You knew this post was coming, right?
Before 2011 ended (and that’s still a little weird for me to say), Pantone put out their color pick for 2012, Tangerine Tango. What do you think about it?
For me, I’m overjoyed it’s not Honeysuckle. Let’s just take a moment to celebrate that.
Let’s also celebrate that Tangerine Tango is a bold, saturated, peachy, coral-y kind of orange. It makes me think of warmer weather, tropical resorts, and vacations.
As a singular color, I like it. But I think it’s a miss for Pantone as The Color for 2012.
When I think of a “color of the year”, I think of a shade that could be used a lot and in big doses. I think of a color that works for every season. I think of a color that’s irresistible.
Here’s my problem: I can’t see using Tangerine Tango unless it’s in small doses or as an accent color… which sort of undermines the Color of the Year thing. For example, I don’t mind using it in the first photo on this post or even up in my blog header, but I wouldn’t use it as a background color for my blog.
It took me a while to articulate it, but that’s the exact problem I had with Honeysuckle – I can only see it working as an accent color. And if a color works best as an accent, should it really be THE color of the year?
I’ve also seen a lot of peaches and corals and saturated oranges over the last couple of years (not necessarily this exact shade, but close enough), at least in the handmade world, so it no longer feels that fresh or new to me. It feels like it’s already been done.
Jessica, the design consultant and color forecaster behind Design-Seeds, picked an alternative - Calla Green – and it’s perfect. Now that’s a color that would transition easily between seasons. That’s a color that would be friendly enough to play with accent colors, without having to be an accent color itself. That’s a color I can see being used in big doses.
I’m still think a strong cobalt would be awesome as a color of the year, but I’m happy enough with several Spring 2012 colors: Sodalite Blue (close enough to cobalt), the soft gray of Driftwood, and the warm brown of Starfish (my bedroom’s painted a color right in between Driftwood and Starfish, so I’m a little biased there). It’ll be fun to play with those picks in the coming months.
I can’t say that I hate it, but I’m just not a big fan of Tangerine Tango being The Color for 2012.
What do you think? Are you a fan of Tangerine Tango? If you could pick a color for the year, what would your choice be?
I like tangerine orange as the color of the year for 2012. I think orange gets overlooked sometimes because of its close association with Halloween, so seeing such a warm orange-red color picked made me happy.
Hey Charlene! You’re right, I think orange DOES get overlooked, and I read somewhere once that it has the least amount of people who like it. And I do like that particular shade (I keep finding places I’ve used it), so even though it’s not what I would choose as a Color of the Year, at least it’s a color that I like, right?
Thanks for stopping by!
Who decides these things..Honeysuckle was awful..perhaps my view was skewed because i am Not a pink fan in the first place…this new color is better..but you have a point..can you imagine yourself in a suit of that color..no way..but as an accent, it’s lovely..
so how does a color become the “color of the year”?
i’ve always wondered how a few people get to decide what will be the look of the season..what research they’ve done and why do we follow when it’s possibly an odd look and choice.
nan recently posted GoodBye 2011
There is a whole field of study for color forecasting, believe it or not, and from what I understand, color forecasters work several years ahead of time. So, even though it hasn’t been announced, I’m sure the color forecasters of the world have already picked the colors for the next few seasons! Kind of mind-blowing.
I *think* they are made of up people working in the art and fashion industry, but I could be wrong there.
I completely agree with this (and about last year’s color of the year, too). I do wonder where they think the color of the year will/can/should be used. Who knows. Maybe they just let staffers pick their favorite colors. Egads!
Sally Anderson recently posted Call It Finished or Call It Crazy
Hey Sally! Take a glance up at my response to Nan – color forecasting is actually a field people work in. They spend all of their time determining what colors come next, which is kind of fun. But yeah, I’m not sure where they came up with some of their choices.
I’m loving the colours for this year, (maybe not the bright pink, i don’t do pink)
I’m happy for tangerine orange, I’ve already purchased one top in this colour, looking out for others.
Hey Lynsey! I totally think it’s an improvement over Honeysuckle pink (which I STILL maintain was improperly named). And I do like Tangerine Tango, truly, but I don’t know that I will like to use it in 8 months when we head into the fall or all year round. It’s just a tiny bit too spring for me.
I like Tangerine Orange better than Honyesuckle and even this season’s pink – Cabaret – is an improvement. I see your point about being a ‘color of the year’ though. I like the Calla Green and Cobalt colors you chose actually – greens and blues are my favorite colors in almost any shade/hue – and I think you hit the nail on the head about the last couple of colors of the year being more suited towards accent colors rather than an over all ‘leader the pack’ color!!
I created a necklace as a holiday gift for my niece from a ceramic artbead pendant I purchased back in the fall that already had a mix of Tangerine Orange and smidge or Starfish, so either people are truly looking ahead when making their art beads, etc. or these ‘forecasters’ know how to pick what is going to be running through everyone’s minds,….strange!!
Michelle recently posted Spreading the LOVE in 2012,….
I know exactly what you mean. Color forecasting kind of freaks me out with how accurate it is! My first reaction to Tangerine Tango was “meh”, till someone pointed out I had it in my old blog banner, ha! Then I started seeing it in a lot of things I made, so I intentionally used for the new banner.
And I agree, Tangerine Tango is a VAST improvement over Honeysuckle!
Check out the men’s color link on the Pantone site – it features a blue you might like as the men’s color of the year.
I like the tangerine color – but I agree that it seems better suited as an accent. In the end, I think the value of these forecasts (for jewelry designers, anyway) is so we can see where clothing designers might be headed color-wise, and tailor our work to complement theirs. Personally, I prefer thinking outside the box and choosing colors that appeal to me, regardless of what Pantone suggests.
Francesca recently posted Chowder Recipe
Yep, you got me pegged, Francesca! Definitely liking the blues in the men’s palettes.
And you’re absolutely right, color forecasts are just suggestions. I’m not going to love every forecast ever done, and I do like this one more than last year’s choices. So, liking the 2012 colors = vast improvement!