Pantone picks 'Viva Magenta' as its 2023 colour of the year

Pantone colour Institute, the authoritative consultancy that christens an "it colour" every year for more than two decades, has chosen Viva Magenta as its official colour of the year.

The new pick Viva Magenta 18-750 is described as "a shade rooted in nature descending from the red family and expressive of a new signal of strength." 

It also symbolises powerful, empowering, electrifying, boundaryless, audacious and inclusive characteristics.

"Viva Magenta is brave and fearless, and a pulsating colour whose exuberance promotes a joyous and optimistic celebration, writing a new narrative," Pantone says.

The Pantone colour Institute was founded two decades after the colour company and has been championing colours of the year since cerulean blue in 2000 (cue the iconic Devil Wears Prada monologue). Its selection process involves looking at everything from the entertainment and travel industries to technologies, cultural events and socioeconomic conditions, to analyze and forecast trends.

The program aims to highlight the relationship between colour and culture, and colours of the year are chosen because they reflect the global culture at a specific moment in time, according to Laurie Pressman, the institute's vice president.

Magenta is a hybrid in many senses, the colour authority says, as it straddles the physical and the virtual, the organic and the innovative.

Although some may say the colour doesn't technically exist since there's no wavelength of light that corresponds to magenta, Pantone defines it as a "nuanced crimson red tone that presents a balance between warm and cool."

"It is assertive, but not aggressive, a carmine red that does not boldly dominate but instead takes a 'fist in a velvet glove' approach," it says. "Exuding dynamism, PANTONE 18-1750 Viva Magenta is a transformative red tone capable of driving design to create a more positive future."

Colour has power in consumer behaviour — one 2015 study found that 85% of shoppers base their purchasing decisions on a product's colour — as well as self-expression and communication.

Pantone has a lofty view of what colour can do not only for people who are deciding what to wear or buy but for society as a whole.

Pantone effectively makes a colour into an industry celebrity, as University of Leeds business history professor Regina Blaszczyk told Planet Money's The Indicator in 2020.

Pantone's chosen colours of the year go on to influence product development and purchasing decisions in all sorts of industries, including fashion, industrial design and product packaging.

Viva Magenta is a "universally flattering shade," it says, offering tips for how to incorporate the colour into your wardrobe, home and graphic design.

It seems the "Magentaverse" is already upon us. Pantone has partnered with companies including Motorola, Spoonflower and Cariuma to release cell phones, wallpaper, skate shoes and more in the designated shade. And the art space ARTECHOUSE is offering an immersive magenta experience, starting during Miami's Art Basel and opening to the public on Saturday.

Pressman says the program's goal isn't to promote a colour, even though many colours of the year do become more popular as a result of their distinction. Instead, it aims to "help companies and consumers better understand the power colour can have."

"It is a visual language we all understand, one whose message crosses genders, generations, and geographies," Pressman says. "Learning more about the unique meanings particular colours give voice to helps us to be a more expressive, closely connected society, one that provides people with a more holistic understanding of their peers and communities alike."

Its selection process involves looking at everything from the entertainment and travel industries to technologies, cultural events and socioeconomic conditions, to analyse and forecast trends.