It’s official: 2024 is the year of Peach Fuzz. That’s according to the team of forecasters at the Pantone Color Institute, which has elected this gentle, orangey-pink hue as Color of the Year. The hue “echoes our innate yearning for closeness and connection” and is “radiant with warmth and modern elegance,” the institute’s executive director, Leatrice Eiseman, said in a statement.
It’s a color reminiscent of sunrise or a nice summer’s day, says Lauren Labrecque, a marketing researcher specializing in color at the University of Rhode Island. While she isn’t always a fan of Pantone’s choices—such as 2021’s pair of gray and yellow—she loves this year’s “soft, warm, fuzzy” selection.
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“This one in particular I thought was spot-on,” Labrecque says, adding that after years of conflicts, crises and economic struggles, there’s a yearning in the air for something soothing and warm. This year’s softly bright shade, she says, “sort of captures the zeitgeist: moving forward, hoping to focus more on positivity and warmth.”
After Pantone’s annual announcement, designers and marketers across industries such as fashion and web design will often incorporate the color into their products. Though it’s hard to disentangle whether Pantone is setting the trend or responding to ones already in motion, Labrecque says it’s likely a bit of both.
This year’s pick is not quite a pastel, but it’s lighter than last year’s bold, saturated shade, Viva Magenta, and a bit of an inversion of 2022’s rich blue-purple hue, Very Peri. “A lot of it is about what people crave,” says Elizabeth…
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