Pantone announces ‘Very Peri’ as its 2022 color of the year

CARLSTADT, N.J. - Pantone has revealed its color of the year for 2022: "Very Peri," a new shade that aims to symbolize transformative times and "places the future ahead in a new light."

The color is a periwinkle blue hue with violet-red undertones and is meant to evoke "a new vision as we rewrite our lives."

"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," Pantone representatives said in a statement. "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."

Pantone’s "Very Peri" color is pictured in a provided image. (Photo credit: Pantone)

Pantone’s color experts at its Pantone Color Institute scour trends in entertainment, fashion, travel and even "socio-economic conditions" for inspiration each year before picking a color of the year.

Pantone noted trends in gaming, the increasing popularity of the metaverse and a growing artistic community online, adding that Veri Peri aims to serve as "the fusion of modern life and how color trends in the digital world are being manifested in the physical world and vice versa."

The color of the year selection inspires various industries, including apparel, beauty, interior design, packaging and technology. Pantone partnered with Microsoft this year to infuse the shade in its products.

The "Very Peri" color is pictured alongside beauty products in a provided image. (Photo credit: Pantone)

Pantone’s 2020 choice was "Classic Blue," meant to serve as "an anchor offering stability, constancy and connection." The color was announced in late 2019, prior to the onset of the global COVID-19 pandemic. 

The 2021 choice was "Ultimate Gray" and "Illuminating," a bright yellow. The dual colors were meant to convey "a message of strength and hopefulness that is both enduring and uplifting."

For 2022, Pantone created a new shade for the first time in its 23-year history of choosing a color of the year. 

"The Pantone Color of the Year reflects what is taking place in our global culture, expressing what people are looking for that color can hope to answer," Laurie Pressman, the vice president of the Pantone Color Institute, said in a statement.

Pressman added: "As society continues to recognize color as a critical form of communication, and a way to express and affect ideas and emotions and engage and connect, the complexity of this new red violet infused blue hue highlights the expansive possibilities that lay before us."

This story was reported from Cincinnati.