Trendsletter - Colors of the year, secrets & trends, of course!
Hello ho ho Reader,
It is time! This time of the year is quite pivotal, everyone wants to know what will change when the number on the calendar page turns. The sound of the new year sings in unison with the trend & color predictions! Several have already spoken about what the future has in store for us in terms of tone for 2021, here they are:
👇 The tape comes from Behr's trend palette
Brave Ground - Dulux
Aegean Teal - Benjamin Moore
Urban Bronze - Sherwin-Williams
Passionate - HGTV x Sherwin-Williams
Illuminating - Ultimate Grey - Pantone
AI aqua - Coloro x WGSN pour 2021 - Orchid pour 2022
2022, already? Yes already .. Some industries have a faster pace compared to others. Watch their most recent video:
How to make sense with all this?
The colors of the year should not be applied as is. These colors of the year are a marketing and sales lever for companies that lends itself to the game. On the other hand, I raised some personality traits and common points emerged among these colors:
- Earthy tones
- Neutral
- Timeless
- Subdued
- Purple phase *
* Colors (like trends) act on a cycle (or wave). The eye gets tired of certain tones until it is forgotten and returns to it. The company is currently in the lower left phase of the wheel.
For more Fashionable colors, a tension between offline and online sets in, where high chroma colors echoing the digital world appear every other year. The idea of technology (AI aqua) and mental health come up in all research to develop the color of the year.
Pantone has once again chosen two colors this year (as in 2016): one to illuminate the mind and the other to neutralize. Duality is a strong element and will continue to be so in the coming years as society moves towards opposite poles. You can review my analysis in story highlights on Instagram. Two more secrets about Pantone's color of the year 🤫🤫
Secret # 1 Usually hiding in the S / S trend report that went on sale a few months ago
Secret # 2 It is part of a logical continuation (balance between hot and cold tones & G, P, R, B sequence)
| Oh Ho interesting |
Color Forecasting tools
- Coolors to create automatic palettes from images
- Studio Pantone, favorite application to keep color palettes and create directly from the camera of your phone + get the codes
- Miro to create your moodboard and mindmap in remote style between colleagues (used by WGSN and Coloro for the color of the year 2022)
- Picular when you are lacking inspiration for a specific topic in colors, simply add your keyword
👉My Prediction
I often get asked what my prediction is for the color of the year. I'll make it short, I don't have any. I am of the opinion that the color of the year (and the consumption event around it) should end. After more than 20 years of colors of the year for some, it is not sustainable to continue the pace. Stop the color of the year to reduce:
- Environmental impact (of the merchandise & the dye)
- The (over) load of additional information
- Unnecessarily use of resources (human, time, nature)
Not that I don't have a prediction or a hunch about how society's color preferences shift, but that this habit of spinning the wheel and consuming trends at breakneck speed has to stop. These colors are usually forecast to help sales without having sustainability in mind.
Instead of a color of the year, it is now more relevant to talk about a concept of the year. What emanates more than one color, textures and ideas and which elaborates more on the mood of the company than on the purchase of a tone. For fun, here are two that are very interesting to me:
On the agenda
📅 Thrusday January 14th 18h00 - Trend analysis & lifestyle Uni class starts - UQAM
📅 December 18 to Jan. 11 - Extended holiday break🎄🎄
| Plan a meeting once we are back |
On going projects
- The Future of Healthy Living with Healthenthusiam
- Writing a book (what am I saying, 2 books) 📖 📖
- Curational committee 💛 U+ZINE #4 Food Plurality University
- Online workshop for designers on possible futures (registrations to come)
Wishlist 🎁
🎁 Future gifts, speculative designs. No need to buy, just look at the selection is interesting!
🎁 A guide by several futurists on the innovations to be obtained with a high added value: Future normal gift guide
🎁 Trend forecasting book recommendations in my highlights
& to continue on the theme of colors, my favorite magazines:
🎨 Mix magazine by Color Hive for the semiotic articles and the analysis of colors by geographic regions
🎨 Sindroms a publication for the monochrome state of mind that analyzes a specific color per issue
In case you missed it
📽️ Rewatch the Live avec PRonTheGo (EN)
It's about intuition, trends, tips for entrepreneurs and more
Expert comments and recent contributions:
🤯 Article - A cultural history of Crocs W magazine
🔬 Article - L'impact de la pandémie sur l'industrie de la mode Narcity (FR)
👗 Article - La mode des vêtements non genrés Narcity (FR)
👩💻 Report - Ecommerce Trend Report Divante
This trendsletter was wayyy longer than expecteed and usual, apologies! There is so much to share, talk and write about! And even more to come in 2021. Did you also find it too short?
| Let's discuss for hours |
Happy holidays!
Marie-Michele Larivée
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