If design (or shopping!) is part of your life, then the Pantone Color of the Year is a big deal, and you may not even realize it. The yearly trends, for everything from Wedding Cakes to homewares, begins with a color. This one color sets the tone for the fonts, style, and feel of everything in the design world for the following year.

The 2017 Pantone Color of the Year is “Greenery”, and I couldn’t be more excited.

“Greenery bursts forth in 2017 to provide us with the hope we collectively yearn for amid a complex social and political landscape. Satisfying our growing desire to rejuvenate, revitalize and unite, Greenery symbolizes the re-connection we seek with nature, one another and a larger purpose.” – Pantone Press Release, December 8, 2016.

It’s no secret that I love nature. It’s in my cakes, my photographic work, and hugely in my daily life. There’s a yearning for balance in everyday life, between the hustle of the daily grind, and the sweet haven of the weekend. The popularity of a ‘relaxing’ lifestyle among advertising campaigns can be seen in every industry, from fashion to homewares, lifestyle, to holidays.

And there is a reason that clean, crisp, natural images capture our attention. We have a largely unnatural existence, in a post-Industrial Revolution landscape, almost everything we touch is man-made, from our houses and furniture to the clothes we wear, and the devices you are reading this on right now. Handmade items, particularly those made with almost no processing, are not only considered novel, they are in high demand.

So what effect does this have on the cake industry? Well for a start, Weddings are a perfect litmus for design. Modern, contemporary themes and color schemes are the norm, with discernible “trends” in flowers, dresses, and cakes. Clean, crisp, minimal cakes, will outstrip the more elaborate styles in 2017 (PREDICTION!). Expect to also see minimalistic floral designs, with an emphasis on foliage, over large blooms.

Color influences more than just palettes. Color sets the tone for fonts as well. Consider the increasing popularity of hand painted lettering on cakes, invitations, and cookies. The heavier brush scripts will make way for lighter, cleaner fonts. Check out “Josephin Sans”, “Amatic”, and “Raleway” on Google Fonts (PREDICTION!).

So how can you translate this into YOUR designs? Keep an eye on trends. Be it large companies, or small independents, everyone seeks to tap into the ‘popular’ market, so emerging design trends and fonts will be fairly easy to spot. Plan your display cakes for fairs or social media with contemporary and clean designs in mind. Take a look at the advertising mail from large stores, Look at the color and designs they are using, at what fonts they are using, even the layout. Large stores survive on trends, so whatever is hot, they have it.

You can also take another leaf out of Pantone’s book (see what I did there), and seek to balance your life a little more. Add some more Greenery to your life, whether it is in the form of food, or free time, loving life will always be on trend.

Kerrie Wyer x