10 Bookish Goods To Celebrate Pantone’s 2020 Color Of The Year

For over 20 years, Pantone has chosen a Color of the Year: a color that’s meant to symbolize the cultural trends and mood of a given year. Years past have elevated wildly-saturated hues into the top spot, with 2019’s Living Coral and Greenery in 2017. In 2020, though, they went simpler and softer.

For a year not only marked by the beginning of a new decade, but also a highly contentious U.S. presidential election, technological forces that continue to rapidly shape our culture, and oh yah, the whole planet on the brink of a climate catastrophe, Pantone chose Classic Blue (19-4052).

Leatrice Eiseman, Executive Director of the Pantone Color Institute, notes:

“Imbued with deep resonance, Classic Blue provides an anchoring foundation. A boundless blue evocative of the vast and infinite evening sky, Classic Blue encourages us to look beyond the obvious to expand our thinking; challenging us to think more deeply, increase our perspective and open the flow of communication.”

True, Classic Blue isn’t as fun as Living Coral or Instagrammable as Greenery, but maybe it’s a color that can give us a little more stillness this year. And maybe these book accessories in hues close to Classic Blue will inspire your own tranquility and peace in 2020.

Classic Blue Book Gifts and Accessories

To start, if you want to learn more of the history behind the color blue, I encourage you to check out The Rarest Blue: The Remarkable Story of an Ancient Color Lost to History and Rediscovered by Baruch Sterman or The Secret Lives of Color by Kassia St. Clair. Now, to decorate your bookshelves with these fabulous finds.

Blue watercolor bookmarks (from alywinter)