both nature and technology.
So many more design elements are looking to incorporate the vitality of the nature with the chromatic technicalization of the future. Architecture and urban planning incorporating forestry, technology based in renewable energy, foliage in home styling, and so much more have focused on the cohesive nature of living in industrialization. This same shift within the nature of design can even be seen in lifestyle choices. With our presence and being on display for the world to see through social media, reflection into who we are has taken a new meaning. A new conviction filled with vitality and reinvigoration within our own souls to grow the world around us with passion.
Pantone’s choice of Greenery is in all essence a symbolization of growth for the world and the new year ahead. It is growing our relationships whether they be digital, personal or capital. The color sampling Pantone provided exemplifies this invigorating outlook in color. With the neutral palette of blacks, greys and whites out the window, vivid hues are recommended to accompany the zesty color instead, as seen in Pantone’s recommended Spring 2017 palette.
Pantone’s color of the year may invoke a different response in the different design aspects of the world, but overall it is an essence of hope. Hope at what will come as we all bound forward and take upon the nuances and calamities of the new year. Greenery is the future in all facets of the word. Happy 2017.
