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The Internet Has *Feelings* About Pantone’s Color Of The Year… Let’s Discuss
Did you hear about this Pantone color of the year thing?” my non-design-focused husband asked me the other night. His feeds are wildly different than mine, full of photography tutorials, comedy Reels, and nostalgic content; so for Pantone to have made its way into his algorithm tells me all I need to know this year: Everyone is talking about it, for better or for worse.
If you’re as clueless about this as my husband was last year without the viral chatter, Pantone—an international authority on all things color—chooses a “Color of the Year” every December. Since 1999, many other companies, from paint brands to home siding manufacturers, have followed suit, none more awaited than Pantone. Their selected hue for the upcoming calendar year speaks to the intersection of culture, current events, and design. So, while you may see a velvety peach as a choice (like we did in 2024 from them), it might not mean that soft oranges are trending in the traditional sense, but more so that the “mood” of our world, through their lens, matches their pick. Their language used around the shades often sounds like this (from 2024): “PANTONE 13-1023, or Peach Fuzz, fosters a sense of closeness and connection, acting as a balm in times of uncertainty.”
In a moment of upheaval, discord, and change, fraught with what feels like an epidemic of selfishness and a distancing from the greater good by authority figures (not to mention, though unrelated, a move toward maximalism and an explosion of color and patterns in our homes lately), Pantone decided to choose…
White.
PANTONE 11-4201 Cloud Dancer to be exact: “A lofty white that serves as a symbol of calming influence in a society rediscovering the value of quiet reflection.” Hmm…interesting choice of words.
I’m not the only one who took a moment and thought “uh…what?” Almost as if an Amber Alert went off on all of our phones and we collectively got to work sharing our not-so-quiet reflections on our social platforms, my feeds exploded with stunned and salty opinions. At best, Cloud Dancer feels lazy; at worst, at least according to some enflamed posters, tone deaf and even in support of an “all-whites” agenda.
The Reactions & Rejections
Let’s take a look at some of the strong feelings heard around the interwebs.
I admit, initially, I let the outrage fuel me. I saw someone write that the noise around the color is louder than the color itself, which was spot on. After sitting with it for a few days, I decided that, for me, it’s simply uninspiring. Those copywriters had to work overtime trying to find a way to make white—and mind you, a boring middle-of-the-road white with no leanings to warm or cool—sound interesting. Here are quotes from two figureheads over at Pantone, and boy, I’ve never seen so many creative words used to describe landlord white:
The product collaborations attached to this release are even more ironic-chuckle-inducing. There’s white Play-Doh. A white mug. A white keychain. A white notebook. Joybird, which has been releasing a special Pantone COTY collab line in recent years, launched…white furniture. You mean, what they already had lying around in the warehouse, perhaps that they just renamed to Joybird x Cloud Dancer? It’s just silly.
Is Pantone Just Rage Baiting Us?
I even saw an article by Allure (yes, the beauty/women’s lifestyle mag), questioning if the choice was just intended to be rage bait. To reignite people’s attention and feelings around the Color of the Year conversation that has felt a bit stale in the last few years. Frankly, the last time it felt interesting to me was in 2016 when they launched the first “we couldn’t decide” pairing of Rose Quartz and Serenity. And I can almost guarantee that everyone will be watching next year to see how far it swings away from Cloud Dancer. Genius marketing and PR move or just obnoxious? (I’m leaning toward the latter; don’t act like you’re trying to say something about stillness and calm if your actual intent was to poke at the embers of society, you know?)
But something I’m working on in myself recently is remaining curious rather than jumping to assumptions. What if, indeed, Pantone, was looking for a clean slate? Intentional restraint from all the noise *everywhere* and *everything.* Sure, “white” is kind of insulting in its simplicity for something of this nature, but last year was brown (Mocha Mousse). Personally, I know that my entire spirit is fatigued for many reasons, so perhaps the void that a color like Cloud Dancer creates is a quiet fortress of solitude that is very much needed right now for some of us to escape from constant distraction.
