Every year, Pantone declares one hue to be Color of the Year, a color predictive of global design trends and overall attitudes of the upcoming year. In December of 2022, Pantone announced its 2023 Color of the Year to be Viva Magenta 18-1750. One year later, it’s time to reflect on the accuracy and impact of this decision.
I will do my best to describe Viva Magenta to you, but only looking at the color does it justice. It’s a rich purplish-red with cool blue undertones. It’s vibrant, but contained, and not over-the-top with its saturation. If I had to give it a taste, I would simply say pomegranate.
Pantone describes Viva Magenta as a “signal of strength” and goes as far as to say that it promotes “joy and optimism.” Its power comes from its connection to the primordial natural world, inspired by the dye of the cochineal insect, but also promotes the fusion of technology and nature.
To understand the meaning behind 2023’s choice, one must first understand how each Color of the Year is decided, a process that is far more involved than one might assume. Year-round, experts at Pantone analyze global trends in various categories to forecast future attitudes. They may look for new color influences in industries such as art, fashion, and design, but also consider factors like technological advancements, socioeconomic conditions, environmental circumstances, travel trends, and even sporting events. Contrary to what one might assume, these forecasting results are not amalgamated into the Color of the Year at one meeting, but are continually “tested” year-round by Pantone team members, who may feature color influences in their own works, prescribe them to clients, or even teach classes on the colors.
Experts landed on Viva Magenta for 2023 after observing renewed interest in nature, with more people keeping plants in their homes and showing appreciation for the resilience of the Earth in light of the exigence of the global climate crisis. The strength of the color was a prediction of global emotions and attitudes to come. In hindsight, I think the color was perfectly chosen. Mirroring the previous year, 2023 has been a year of political unrest met with a powerful response as well as a year of intensified environmental concern and action, factors which could not be better embodied by Viva Magenta.
Despite all of this “color anthropology,” as Pantone calls it, the decision ultimately adopts a commercial implication. After all, Pantone is a color business. With this in mind, my first impression of Viva Magenta was, “I bet they’re releasing a lipstick with this one.” However, I was pleasantly surprised to see that in line with their rationale, Pantone’s color collaborations have been focused on powerful technology (Motorola’s Edge 30 Fusion) as well as a return to nature (Spoonflower wallpapers). One criticism I do have with Viva Magenta, however, is its ability to get lost in translation; it is impossible to represent objects in one color entirely due to shadows and lighting. Projects like the Cariuma sneaker collaboration appear almost neon pink, a choice that conflates Viva Magenta with the untamed rather than the bold yet controlled.
I have never been a fan of cool reds (sorry Stevens), but I like Viva Magenta because I think that’s the point. There is nothing comfortable about rebelling from the norm. For this, Viva Magenta is brash in its implications. Even though 2023 is about to come to an end, you can still look to Viva Mageta to tell you to viva la vida (live life) the way you want.
