Pantone's colour of the year is 18-1750 Viva Magenta

Calling it powerful and empowering, the Pantone Color Institute has announced Viva Magenta 18-1750 as the Colour of the Year for 2023. "Viva Magenta is brave and fearless, and a pulsating colour whose exuberance promotes a joyous and optimistic celebration, writing a new narrative" said the company in a statement. Other words the company deployed to characterise the colour include powerful, empowering, electrifying, boundaryless, audacious and inclusive.

This year’s decision, Pantone said, involved an experimental merging of human trend experts and artificial intelligence. Another major influence in its choice was the red hue of cochineal, a natural scarlet dye made by pulverising certain scaled insects. The announcement emphasised Viva Magenta as a symbol of courage.

According to Pantone, the colour also merges the richness, warmth, and strength of natural matters with the rich, open horizons of the digital world. The company believes that this "shade of red" can expand their horizons of authenticity. While last year's colour also spoke to the balance between the natures of technology, Pantone says what sets magenta apart is its "ability to answer our collective need for strength."

Pantone states that the colour manifests as a stand-out statement and is 'audacious, full of wit and inclusive of all'. “Rooted in the primordial, Pantone 18-1750 Viva Magenta reconnects us to original matter. Invoking the forces of nature, Pantone 18-1750 Viva
Magenta galvanises our spirit, helping us to build our inner strength,” said Leatrice Eiseman, executive director, Pantone Color Institute.

While some believe that the magenta doesn’t exist, as there is no wavelength of light that corresponds to that colour, but Pantone defines it as a "nuanced crimson red tone that presents a balance between warm and cool" Magenta is a hybrid in many senses, the colour authority says, as it straddles the physical and the virtual, the organic and the innovative.

Pantone, which began as a commercial printing company producing colour charts for the cosmetic, fashion and medical industries, has been championing colours of the year since 2000. The programme aims to highlight the relationship between colour and culture, and colours of the year are chosen because they reflect the global culture at a specific moment in time. Its selection process involves looking at everything from the entertainment and travel industries to technologies, cultural events and socioeconomic conditions, to analyse and forecast trends.

Pantone's chosen colours of the year go on to influence product development and purchasing decisions in all sorts of industries, including fashion, industrial design and product packaging. Viva Magenta is a "universally flattering shade" it says, offering tips for how to incorporate the colour into your wardrobe, home and graphic design.

The company will also be collaborating with various brands to create a variety of products using the colour shade for 2023. For example, Motorola will produce a special edition of its Motorola Edge Fusion 30 smartphone in Viva Magenta, while parent company Lenovo has expanded the partnership into PCs and tablets.