In a time where trend cycles are rapidly evolving and microtrends and subcultures are emerging, the creative community faces increasing pressure to stay ahead of trends and produce innovative designs. Color trends play a pivotal role, as color boosts brand recognition by 87 percent and influences up to 85 percent of purchasing decisions, making the understanding of color essential.
To support this need, Pantone has introduced Pantone Color Insider, an “aesthetically provocative” and “culturally relevant” color-centric trend service designed to unify all areas of design through the shared language of color.
Combining the “informative and insightful” with the “inspirational and innovative,” Pantone Color Insider provides users with color trend forecasts and data, offering insights on what’s trending in the short-term, long-term, macro, and local key color stories.
“For over 25 years, the Pantone Color Institute has been a go-to destination for brands and designers worldwide looking to understand future color trends and inform their own brand and product color choices. Pantone Color Insider allows us to make this information accessible to our larger creative community,” said Laurie Pressman, vice president of Pantone Color Institute. “We believe this content can support designers in understanding the relationship of color to global macro trends and what consumers are looking for, inspiring their design decisions. This is crucial as the design is increasingly led by color and material rather than shape and form.”
Pantone Color Insider is an added feature within Pantone Connect, enabling users to incorporate trending color data and insights into their workflow within the digital platform. It adds “another layer of actionable expertise” to the platform, which includes color IP to help designers execute color in print and manufacturing, creating products, packaging, and physical media. The design tool can also be integrated into core design programs and workflows, and used collaboratively within teams.
“The Pantone Connect platform has been a collaborative project with our creative community, ensuring we listen to their needs and tailor the product to assist with their design workflow,” said Jung Sin, global senior director, digital product management at Pantone. “Pantone Color Insider will help designers and the larger creative community understand what is happening in the world of color, providing actionable data to assist with color decision-making from project inception to ensuring color consistency and excellence at the end.”
Pantone Color Insider features a dedicated editorial team to collect, curate, and compose up-to-the-minute color stories that impact and influence design. The service includes content and data useful for creative inspiration, education, and decision-making, with expert trend insights and color education updated weekly. The global color data tool offers a quantitative look at color trends worldwide, highlighting color use across industries and cities to inform designers about their peers' color usage.
“So many people expect to get this information from us, and we did not have it readily available before,” Pressman said. “We are a unique destination where color comes first. We’re in the business of color, and we must be a resource for color trends. People depend on us for all things color.”
Pantone Color Insider offers “freemium” access to limited content and basic palette-building, with premium subscriptions available. Premium users can access the full range of trending articles and information, while a bundled option with Pantone Connect includes the full suite of trend and data features, along with workflow and collaboration tools. Notably, Pantone Color Insider is mobile-friendly.
“Pantone Color Insider’s immediacy and saliency provide the confidence to make color decisions,” Pressman said. “This is what you need to know and why we see it happening. The clarity and conciseness of our information are what people are looking for.”
