Pantone Announces 2023 Color of the Year: Viva Magenta

Pantone, the authority on all things color, announced its 2023 Color of the Year: Viva Magenta (Pantone 18-1750).

Each year, the Pantone Color Institute selects a shade (or two) to represent not only what color is going to be popular in product design and fashion, but also represents the current state of the world. Using the evocative nature of color, the Color of the Year is a visual manifestation of where we're at as society, and what the next year looks like.

It also looks good on a coffee mug or T-shirt.

Viva Magenta was chosen for its bold sense of natural power, with red hues that give off senses of joy and visibility.

"In this age of technology, we look to draw inspiration from nature and what is real," Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute, said. "Pantone 18-1750 Viva Magenta descends from the red family, and is inspired by the red of cochineal, one of the most precious dyes belonging to the natural dye family, as well as one of the strongest and brightest the world has known. Rooted in the primordial, Pantone 18-1750 Viva Magenta reconnects us to original matter. Invoking the forces of nature, Pantone 18-1750 Viva Magenta galvanizes our spirit, helping us to build our inner strength."

To go along with the announcement, Pantone did collaborations with various consumer product brands, like with the sneaker brand Cariuma for official Color of the Year sneakers. The Viva Magenta and white sneakers feature the Pantone logo, and come in a variety of skateboarding-influenced designs, like slip-ons, high-tops and classic low-top designs.

It also worked with Motorola for a Viva Magenta edge 30 fusion smartphone, which features the Pantone swatch logo on the bottom.

On Pantone's own online store, you can buy Viva Magenta colored keychains, coffee cups, notebooks plastic chips and formula guides for integrating the shade with other colors in designs.

Last year's Color of the Year was the purply Very Peri, preceded by the two-color year of 2021 with Ultimate Gray and Illuminating.

After a few years of more subdued, lighter shades, Pantone is steering into bolder choices. The strong Viva Magenta is eye-catching and lends itself nicely to all sorts of applications across consumer products and branding identities.