Who picks the "color of the year," and how?

Short answer

The "color of the year" isn't announced by a single institution — it's an announcement made by many companies, each making its own choice; for 2026, a color-card company chose an almost-white tone, a trend agency chose a blue-green close to cyan, and two paint brands chose a brown and a family of blues. These announcements are interpretations grounded in research but also carrying a strong marketing function. Carrying a trend color into a brand identity is risky, because a trend lasts a year while a brand identity lives for years, and many other brands use the same color at the same time.

Who announces it?

When people hear "color of the year," the first name that comes to mind for most is Pantone, the company that produces color cards. Pantone launched this program in 1999 and announced a sky blue, Cerulean, as the color of 2000. Since then, it has announced the following year's color at the end of every year.

But Pantone isn't the only one. Subscription-based agencies working on fashion and product trends, paint manufacturers, and color systems make their own announcements. The choices made for 2026 are a good example of this: on December 4, 2025, Pantone chose an almost-white tone it named "Cloud Dancer." Trend agency WGSN and color system Coloro announced a blue-green called "Transformative Teal." Paint brand Benjamin Moore chose a dark brown called "Silhouette." AkzoNobel's Dulux brand, for the first time, announced a family of three blues running from light to dark instead of a single color.

In other words, for the same year, almost-white, blue-green, brown, and blue were all announced as the "color of the year" at the same time. This shows that a color trend announcement doesn't reflect a single objective truth, but the different interpretations of different organizations.

How is it chosen?

Organizations usually base their choices on research: they track fashion runways, art and design fairs, consumer trends, economic and social developments, and technology and material innovations, then choose a color thought to reflect the mood of the moment. Pantone states that it bases its choice on experts at the Pantone Color Institute examining global trends. Every announcement presents the color together with a story: serenity, transformation, timelessness, and the like.

These announcements aren't just a forecast; they're also a marketing tool. A color-card company features the new color in its products, a paint brand uses it in its catalogs and ads, a trend agency sells reports to its clients. The announcement draws wide press attention, and many brands release products in that color. This means the announcement partly produces the trend itself. This economy of trend forecasting and its self-fulfilling effect are the subject of EC-07.

Brand identity and trend

The question on the lesson card asks what a designer should do with these announcements: why is it risky to carry a trend color into a brand identity?

The first reason is time. A trend color stands out for a year, maybe a few years. A brand identity, though, can be used for decades. The primary brand color that GT-04 defines is the brand's signature; tying it to one year's mood can make the brand look dated a few years later.

The second reason is distinctiveness. Once a trend color spreads, a large number of brands use it at the same time. As GT-03 shows, standing out depends on separating from your surroundings; in a year when everyone uses the same color, that color isn't distinctive — it's average.

This doesn't mean you must ignore trend announcements. Trend colors are a good source of inspiration for short-lived work — a seasonal collection, a campaign, a limited series, or a piece of social media content. Separating a lasting brand identity from temporary campaign colors lets you benefit from both: the identity stays fixed, while the campaign matches the mood of the moment.

Example — trend color and different skin tones

A clothing brand, inspired by one of the color-of-the-year announcements, wants to release a seasonal collection in that color. The collection will be photographed for the catalog with models of different skin tones.

Announcement texts usually introduce colors with a general mood, but a garment's color always appears right next to a skin tone. Because a neighboring color changes perception — that is, because of the simultaneous contrast covered in BI-14 — the same color creates one effect next to a light skin tone and another next to a dark skin tone; an almost-white tone can look bright and clean next to some skin tones and washed out next to others. Which one looks better is a matter of taste, not a measurable rule. But the design team must learn this from a real trial with models of different skin tones, not from a single year's announcement. The collection is approved only after this trial.

Common misconception

Summary

1. The "color of the year" is an announcement made separately by many organizations; for 2026, a color-card company chose an almost-white tone, a trend agency chose a blue-green, and two paint brands chose a brown and a family of blues.
2. These announcements are interpretations grounded in research, but they're also a marketing tool, and they partly produce the trend themselves.
3. Carrying a trend color into a brand identity puts longevity and distinctiveness at risk; trends are better suited to campaigns and limited series, and in every case should be tested with real content and different skin tones.

Test yourself

1. (Easy) What year was Pantone's first "color of the year" for, and what color was it?
2. (Easy) What color did Pantone choose for 2026?
3. (Medium) Why is it risky to carry a trend color into a brand identity?
4. (Medium) What is the marketing function of trend announcements?
5. (Hard) What does different organizations announcing different colors for the same year say about the nature of trend announcements?
6. (Hard) How should a clothing brand test a collection in a trend color, and why?

Answers

1. Cerulean, a sky blue, for the year 2000; the program began in 1999 ("Who announces it?").
2. Cloud Dancer, an almost-white tone ("Who announces it?").
3. A trend lasts a year or a few years, while a brand identity is used for decades and the brand can come to look dated; also, because many brands use the same color at the same time, the color stops being distinctive ("Brand identity and trend").
4. It features the announcing organization's products, catalogs, or reports; it draws wide press attention, and by prompting many brands to release products in that color, it partly produces the trend itself ("How is it chosen?").
5. That the announcements don't reflect a single objective truth, but different interpretations made by different organizations according to their own research and interests ("Who announces it?").
6. It must actually test the collection with models of different skin tones and give approval only after this trial; because the same color looks different next to different skin tones, and an announcement's general mood description doesn't tell you that ("Example — trend color and different skin tones").

Sources

• Pantone, "Pantone Introduces the Pantone Color of the Year 2026," press release.
• WGSN, "Colour of the Year 2026: Transformative Teal."
• Benjamin Moore, "Color of the Year 2026 — Silhouette AF-655."
• Dezeen, "Rhythm of Blues named Dulux Colour of the Year 2026," September 9, 2025.
• Pantone, "Look Back at Pantone's Very First Color of the Year: Cerulean."

Next step

GT-08 looks at another kind of ready-made suggestion, like trend announcements: software that generates color palettes with a single click on screen. It discusses what these tools do well, what they miss when they pull colors from a photo, and how to test the colors they suggest before putting them into real work. EC-07, meanwhile, goes into the economics of trend forecasting: it covers color councils and subscription-based trend agencies, forecasts made two years in advance, and how these forecasts function in the supply chain both as a coordination tool and as a self-fulfilling prophecy.