Pantone reveals “youthful” but “timeless” 2024 colour of the year

Pantone has announced 13-1023 Peach Fuzz as its colour of the year, which it describes as “a velvety gentle peach tone” with an “all-embracing spirit”.

The Pantone Colour of the Year educational programme was established by The Pantone Colour Institute in 1999, in a bid to kick start conversations around colour in the design community and draw attention to the relationship between culture and colour. Each year, a global team of colour experts at the Pantone Colour Institute look across the globe at everything from the entertainment industry, to popular travel destinations, films currently in production, traveling art collections, and a range of design disciplines to discern candidates for colour of the year.

Peach Fuzz was chosen by the team for its ability to convey a desire to be close to loved ones, as well as the simple joys of “a moment of quiet time alone”, according to Pantone. Peach Fuzz carries “a message of compassion and empathy”, says The Pantone Colour Institute, while eliciting “a feeling of tactility”.

Pantone Colour Institute executive director Leatrice Eiseman says: “In seeking a hue that echoes our innate yearning for closeness and connection, we chose a colour radiant with warmth and modern elegance. A shade that resonates with compassion, offers a tactile embrace, and effortlessly bridges the youthful with the timeless.”

Designers working in packaging and multimedia design might consider using the clean peach tone to bring “a vintage vibe” to a project, as Pantone believes it can “reflect the past” while also retaining “a contemporary ambiance”. Its “warm tactility” makes it a good choice for everything from food and beverage to cosmetics and accessories, as it inspires thoughts of “sweet and delicate tastes and scents”, according to Pantone.

In interior design and home décor, Pantone suggests using Peach Fuzz for “promoting feelings of gentle warmth”, whether on a painted wall or as an accent within a pattern. It notes how, in beauty, the versatile hue could add “soft warmth to eyes, lips, and cheeks”, appearing “fresh and youthful when paired with earthy browns and dramatic when paired with deep reds and plums”.

This year, Pantone has commissioned a partnership between Belgium-based studio WeWantMore and performance fabrics company Ultrafabrics to demonstrate the potential for Peach Fuzz to be incorporated into future-forward environments.

WeWantMore used AI to design and develop visual concepts showcasing the colour. The result is an image of a delicate bird perched in a nest made out of Ultrafabrics, surrounded by a dreamscape of flowers.

Ultrafabrics and WeWantMore feel the image embodies “the very essence” of Peach Fuzz.