Stay Creative And Curious With Pantone’s 2022 Color Of The Year
Even with the rapid change of the past few years, Pantone managed to make history. For the first time in the company’s history, the brand announced an original shade as their 2022 Color Of The Year: Very Peri. This periwinkle blue with violet-red undertones is meant to encourage “courageous creativity and imaginative expression” – It’s a potent reminder that, even in our turbulent times of unprecedented discovery and change, mental flexibility and emotional intelligence are key to navigating any industry with confidence.
I’ve turned to Pantone’s colors in the past to find optimism, but Very Peri’s message feels more concrete and actionable to me. Laurie Pressman, Vice President of the Pantone Color Institute, summarized it perfectly: “As society continues to recognize color as a critical form of communication, and a way to express and affect ideas and emotions and engage and connect, the complexity of this new red-violet infused blue hue highlights the expansive possibilities that lay before us.” Compared to last year’s two colors (“Ultimate Grey” and “Illuminating”) and 2019’s “Classic Blue,” this brand-new hue invites us to consider a new mindset, one that deepens our connection to change.
Iris van Herpen haute couture fall 2021 | Photo: Courtesy of Iris van Herpen
Traditionally associated with spritely attitudes and joyous outlooks, this shade of periwinkle adds new dynamics in more ways than its undertones. Creating a new color reflects the innovation and transformation we’re seeing across the globe and strikes at the heart of the creativity driving our communications. Very Peri in particular, which appears in the high-contrast world of video games and digital art but also recalls calming plants like lilac and lavender, appeals to a different, wider swath of humanity than past entries. Holding a broad perspective opens us up to new opportunities and can help in decision-making, stress management, and more.
Collaboration is key to this change, especially in our expanded digital landscape where we need new ways to engage and connect. Very Peri is a great touchstone here, as the complex combination of blue and red-violet undertones is perfect for describing emotional intelligence and emodiversity. These two interlinked concepts were recently studied by an international team of psychologists, whose research found that “specific emotions provide richer information about which behavior in one’s repertoire is more suited for dealing with a given affective situation.” This emotional intelligence better equips us to problem-solve in the moment by accessing a wider range of responses, both positive and negative, along with their appropriate coping mechanisms.
Emotional intelligence is cultivated on one’s own through mindfulness and empathy, but it all builds towards a richer internal emotional diversity (or “emodiversity”). Holding space for disparate and sometimes conflicting emotions allows us to consider problems from different perspectives and opens us up to innovation beyond our initial reactions. This has a profound impact on one’s productivity and stress management, but also is found to have added benefits beyond work. As the research found, “reporting a wide variety of emotions might also be a sign of a self-aware and authentic life; such emotional self-awareness and authenticity have been repeatedly linked to health and well-being.”
It can be daunting to imagine how to start this journey, especially for us Americans. We’re known to report happier, shallower experiences than people from other countries, which leads to narrow mental framings and difficulties in collaboration. Pantone again proves instructive here with the color palettes they released to accompany Very Peri. Seeing this dynamic color sit with other shades is a great reminder of our ability to hold multiple emotional responses from across the spectrum all at once. Notice how themes emerge not from one dominant color, but the way that each shade plays off one another. We often limit our problem-solving abilities by remaining hyper-focused on one route of attack; pulling back our perspective and holding space for a variety of emotions gives us the tools and patience necessary for effective decision-making.
As the world continues to transform around us, our ability to navigate change will remain important to our work and overall well-being. It’s important to examine and expand your emodiversity and emotional intelligence, as this work gives you invaluable tools to tackle new obstacles with confidence and creativity. Pressman captured this sentiment in the announcement of Very Peri. She said, “As we emerge from an intense period of isolation, our notions and standards are changing, and our physical and digital lives have merged in new ways… Very Peri illustrates the fusion of modern life and how color trends in the digital world are being manifested in the physical world and vice versa.” As we all learn to navigate this changing reality, focusing our efforts on our own emotional intelligence and emodiversity can set us up for success in all lanes of life.
What can you do to strengthen and expand your emodiversity?