A reassuring presence instilling calm, confidence, and connection

Tapping into sight, sound, smell, taste, and texture Pantone makes PANTONE 19-4052 Classic Blue the first multi-sensory Color of the Year in the company’s history.

Carlstadt, N.J. – Pantone, a provider of professional color language standards and digital solutions, and X-Rite Incorporated today announced PANTONE 19-4052, Classic Blue, as the Pantone® Color of the Year for 2020; a timeless and enduring hue elegant in its simplicity. Suggestive of the sky at dusk, the reassuring qualities of the thought-provoking. PANTONE 19-4052 Classic Blue highlight our desire for a dependable and stable foundation from which to build as we cross the threshold into a new era.

“We are living in a time that requires trust and faith. It is this kind of constancy and confidence that is expressed by PANTONE 19-4052 Classic Blue, a solid and dependable blue hue we can always rely on,” said Leatrice Eiseman, Executive Director of the Pantone Color Institute. “Imbued with a deep resonance, PANTONE 19-4052 Classic Blue provides an anchoring foundation. A boundless blue evocative of the vast and infinite evening sky, PANTONE 19-4052 Classic Blue encourages us to look beyond the obvious to expand our thinking; challenging us to think more deeply, increase our perspective and open the flow of communication.”

Imprinted in our psyches as a restful color, PANTONE 19-4052, Classic Blue brings a sense of peace and tranquility to the human spirit, offering refuge. Aiding concentration and bringing laser-like clarity, PANTONE 19-4052, Classic Blue re-centers our thoughts. A reflective blue tone, Classic Blue fosters resilience.

As technology continues to race ahead of the human ability to process it all, it is easy to understand why we gravitate to colors that are honest and offer the promise of protection. Non-aggressive and easily relatable, the trusted PANTONE 19-4052, Classic Blue lends itself to relaxed interaction. Associated with the return of another day, this universal favorite is comfortably embraced.

“The Pantone Color of the Year highlights the relationship between trends in color and what is taking place in our global culture at a moment in time, a color that reflects what individuals feel they need that color can hope to answer.” added Laurie Pressman, Vice President of the Pantone Color Institute. “As society continues to recognize color as a critical form of communication, and a way to express and affect ideas and emotions, designers and brands should feel inspired to use color to engage and connect. The Pantone Color of the Year selection provides strategic direction for the world of trend and design, reflecting the Pantone Color Institute’s year-round work doing the same for designers and brands.”

To fully bring to life the true meaning of PANTONE 19-4052 Classic Blue, Pantone has translated PANTONE 19-4052 Classic Blue into a multi-sensory experience. By extending the sensory reach of PANTONE 19-4052 Classic Blue, Pantone is hoping to reach a greater diversity of people to provide everyone with an opportunity to engage with the Color of the Year 2020 in their own unique way.

“As we all head into a new era, we wanted to challenge ourselves to find inspiration from new sources that not only evolve our Color of the Year platform, but also help our global audiences achieve richer and more rewarding color experiences,” added Pressman. “This desire, combined with the emotional properties of PANTONE 19-4052 Classic Blue, motivated us to expand beyond the visual, to bring the 2020 Pantone Color of the Year to life through a multi-sensory experience.”

Classic Blue in Fashion
PANTONE 19-4052 Classic Blue is a poised and self-assured blue hue elegant in its simplicity. Genderless in outlook and seasonless in endurance, this foundational anchor shade enables color mixes throughout the spectrum, as well as making a strong statement on its own. Emblematic of heritage but at the same time highly contemporary, versatile PANTONE 19-4052 Classic Blue takes on distinct appearances through application to different materials, finishes and textures from shimmering metallics, lustrous sheens and high-tech materials to hand crafted looks and more fragile fabrics.

Classic Blue in Beauty
In the ultimate display of personal expression, PANTONE 19-4052 Classic Blue makes a dramatic statement for eyes, nails and hair in a variety of finishes from glittery and glam to dusty matte.

Classic Blue in Home Décor
Offering the promise of protection PANTONE 19-4052 Classic Blue is a pervasive favorite for home. Creating a stable foundation from which to build, PANTONE 19-4052 Classic Blue injects creative confidence into interiors, transforming a space through unique color combinations and tonal statements. Easily applied across so many different materials, textures and finishes, PANTONE 19-4052 Classic Blue is a dependable blue that can take you in different directions expressing tradition and elegance as well as unexpected boldness.

Classic Blue in Graphic Design and Packaging
Because of PANTONE 19-4052 Classic Blue’s relation to the sky at dusk, something we see every day, it maintains a perception of dependability and constancy. A color we respond to viscerally as being trustworthy, PANTONE 19-4052 Classic Blue is an ideal shade for many applications of graphic design. This is especially true for packaging where PANTONE 19-4052 Classic Blue conveys the message of honesty, credibility and reliability that today’s consumers are connecting to.

