Why I don't love Pantone's "colour of the year"

Late in 2015 the Pantone company revealed its new colour for 2016. This year it’s not one, but TWO colours that make Pantone’s “it” choice. They are

Pantone 13-1520 Rose Quartz and Pantone 15-3919 Serenity.

These are meant to be colours for fashion and home, but being Pantone colours, of course they spill into the graphic design world. And that’s where my uneasiness begins.

By themselves, these are very nice colours. But when it comes specifically to logo design, I hope no client will ask me to use either of those colours.

“But why not,” you may think. “It will be so trendy!!! You will be creating a logo that’s at the forefront of colour trends!” Think about that for a minute. Yes, it will be the hot colour…for a year. What happens when the next colour trend arrives? Will I have to change the logo then? Doesn’t make much sense, does it?

Beyond the temporary nature of trends, I find it hard to get excited about a specific colour that will probably not be a good choice for many designs. When it comes to logos, and choosing your company colours, it’s seldom a good idea to choose “colours of the year” as the ones that will represent your brand for years to come.

Think of the appropriateness of Rose Quartz and Serenity for instance. These are very soft colours on the pastel side of things. They don’t offer great contrast, nor will they stand up too well against a white background (for example, a billboard viewed from 100 feet away). They can also be seen as fairly feminine, which will not make them a good choice for many male-oriented industries.

And that’s why I’m not fond of Pantone’s “colour of the Year” announcement. Personally, I don’t think they make a lot of sense for logo design. We need to keep in mind that the colours we choose are for our audiences, not for us. The logo colours should be attracting our ideal clients, and not just reflecting our personal choices.