The color of the year brings questions, celebration

We don't know what will happen in the final 10½ months of 2019.

We don't know what will happen in politics, we don't know who will win the World Series, we don't know if the stock market will go up or down.

But we know one thing for sure: Living Coral is the color of the year.

LIVING CORAL IS THE COLOR OF THE YEAR!!

I don't know about you, but that's all I need to know. Well, that and what "Living Coral" is.

And why it's capitalized.

As you probably know, the color of the year is chosen by the Pantone Color Institute, which analyzes each year's color trends. Pantone Color Institute has the word "Institute" in it, so I presume that it publishes white papers and has a bunch of smart people walking around, thinking lofty thoughts about colors. (Sample: Should it be blue-green or green-blue? Are white and black colors? Why does Dodger blue make everyone nauseous?).

Anyway, Living Coral (again, it's capitalized, although I wouldn't capitalize "blue" or "red") was described by the folks at PCI as "an animated, life-affirming shade of orange, with golden undertones." No wonder it's the color of 2019!

(Confession: When I saw it, I thought, "it's kind of orangish." Then I thought, "maybe it's the color of those candy orange slices." Then I thought ,"those candy orange slices tasted better than they seemed like they should." Then I thought, "I wonder if you can buy those on Amazon?")

Anyway, PCI, says its "global team of color experts" search the world for what it calls "new color influences" and pick the color of the year. While their criteria sometimes includes how colors are used in entertainment and fashion, Living Coral (which my typing fingers want to call  "Living Color") was largely boosted by its use in advertising by Airbnb and Apple.

Yes, in advertising. Did you think it was something else?

No surprise, the color of the year is often a contentious choice.

PCI has picked the color of the year since 2000, starting with Cerulean and going through last year's winner, Ultra Violet.

Ultra Violet seems so 2018, doesn't it? And is it different from ultraviolet, the part of sunlight that burns us? I'm taking no chances, putting on some SPF 30 sunscreen if I go somewhere near Ultra Violet.

The fact that the colors have been chosen only the past 19 years is kind of sad. Had PCI been making the picks during my childhood, we could have gotten winners such as harvest gold, beige, brown, plaid and mustard yellow. That's a loss.

Back to this year's selection, though.

PCI described Living Coral "a color of carefree happiness," and said Living Coral "symbolizes our innate need for optimism and joyful pursuits."

PCI will now combine with other organizations to bring Living Coral to creatives and designers. (In other words: Hey, this is the color of the year! Now, you can purchase it from us to be trendy! As an aside, stop calling yourself "a creative." That's silly.)

Embrace the uncertainty of 2019. You don't know what will happen, you don't even know what movie will win the Academy Award for best picture nor who will win the NBA championship. (Hint: Golden State Warriors will win one of those.)

But embrace Living Coral, this year's version of mustard yellow. It's so life-affirming!

Reach Brad Stanhope at bradstanhope@hotmail.com.