Emerald and Aloe Greens replace Tangerine Orange for the New Year!
Fashion colors for the New Year have been announced from all of the major color forecasting groups and greens seem to be the new it color for 2013. This comes on the heels last year’s Tangerine Tango, and personally after a ten year run I am glad to see the waning of orange in all of its iterations. Pantone has chosen Emerald Green as its choice and Sherwin Williams has chosen a lighter shade they are calling Aloe Green. Pantone opines that emerald green enhances our sense of well being, is calming and promotes balance and harmony. Its historical roots indicate a sense of sophistication and luxury.
Color forecasters track changes taking place in all design industries and make a choice based on what has been trending in the last twelve months. In some respects this is retrospective, but once this group gives it their seal of approval many more industries and companies jump on board and take what is trending and make it main-stream. Then WHAM – all of a sudden it’s everywhere from cars to iPods. What I find fascinating is how individual companies interpret the colors for their branded products and interiors; for instance Prada has been using a light green akin to a 1960’s hospital green as a backdrop to their luxury leather goods. While this works as a subtle color back drop to the black and white luxury leather goods, if over used by many retailers it would not be as successful.
The Bottom Line: Color is one of the most important aspects of branding. Companies go to great lengths to manage their brand through consistent use of color in their logomarks, signage, architecture and products. The choice of a particular color requires a tremendous amount research and analysis to achieve its proper integration into an entire branding campaign. What is interesting about forecasting is that they look for inspiration in fast paced industries such as the fashion industry then aggregate what is trending for future products and interiors.