Does it make for exciting product releases? Absolutely not. Some of them are maddeningly mind-numbing, such as the Cloud Dancer white wallpaper—pictured being applied on top of a white wall—from an artist on Spoonflower. In previous years, the brand released very fun prints in partnership with the color authority (here is last year’s); this year? Nothing officially, just whatever the third-party artists have done themselves…and I don’t blame them. As a design editor, my inbox is always jammed with outreach by PR people sharing products from their clients in shades similar to the COTY, hoping I include them in a roundup about the announcement. This year, I got two messages. TWO. Talk about a blank slate….for my Gmail account. It quieted the noise in that sense, that’s for sure.
What Does Cloud Dancer Say For Interiors In 2026 & Beyond?
Because this is a design blog and not the Op Ed section of your chosen newspaper, I want to offer up some interiors-focused conversation, as well. For instance, when I brought up this topic to Emily, her initial quandary was: “Does this mean clean and bright interiors might make a comeback? And, even more controversial, are cooler whites going to prevail over the dominant warm white in 2026?” I don’t know, but it does match the natural progression of things. I think warm neutrals still have some juice left in their fruits to squeeze, likely for another three to four years. But then what happens? Well, people flip to the opposite spectrum. No more warm undertones, all in on cool whites and grays, just as it happened in the early 2000s. We went from cherry red woods and brown and beige everything to millennial gray and contemporary whites. Time will tell, I suppose.
Until we get there—LORD PLEASE LET’S NOT GO BACK THERE—I wanted to celebrate some selected colors of the year from other companies that feel like the people sitting in the room making the decisions were not trying to enrage us, but rather inspire us.
Let’s start with Coloro x WGSN, who released their 2026 COTY back in 2024, and have just announced their 2027 hue. Yup, they work that far ahead, unlike some of the other brands, given their nature. WGSN is a trend forecasting authority that heavily drives product manufacturing, while Coloro is a color expert, so the two come together to pick a singular Color of the Year.
For 2026, they went with Transformative Teal, which is absolutely luminous. The kind of color you can’t take your eyes off of; that you dream of being bold enough to use in some capacity. It’s rich, dramatic, and timeless in the right application. Take a look:
Can you imagine that on a hand-glazed tile in a bathroom?!? As a border accent on a fabulous rug? It says something, unlike ::cough cough:: basic white.
Now, onto 2027 for WGSN x Coloro. Get ready, because if Transformative Teal spoke volumes, the next one has a megaphone in hand.
Feast your eyes on Luminous Blue. ::stands up; applauds; hoots and hollers:: Look, making a claim to a color of the year is far beyond what color we’re painting our walls, okay? You might see this International Klein Blue-esque shade and think “not for me or my home,” but it goes well beyond the walls you surround yourself with. It informs fashion, packaging, product design, branding, and marketing. Something like this is not quickly forgotten, and isn’t that worthy of celebration?
This third color, Divine Damson by Graham & Brown, is yet another intense jewel tone, and I’m making no apologies for it. Rather than quiet reflection and going inward like Cloud Dancer claims to want us to do, I think we should all be living our truest, most daring version of ourselves. No more fakery, no more shrinking. Be authentically you; sure, that might be a person who feels most stable in a bright and neutral room, but it could also be a person who wants to be hugged by mulberry-meets-garnet burgundies.
And finally, in an honorable mention position, is Behr’s Hidden Gem. This was the first COTY announced this year from the paint company heavy hitters, and I’ve gotta tell you, I wasn’t overwhelmed with emotion when I saw it. Mostly because I feel like I’ve been seeing it for a while now. It didn’t feel new or fresh or forward-thinking. Unlike Transformative Teal that has an incredible depth to it, this one is chalky and milky. It’s beautiful, sure (I had walls in a very similar color years ago by Farrow & Ball), but it’s expected.
HOWEVER, I’ll still take it over Cloud Dancer, and for that, it made my list. It’s soothing and welcoming and pensive, and, from a design perspective, works beautifully with tons of other shades; I’m partial to warm-leaning colors like the olive in the chairs above.
—
So that my friends, brings me to the end of my rant about color. Based on how many articles and posts have come out on the same subject, some might say Pantone has won. The most genius Public Relations move; but I don’t like feeling as if I’ve been had, so for that, I’m a hard no on Cloud Dancer.
I’d love to hear your insights, thoughts, comments (angry or happy or otherwise), and especially anything I’ve missed or haven’t taken into consideration. What are you seeing that I’m not? Let’s keep talking about it.
Until next time, friends…
*Opening Image Credits: Photo courtesy of Pantone
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