I know you’ve been waiting breathlessly for Pantone’s announcement of its Color of the Year 2022. So I won’t prolong the suspense:
Their About Pantone Color of the Year paragraph says something about technology and doesn’t even begin to explain their image of purple fur and bubbles. But true to form, their appropriately purple prose becomes unintentionally humorous if one reads enough of it. Ridiculous might be a more accurate word.
Here’s an example:
We are living in transformative times. PANTONE 17-3938 Very Peri is a symbol of the global zeitgeist of the moment and the transition we are going through. As we emerge from an intense period of isolation, our notions and standards are changing, and our physical and digital lives have merged in new ways. Digital design helps us to stretch the limits of reality, opening the door to a dynamic virtual world where we can explore and create new color possibilities. With trends in gaming, the expanding popularity of the metaverse and rising artistic community in the digital space PANTONE 17-3938 Very Peri illustrates the fusion of modern life and how color trends in the digital world are being manifested in the physical world and vice versa.
Geez, people. It’s just a color!
As it happens, I love most purples, but I’m content using periwinkle, lavender, lilac, mauve, jewel-tone, royal, etc., as descriptors. In short, I’m quite pleased with Pantone’s selection but detest everything about their presentation. I suppose some copywriter had to do his or her job, but I wouldn’t rush to put my name on it.
Oops. Spoke too soon:
Well, there’s no accounting for taste said the old lady …