Pantone Colours of the Year — Studio Brief 02 — OUGD505

For the first time, Pantone has introduced two colours as its 2016 'Colour of the Year'.

The reason for this was to introduce a gender neutral approach to the annual event, hence the colour choices:

This could be a great choice of colour for the publication. By using both colours throughout the spreads will ensure not one colour is being used to imply male or female will provide a positive impact to the conceptual meaning of the zine.

Another possibility would be to use these colours within the images themselves as a combined monotone image further emphasising the androgynous aspect of the publication, similar to below:

This is also an emerging trend within fashion design, the below image portrays a catwalk fashion event using extremely similar colours to the Pantone colours of the year.

Executive director of Pantone, Leatrice Eiseman, explains what the break in tradition was all about:

"In many parts of the world we are experiencing a gender blur as it relates to fashion, which has in turn impacted color trends throughout all other areas of design. This more unilateral approach to color is coinciding with societal movements toward gender equality and fluidity, the consumers’ increased comfort with using color as a form of expression which includes a generation that has less concern about being typecast or judged..."

Using these colours within the work can help break the traditional 'pink is for girls and blue is for boys' issue within society.