Classic Blue in Food and Beverage
Blue foods and beverages including PANTONE 19-4052 Classic Blue like shades are rich in anthocyanins. With this relationship to wellness and self-care these blue foods help to build a solid foundation, acting as a form of protection for good health. In addition to their natural health benefits, these blue foods also bring style and sophistication to the table.

Classic Blue as a Multi-Sensory Experience
In addition to releasing the iconic Pantone color swatch for PANTONE 19-4052 Classic Blue, Pantone has collaborated with a number of sensory experts from the worlds of music, food, fashion, beauty and technology to envision PANTONE 19-4052 Classic Blue as a sound, a smell, a taste, and a feeling. Taken together, all of these sensory inputs have been designed to inspire creatives and consumers to think about color differently, to uncover new patterns and associations, and to encourage them to create new experiences that speak to people’s hearts as well as their minds. Members of the media can request a free, limited edition, Pantone Color of 2020 Multi-Sensory Kit by emailing [email protected].

Pantone Sensory Partners:

· ADOBE X PANTONE COLOR OF THE YEAR
Pantone has partnered with Adobe Stock to offer a handpicked Color of the Year collection of imagery to inspire creators and bring color to life. Classic Blue, Pantone’s choice for 2020, evokes a calm confidence, connection, and a sense of thoughtful stability as we embark on our next decade. With millions of visual assets, from still photography and design templates to fresh 3D and motion graphics, Adobe Stock is an endless resource for creatives seeking visual inspiration and essential design components. https://stock.adobe.com 

See the Adobe Stock/ Pantone Classic Blue gallery here:
https://stock.adobe.com/collections/jKy3Dg4a9DFE12Y2LdTxFC7l1UHPc9KC 

· ARTECHOUSE X PANTONE COLOR OF THE YEAR
The nation's first digital art destination, ARTECHOUSE creates innovative, one-of-a-kind technology driven exhibitions and installations, across the United States. Their new, permanent New York space, located in a 100-year-old boiler room in Chelsea Market will serve as the backdrop of our official Color of the Year 2020 announcement to media and influencers across design and creative industries. Inspired by the tranquility and calming effects of PANTONE 19-4052 Classic Blue, Pantone collaborated with ARTECHOUSE and their creative team to produce a unique, fully immersive, multi-sensory reveal.

· AUDIO UX X PANTONE COLOR OF THE YEAR
Audio UX, a next-gen audio branding agency, partnered with Pantone to create the sound of PANTONE 19-4052 Classic Blue. The sound builds on the timelessness and enduring nature of PANTONE 19-4052 Classic Blue, as our hearts call for a nostalgic song that takes us to a place of comfort and familiarity. The sound, named “Vivid Nostalgia” utilizes traditional instruments treated in innovative ways, bridging the gap between past and present. https://auxnyc.com/. 

· FEDEX OFFICE X PANTONE COLOR OF THE YEAR
Color inspires and brings storytelling to life for brands and consumers in many ways – from business cards, banners, presentations, textured graphics and much more. FedEx Office will bring PANTONE 19-4052 CLASSIC BLUE to life through the creation of a multidimensional installation within the launch experience using its state-of-the-art color matching and print technology. Businesses including Pantone and consumers trust FedEx Office to ensure the right color will be printed every time. https://www.fedex.com/en-us/office.html. 

· FIRMENICH X PANTONE COLOR OF THE YEAR
Pantone partnered with Firmenich, the world’s largest privately-owned fragrance and flavor company. Together with Firmenich, Pantone created the essence of “taste” and “smell” of PANTONE 19-4052 Classic Blue. The taste of PANTONE 19-4052 Classic Blue holds the experiential smell of fresh green, the initial taste of fruity sweet berry, and the final finish of floral and Classic Blue notes. The smell of PANTONE 19-4052 Classic Blue is a fragrant contemplation of where sky and sea meet – a boundless blue where there is no end. https://www.firmenich.com/. 

· THE INSIDE X PANTONE COLOR OF THE YEAR
Pantone partnered with The Inside, a digitally native home furnishings brand, to develop a custom Color of the Year 2020 fabric that tactilely embodies the spirit of PANTONE 19-4052 Classic Blue. The touch of PANTONE 19-4052 Classic Blue was inspired by its transitional quality, and how that manifests in the sky at dusk. Classic blue translates into a soft, velvety texture to print on, further emphasizing the comforting quality of this year’s Color of the Year. The custom fabric will be available for a limited time to purchase on a select number of The Inside's furnishings and decor. https://www.theinside.com/. 

