Pantone Selects This Uplifting Shade as Their 2022 Color of the Year

2022's Color of the Year predictions have shown a clear trend—and they're seeing green. Paint brands and designers alike pinned green as the defining shade of the new year, due to its rise in popularity as a new neutral in 2021.

But, Pantone is here to introduce a new shade into the mix to tell the story of 2022: PANTONE 17-3938 Very Peri, an uplifting and dynamic purple. We didn't see this one coming, but we are officially obsessed with the color.

Pantone describes the hue as one that displays, "carefree confidence and daring curiosity," one that is sure to ignite creativity and bring a new vision to the next year—and that's something we could all use.

"As we move into a world of unprecedented change, the selection of Veri Peri brings a novel perspective and vision of the trusted and beloved blue color family," Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute, states.

Displaying the calming qualities of blue while possessing a violet-red undertone, Very Peri comes off courageous, creative, and imaginative. As blue is typically a soothing and calming shade, Pantone wanted to pull some of these qualities while introducing a new perspective—and in walked Veri Peri, with its cool blue undertones but bright purple overcast.

Veri Peri is a sharp contrast from Pantone's 2021 selections, Ultimate Gray and Illuminating, a balancing gray and cheerful yellow. These colors were grounding yet optimistic, embodying a message of hope and strength coming out of 2020. Veri Peri is strong in its own right, but much more confident in its boldness and creativity.

Veri Peri marks another milestone as well—the first time in Pantone's history that a new color was created specifically for the Color of the Year.

“The Pantone Color of the Year reflects what is taking place in our global culture. It is expressing what people are looking for that color can hopefully answer,” Laurie Pressman, Vice President of the Pantone Color Institute, notes. “Creating a new color for the first time in history reflects the global innovation and transformation taking place."

Brands are right on board with Pantone's selection, like Sunbrella and Sherwin-Williams. Greg Voorhis, the executive design director at Sunbrella, is excited that the purple Pantone hue reflects the boldness his brand continues to explore in pattern and texture.

“Very Peri represents the imminent power of courageous design, which is something that we’ve always encouraged through the patterns, textures, and layering techniques that we explore at Sunbrella," he shares.

Sue Wadden, director of color marketing at Sherwin-Williams, agrees that Veri Peri is reflective of our world today, noting that as the shade is a hybrid of blue and red-violet, our world is now a hybrid of physical and digital interactions.

"We are living in an increasingly digitized world as we blend what once was and what is as our lives become more hybrid in every aspect," she states. "This transformation is reflected in almost every element of design, with great emphasis being placed on our home environments. We're continuing to create living spaces that inspire and mirror our internal experience as we look to a more hopeful future."  

As the world continues to emerge from hardship and long periods of isolation, it can use a bit of uplifting and inspiring. Veri Peri was selected with this in mind: embracing the way the world has changed and inspiring a new era of positivity, which now blends our physical and digital lives. These factors have merged in ways we couldn't have foreseen, but Pantone feels that Veri Peri is reflective of digital design and new color possibilities to explore in the new year.