It doesn’t seem long ago that I wrote about Pantone’s colour of the year for 2020; Classic Blue. In Pantone’s own words, it was chosen for “Instilling calm, confidence, and connection, this enduring blue hue highlights our desire for a dependable and stable foundation on which to build as we cross the threshold into a new era.“  Little did we realise how much we were going to need that in 2020!

In a massive departure from Classic Blue, Pantone brings us twin colours for 2021; Illuminating (yellow) and Ultimate Grey. “A marriage of color conveying a message of strength and hopefulness that is both enduring and uplifting” is how the twin colours are described. Pantone goes on to say:

“As people look for ways to fortify themselves with energy, clarity, and hope to overcome the continuing uncertainty, spirited and emboldening shades satisfy our quest for vitality. Illuminating is a bright and cheerful yellow sparkling with vivacity, a warming yellow shade imbued with solar power. 

Ultimate Gray is emblematic of solid and dependable elements which are everlasting and provide a firm foundation. The colors of pebbles on the beach and natural elements whose weathered appearance highlights an ability to stand the test of time, Ultimate Gray quietly assures, encouraging feelings of composure, steadiness and resilience.”

Many people like grey and it rarely offends. It can be placed with almost any other colour without looking awful but particularly suits those with cooler toned colouring. Because I worked in office buildings in the late twentieth century, I see it as the default colour for cabinetry, carpet and wall paint and along with fluorescent lighting, I find it dreary, oppressive and unimaginative.

Illuminating, on the other hand, really sparkles, but is still a matter of personal taste. It’s a smidge warmer than an acid yellow but I still find it a fairly confronting colour. The way I perceive it, it almost straddles warm and cool and is high in pigment so there is nothing soft about it.

While not a fan of either colour individually, I have discovered that by blending the two hues, I can create numerous tones of grey green that I like very much. See below.

I’ve put together some classic colour schemes for Illuminating and they’re pretty bright! But do note that you don’t need to use a lot of any of the colours and can mix them with large swathes of neutrals to calm it all down.