· LANDR X PANTONE COLOR OF THE YEAR
In collaboration with Audio UX, LANDR, the creative platform for musicians, worked as Pantone’s audio partners to help create The Classic Blue Sample Pack, a conceptual audio embodiment of Classic Blue that explores the multi-sensorial experience of sound and color as one. The sample pack consists of 200 different samples and loops that bring PANTONE 19-4052 Classic Blue to life, and aims to inspire artists to make their best music. 

· TEALEAVES X PANTONE
Partnering with Pantone in curating colorful experiences since 2015, TEALEAVES, the luxury tea blender of choice for Michelin-star Chefs and 5-Star hotels worldwide, created the official bespoke tea blend to harmonize the color, aroma, and taste of PANTONE 19-4052 Classic Blue. Inspired by the rich symbolism associated with the color, TEALEAVES’ master blenders have used the highest-grade botanicals to create a wellness-oriented, elegant, and expansive berry mélange with subtle citrus notes. The Pantone Color of the Year 2020 Tea Blend is the epitome of a perfect palate expression of the color, created through the art of blending. https://www.tealeaves.com/. 

Limited Edition Pantone Color of Year 2020 Guides
Pantone will also release limited-edition collections of Pantone Color of the Year 2020 Formula Guides and Fashion, Home + Interiors Color Guides as collector’s items for designers, to help them better integrate Classic Blue into their workflow and drawing the connection between the inspiration that the Color of the Year offers to the color achievability and consistency that Pantone standards ensure. Guides will feature a specialized Color of the Year cover including messaging for Classic Blue enclosed within the guide. Available at on Pantone.com, these guides are perfect gifts for designers who are already on the pulse of color trends, or for up-and-comers who want to deck out their desk with the sleekest tools.

Pricing:
· Pantone Color of the Year 2020 Formula Guide (Coated & Uncoated): SRP $179
· Pantone Color of the Year 2020 Fashion, Home + Interiors Color Guide: SRP $210

Pantone Connect for Designing Digitally with Classic Blue
Pantone Connect, a time-saving color extension for Adobe Creative Cloud®, includes five different pre-loaded color palettes featuring Classic Blue. These Color of the Year themed palettes, along with every other Pantone Color, are available to browse through and integrate directly into design files within Adobe Photoshop®, Illustrator®, and InDesign®. Pantone Connect also offers designers an easy way to convert to Pantone from non-Pantone colors and collaborate on palettes with teammates. Download Pantone Connect to start designing with Classic Blue today.

About the Pantone Color of the Year
The Color of the Year selection process requires thoughtful consideration and trend analysis. To arrive at the selection each year, Pantone’s color experts at the Pantone Color Institute comb the world looking for new color influences. This can include the entertainment industry and films in production, traveling art collections and new artists, fashion, all areas of design, popular travel destinations, as well as new lifestyles, playstyles, and socio-economic conditions. Influences may also stem from new technologies, materials, textures, and effects that impact color, relevant social media platforms and even up-coming sporting events that capture worldwide attention. For 21 years, Pantone’s Color of the Year has influenced product development and purchasing decisions in multiple industries, including fashion, home furnishings, and industrial design, as well as product packaging and graphic design. Past selections for Color of the Year include:

PANTONE 16-1546 Living Coral (2019)
PANTONE 18-3838 Ultra Violet (2018)
PANTONE 15-0343 Greenery (2017)
PANTONE 15-3919 Serenity and PANTONE 13-1520 Rose Quartz (2016)
PANTONE 18-1438 Marsala (2015)
PANTONE 18-3224 Radiant Orchid (2014)
PANTONE 17-5641 Emerald (2013)
PANTONE 17-1463 Tangerine Tango (2012)
PANTONE 18-2120 Honeysuckle (2011)
PANTONE 15-5519 Turquoise (2010)
PANTONE 14-0848 Mimosa (2009)
PANTONE 18-3943 Blue Iris (2008)
PANTONE 19-1557 Chili Pepper (2007)
PANTONE 13-1106 Sand Dollar (2006)
PANTONE 15-5217 Blue Turquoise (2005)
PANTONE 17-1456 Tigerlily (2004)
PANTONE 14-4811 Aqua Sky (2003)
PANTONE 19-1664 True Red (2002)
PANTONE 17-2031 Fuchsia Rose (2001)
PANTONE 15-4020 Cerulean (2000)

The color selected as our Pantone Color of the Year 2020 was taken from the Pantone Fashion, Home + Interiors Color System, the most widely used and recognized color standards system for fashion, textile, home, and interior design.

For more information on the Pantone Color of the Year for 2020, please visit www.pantone.com/color-of-the-year-2020.