It’s that time of the year again! The beginning of December has always been the official release date of Pantone’s Color of the Year. As many of my students, clients, and colleagues might know, I
head the team that chooses the color. I have done so since 1999, when we chose Pantone’s Cerulean—a clear and clean sky blue—as it best represented the clarity and promise of the new millennium.
Throughout the years, we have chosen colors that we felt best represented the moods, hopes, or aspirations for that particular year. For 2025, our 26th year of predictions, we seem to have struck a real chord with many people. The reactions have been very positive.
As a matter of fact, Pantone’s website crashed for a time when the announcement was made as so many people wanted to know what the color was!
If you don’t already know (and we know that many of you do know by now), the color is Pantone 17-1230 Mocha Mousse. It is described as an evocative soft brown that transports our senses into the pleasure and deliciousness it inspires. Following on from Pantone 13-1023 Peach Fuzz, our pick for Color of the Year 2024, Mocha Mousse nurtures with its suggestion of the delectable quality of cacao, chocolate, and coffee, appealing to our desire for comfort.
As I was quoted in the media: “Underpinned by our desire for everyday pleasures, Mocha Mousse expresses a level of thoughtful indulgence. Sophisticated and lush, yet at the same time an unpretentious classic, the hue extends our perceptions of the browns from humble and grounded to embracing the aspirational and presenting a discrete and tasteful touch of glamour. A flavorful brown shade, Pantone 17-1230 Mocha Mousse envelopes us with its sensorial warmth.”
“Sensorial warmth” simply means that because all of our senses are inter-connected, if you can engage more than one of our senses, the emotional impact of the color is even greater. We know that the first 
sense that is activated when viewing Mocha Mousse is that of sight—it is delectable, soft, tempting, and appealing to the eye. That is followed by the sense of taste—how can we resist dipping a spoon into that luscious goodness? And the third is the sense of smell, who can escape the scent of chocolate cookies baking in the oven?
The color is a natural in fashion, beauty, interiors, and food, but more surprisingly in products like cell phones and earphones where we don’t expect to find it.
You will see much of Mocha Mousse in 2025, so savor the hue.
Enjoy!!
Want to learn how to make color predictions on your own? We offer an online Color and Design Master Course, and Lee periodically offers in-person courses – both of which teach you how to detect and forecast color trends. Contact us or sign up for our mailing list to be the first to hear about in-person courses.
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