The design company calls it an empowering shade that drives innovation – and its storied history suggests it might be right
It exists between blue and red, warm and cool, to be found on a spectrum all its own. It is 150 years old yet still future-facing, at once digital and primordial. It is – to quote its creators – “brave, fearless and pulsating”. It is Viva Magenta, Pantone’s colour of 2023.
If you’ve never heard of this colour, that’s quite deliberate. For almost 25 years, the colour-matching company has tasked itself with choosing a shade that – according to its extensive cross-disciplinary analysis of prominent hues within art, fashion, design and beyond – not simply captures the zeitgeist, but sets the tone for the year to come.
