Pantone makes guides that standardize color for a lot of products and design, from logos to fabrics to packaging.  Instead of having one person see tomato and the other tomahto, you get both looking at Pantone 180 C on their Pantone guides.

While color predictions often feel stale and pretentious when out of context, I do find Pantone to be more relevant than most.  Remember the imact that blue had in spring 2008?  And purple for this fall?   Pantone said they would.

For spring, they see optimism.  It looks like a lot of dusty colors with some cyan overlaid primaries to punch up the palette.  My take: the muted colors will go high end, while the brights will go street.  The salmon rose is so 80s to me – salmon lipstick and nail polish were considered classic.  (Funny how standards for classic change without warning).

More on Pantone’s site.

Tags: color forecast, design, Pantone, SS09