It is not a coincidence that the Pantone Color of the Year 2019 - Living Coral, has influenced designers both intentionally and non-intentionally. I have seen an explosion of digital art and illustrations featuring mint green and coral in their color schemes. It happens to be one of my favorite color combinations, so I am naturally bias towards the images depicting the “Under the Sea” color scheme!
Whether these artists know about and follow Pantone color influences, I cannot say for sure. It could be a result of the art and design space being flooded with mint and coral, influencing designers to gravitate towards these colors naturally. Or the Pantone Color of the Year is decided based on what is trending at the moment.
I do appreciate and enjoy seeing these colors make their way into the scientific and medical illustration community. Mint is normally a color not seen in the human body; coral is sometimes used for muscle tissue. But these colors play well together and shifting a naturally occurring blue or green into the mint family has beautiful outcomes. The final result is a piece defying traditional color standards in scientific art, but showcasing contemporary creative influences and trends in the current digital space.
Check out my Mint Green and Coral in Medical Illustration moodboard on Behance.
This impact is very common in the fashion industry. Top designers set the trends for the season, and the styles and colors trickle down to copycat designers and finally the mass market . We have now seen the influence of Pantone Color of the Year in the life science visualization marketplace, so let’s hop on the color bandwagon and start exploring the new 2020 Color of the Year, Classic Blue. The Pantone webpage has recommendations for color harmonies and even Adobe swatch downloads. I challenge the scientific illustrators out there to create a new illustration or using Adobe Photoshop’s color shifting abilities to adjust an illustration you have already completed to showcase one of these 2020 Color Harmonies for Classic Blue. Tag #SciArtColoroftheYear to draw attention to your work and so I can find you and send a shout out! I would love to see what you come up with.