Every year, artists, graphic designers, small business owners, marketing professionals, interior designers, builders and more who use color to associate themselves with positive emotions and intended messages in their consumers wait on the edges of their seats for the Pantone Color Institute to release its Color of the Year. That wait has finally come to an end.

2017 saw Greenery in its heyday, a “fresh and zesty yellow-green shade that evokes the first days of spring when nature’s greens revive, restore and renew,” according to PANTONE. Greenery was an inspiration to return to nature as things grew more complicated in the busyness of everyday life. For 2018, PANTONE has swung to a wildly different section of the color spectrum and selected a more mysterious color.

PANTONE’s 2018 Color of the Year is Ultra Violet, “a dramatically provocative and thoughtful purple shade…[that] communicates originality, ingenuity and visionary thinking that points us toward the future.”

The color experts at PANTONE hope to inspire consumers everywhere to be inventive, imaginative and look toward the future by introducing Ultra Violet into their lives. “We are living in a time that requires inventiveness and imagination,” says Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute. “It is this kind of creative inspiration that is indigenous to Ultra Violet, a blue-based purple that takes our awareness and potential to a higher level. From exploring new technologies and the greater galaxy to artistic expression and spiritual reflection, intuitive Ultra Violent lights the way to what is yet to come.”

PANTONE points to purple-embracing icons such as Prince, David Bowie and Jimi Hendrix as symbols of creativity and personal expression. However, the color does not only inspire the musical types. PANTONE suggests Ultra Violet can encourage people in all industries, from technology and sciences to home builders, interior designers and more who get to use their creativity and insight to deliver to today’s home buyers.

Stay tuned for more ways to introduce Ultra Violet into your life at home, at work and more!