Color communicates and it sells everything from products and services to ideas and environments.
This helps explain why color forecasting has become such a vital process for so many organizations and industries. In normal times, color trends are evolutionary, changing gradually and subtly in step with cultural, social, economic and technological developments. But these are not normal times and, according to the color experts, the stresses that beset our society are having a rather direct influence on the direction of the color palette.

For Leatrice Eiseman of the Pantone Color Institute, this means a "continuing quest for harmony" that includes, among other things, that "colors have to combine so they are pleasing and not disturbing." For Margaret Walch, author and director of the Color Association of the United States, "soft, colorful hues come to the rescue in an age of high anxiety." And for Color Marketing Groupís Melanie Wood, "today's consumer wants to feel safe and tranquil in an otherwise crazy world."

But it would be misleading to suggest that the color forecasts provided here by three world class organizations - Color Marketing Group, the Color Association of the United States and the Pantone Color Institute - are all about retreating and hiding. Indeed, within each forecast, a savvy observer can also find a streak of optimism and regeneration of spirit.

Eiseman, for example, notes that one of Pantone's directional palettes is "Sweet Stuff," which is "a playful palette filled with confectionary hues." Walch urges graphic designers to "remember yellow, always a color of movement and youthful energies, and symbolic of a bright future, ideal for contemporary graphics." And Melanie Wood captures an emerging national mood when she asserts that "we want to get the war behind us, start anew and have fun again. Colors that refresh and rejuvenate will lead the way with innocent tones of pink and peach giving us a sense of freshness and a promise of tomorrow."
- The Editors