Pantone Color of the Year 2015 is Marsala
Pantone announced its Pantone Color of the Year for 2015 via the Wall Street Journal this morning, declaring that a dusty burgundy shade it calls "Marsala" will be the trendy color of next year.
Pantone Marsala
Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute, explained the choice of Marsala in the announcement:
While PANTONE 18-3224 Radiant Orchid, the captivating 2014 color of the year, encouraged creativity and innovation, Marsala enriches our mind, body and soul, exuding confidence and stability. Much like the fortified wine that gives Marsala its name, this tasteful hue embodies the satisfying richness of a fulfilling meal, while its grounding red-brown roots emanate a sophisticated, natural earthiness. This hearty, yet stylish tone is universally appealing and translates easily to fashion, beauty, industrial design, home furnishings and interiors.
The new shade is a stark contrast to the 2014 color of the year, which was a brilliant shade of purple called Radiant Orchid.
The color codes for Pantone Marsala 18-1438 are:
RGB: R150 G79 B76
CMYK: C25 M77 Y64 K11
HTML: 955251
How much of "Marsala" will be seen in the scrapbook industry will be interesting to watch in 2015. A more red shade of burgundy has been around for awhile as a frequent accent color, especially at Christmas, but the general industry color trends are moving to much brighter shades as design trends shift to a graphic style. A deep color like Marsala will play to the strengths of companies and designers like Graphic 45, Authentique, and Tim Holtz, whose signature styles are heavily vintage and who thus haven't followed the graphic color trends as tightly.
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For those looking to work with Marsala, there are plenty of medium options thanks to the Tim Holtz Distress line from Ranger. Aged Mahogany from that line appears to be a very good match for Marsala, and the color is available in an ink pad, reinker, stain, paint dabber, pen, and spray stain. (It's also available in paper form but the paper version appears to deviate somewhat in shade from the ink versions of the color.)
