The Year Pantone Hit Out Of Office

While Pantone likes to position its Colour of the Year as a grand reflection of culture, creativity and the collective mood, this time it feels as though someone simply set their out of office and walked away.

Cloud Dancer — a shade of white so neutral it practically evaporates — is being presented as the chromatic answer to our cultural moment. I’m not convinced.

Photo Credit: Pantone

A Colour That Feels Like a Non-Decision

Pantone insists this particular white expresses calm, balance and a longing for a fresh start. But to me, it reads more like a strategic shrug. It is the design equivalent of replying “sure” to a message you did not actually read.

Yes, they sift through global trends, fashion runways, political shifts, technological anxiety, and everything else that supposedly informs these choices.

And after all that, we arrive at a white so pared back it feels almost algorithmic. If the brief was serenity, this feels more like emotional flatlining.

If the brief was serenity, this feels more like emotional flatlining.

The Problem With Calling It Depth

Pantone frames Cloud Dancer as clarity without coldness and structure without severity. Admirable goals. Yet the end result is a tone that feels oddly hollow.

Completely stripped of warmth, symbolism or personality, it lands in a space where minimalism stops feeling intentional and starts feeling empty.

This is the challenge with white when used as a cultural statement rather than a design tool. In real interiors, the nuance is deep — undertones, light, texture, materiality.

But as a standalone proclamation of what the world needs right now, it feels thin. As if we’re supposed to project meaning onto something that refuses to carry any.

Photo Credit: Pantone

And Yet… Here We Are Talking About It

Of course, the irony is that I am writing about it. So in that sense, perhaps Pantone got exactly what it wanted: engagement, debate, raised eyebrows, designers mumbling into their coffee.

Declaring white as the colour of the year is a bold strategy because it feels so safe. It invites both praise and irritation in equal measure.

Maybe that was the goal. Or maybe someone genuinely did hit out of office, and the universe filled in the form.

Photo Credit: Pantone

A Missed Opportunity

What frustrates me most is that colour forecasting can be rich, layered and narratively clever. The past few years were thoughtful choices with real texture and emotional resonance. Cloud Dancer, by contrast, feels like the packaging insert rather than the product.

A blankness pretending to be a beginning. But is it?

Sometimes colour arrives with more cultural baggage than anyone asked for, and this year’s Pantone pick certainly sparked a few heated debates in certain corners of the internet.

I am not wading into think-pieces about symbolism or political subtexts — that is quite a leap for a shade that mostly wants to sit quietly on a wall — but it is interesting how quickly a colour can become a canvas for wider conversations.

In a world where context matters more than ever, you would have hoped Pantone paused to consider how this choice might be read, assuming — or at least hoping — there was no political meaning behind it.

Photo Credit: Pantone

So What Now In Terms Of Design?

Nothing, really. Designers will continue using the whites they always have, chosen carefully to suit light, architecture and materials.

Homeowners will still buy the shade that looks good on their sample board rather than one announced in a press release. And Pantone will still have a Colour of the Year next year — hopefully one with a pulse.

Pantone will still have a Colour of the Year next year — hopefully one with a pulse.

Until then, we have Cloud Dancer. A colour so safe it arguably fails to say anything. Except that it got us talking, which perhaps was the whole point.