Pantone’s colour of the year 2018 – Ultra Violet « Back to list
What does it mean for designers
Ultra Violet, or Pantone 18-3838 is the Pantone Colour Institute’s colour of the year 2018. Pantone, the global authority on colour are calling Ultra Violet “a spiritual, cosmic hue of purple”, “dramatically provocative and thoughtful” and “a blue-based purple that takes our awareness and potential to a higher level.” Great. But what does that actually mean for designers and their customers? And what does colour of the year really mean anyway?
How do Pantone pick their colour of the year?
Pantone choose their colour of the year based on a study of everything that’s happening and relevant in the worlds of fashion, design, art, entertainment, travel and news.
Do we all have to start using Ultra Violet?
Brands certainly won’t be rushing to replace their existing colour palate or to include Ultra Violet in their existing brand identity. However, we’re likely to see more of it in new campaigns, with both Adobe and Saatchi Art working alongside Pantone to champion their new colour of 2018. Pantone certainly hope brands and designers will embrace Ultra Violet for new campaigns and products.
Designers and creatives do take note and talk about (as we’re doing here) Pantone’s colour of the year. And that means it can become more prominent. We can expect to see this shade in homes around the world and even on the high street. While we’ll be seeing more of Ultra Violet this year we shouldn’t feel we have to incorporate it into our designs. However, not all brands should automatically piggyback a trend.
What do designers think of Pantone colour of the year 2018?
Up until now purple (as some are calling the shade) has been a polarising colour. While some see it as luxurious and creative, others see it as too unusual for mainstream advertising or design. Adopting Ultra Violet as the lead colour would be a brave move for some brands – it’s unusual and triggers odd associations for some audiences. However, Pantone sees their colour of 2018 as communicating originality, ingenuity, and optimism.
Ultra violet, screaming yellow or bright pink – perfect print every time with DigitalPrinting.co.uk
At DigitalPrinting.co.uk we use only industry-leading HP Indigo digital presses that produce superb image reproduction and will beautifully reproduce Ultra Violet or any other colours in your designs. We guarantee all our digital and large format print as well as our turnaround times and every other aspect of our service. For more information on any of our products or to get prices, upload artwork and order, simply visit www.DigitalPrinting.co.uk.
