Pantone's Color of the Year 2023: Viva Magenta

What is Viva Magenta?

Viva Magenta vibrates with vim and vigor. It is a shade rooted in nature descending from the red family and expressive of a new signal of strength. Viva Magenta is brave, and a pulsating color whose exuberance promotes a joyous and optimistic celebration, writing a new narrative.

This year's Color of the Year is powerful and empowering. It is a new animated red that revels in pure joy, encouraging experimentation and self-expression without restraint, an electrifying, and boundaryless shade that is manifesting as a stand-out statement. Viva Magenta welcomes anyone and everyone with the same verve for life and a rebellious spirit. It is a color that is audacious, full of wit, and inclusive of all.

In this age of technology, we look to draw inspiration from nature and what is real. Viva Magenta descends from the red family and is inspired by the red of cochineal, one of the most precious dyes belonging to the natural dye family and one of the strongest and brightest the world has known.

Rooted in the primordial, Viva Magenta reconnects us to the original matter. Invoking the forces of nature, Viva Magenta galvanizes our spirit, helping us to build our inner strength.

As a nuanced crimson red tone that presents a balance between warm and cool, Viva Magenta is also a hybrid color, one that comfortably straddles the physical and virtual in our multi-dimensional world. It is assertive, but not aggressive, a carmine red that does not boldly dominate but instead takes a “fist in a velvet glove” approach. Exuding dynamism, Viva Magenta is a transformative red tone capable of driving design to create a more positive future.

The Meaning Behind Viva Magenta

The Color of the Year 2023 acknowledges our gravitational pull towards natural colors as movements swell around climate change, sustainability, and land protection.

Pantone observed a heightened appreciation and awareness of nature represented by countless lifestyle trends in this year's Color of the Year selection process. We're incorporating more living things into our homes, such as a succulent pot with plants, decor holders for flowers, living walls with wall decorations, and restorative outdoor spaces with garden ornaments. We're finding newfound enjoyment in travel, sports, and outdoor recreation after pausing these activities during the pandemic. We're more careful to protect our bodies as a result of the public health crises — we look to apply and ingest trusted life-giving ingredients. All of these lifestyle trends speak to the heartiness of natural forces.

Viva Magenta's organic origins hail from the cochineal beetle. This insect produces carmine dye, one of the most precious, strongest, and brightest of the natural dye family. The red tone of Viva Magenta connects us to the original matter, imbibing us with a primordial signal of strength.

The Color of the Year 2023 merges the richness, warmth, and strength of natural matters with the rich, open horizons of the digital world. The result is a shade of red that expands our horizons of authenticity. The metaverse creates new opportunities for us to express ourselves, and the raw grit of Viva Magenta inspires us to do so with confidence and bravery.