A Palette of Life: My Take on the Pantone Color of the Year
Every year, Pantone staff selects its color of the year. A color they think signifies the tone and mood the upcoming year will bring. This year, they chose the color “Cloud Dancer,” aka white.
“Cloud Dancer” is meant to signify “a whisper of tranquility and peace in a noisy world,” according to Pantone. While I can also appreciate the deep solitude felt in a quiet morning, I also think choosing a color that represents repose does a disservice to all of the things that make life fun and fulfilling.
Courtesy: Pantone
I believe life should be colorful, and I strive to make my life colorful every day.
I make my life colorful by doing things that fill my cup. I spend quality time with my family and friends, I work on my yoga practice, and I wear outfits that make me feel confident. I overshare with strangers, go on random side quests, and make mistakes.
Courtesy: Savannah Rude
Red represents energy, passion, adrenaline and intensity. Red means falling in love for the first time. Red is fireworks on the fourth of July, or being smushed like a sardine at a concert, singing your favorite song with thousands of strangers. Red is feeling nerves coursing through your body and sweat dripping down your face as you cross the finish line in a race.
Courtesy: Savannah Rude
Yellow represents triumph, intellect, creativity and sunshine after a cloudy day. I think of the color yellow when I’m dancing in my kitchen or when a stranger gives me a compliment on the way to class. The world becomes yellow when I step outside my apartment to discover it's the perfect 75 degrees, and the sky is shining blue. I see the color yellow shine through my mom when she stands at the stove, her face flushed from cooking dinner, as she sips a glass of Cabernet.
Courtesy: Savannah Rude
Blue represents composure, assurance and stability. The moment when you feel you can finally take a deep breath for the first time. The first secret you shared on the playground, with dirt on your knees and juice-stained mouths, trusting someone with romance for the first time. Diving into an ocean of roaring waves, sinking to the bottom and finding a deep sense of solitude. Writing every emotion down in your journal, knowing only you will read it back. Sitting by the window on a plane during takeoff, bittersweet with excitement and sadness for the people you might be leaving behind. Blue represents the quiet moments you have to yourself.
Courtesy: Savannah Rude
Green represents enrichment, renewal and centered grace. Taking a hike outdoors or picking up a new hobby. Finding gratitude for small things and appreciating the people around you. When I think of green, I think of freedom. The first drive you make after getting your license, blasting your favorite song with the windows down. Standing in an empty dorm room with bare walls, tears dried on your cheeks from a sappy goodbye. Not knowing that in a couple of months, the vacant room will be filled with photographs of memories you have yet to live. Freedom to run in the sand, the freedom to drive for hours without a destination. The freedom to make mistakes and forgiving yourself for them while offering that same forgiveness to others.
These colors — sometimes wanted, sometimes overwhelming — are what make us human. Some are bold, loud and always make themselves known. Others might linger around, going unnoticed until it’s time. We all have the ideal color palette in mind, but the colors that actually make up our lives are often messy and flawed. It’s those moments of messiness that make our lives even more colorful.
Waking up hungover from drinking too much the night before and walking out to see your roommate already on the couch, ready to debrief the night. Getting lost on a roadtrip, just to get rerouted on beautiful backroads showing you some small town you didn’t know existed. Trying your hand at baking sourdough, only to have the loaf come out completely raw. In our moments of messiness, we can make some of our most special memories. Living every day in search of the perfect moment can cause us to miss out on the most unforgettable ones.
Our lives are built up by individual moments. Moments that are small or large. Moments we share with others and just ourselves. We face trials and tribulations so we can grow, and we make mistakes so we can learn. While the ideal of a picturesque Cloud Dancer life might seem ideal, the colors that make up a rainbow in our lives are much more memorable.
For your color of 2026, I challenge you to live your life in color. Laugh a little too loud, spill red wine on your white T-shirt, take risks and do things that scare you, challenge yourself, dance freely and never let someone stop you from being your true, authentic self. Life isn’t meant to be lived in white.
Instead of striving for perfection, appreciate the things that make you imperfect because they make up who you are.
Strike Out,
Writer: Savannah Rude
Editor: Francesca Jaques
Savannah Rude is an editorial writer for Strike Magazine. When she is not writing, you can find her practicing a new yoga pose, planning her next adventure or drinking copious amounts of Diet Dr. Pepper. You can reach out to her by instagram @savannahrude or by email at savannahrude@gmail.com
