This year, Pantone announced that “Living Coral” was the Color of 2019 and on the contrary, the information is given that coral reefs are dying uncontrollably.
Now the widely used design platform is directly addressing that issue with a new color line called “Glowing, Glowing, Gone” inspired by the vibrant but alarming colors created by some coral in response to heatwaves caused by climate change.
Laurie Pressman, VP of the Pantone Color Institute commented,
Living Coral is naturally exquisite, but ironically, it is the illuminating glow radiating from the dying coral that is demanding our attention. It is as if the corals are sending a color-coded SOS that says, ‘Please look at me; I need you to notice before I slip away.’ In that sense, these incredibly vibrant colors could be considered the colors of the climate crisis.
The colors—Glowing Blue, Glowing Yellow and Glowing Purple—were created in partnership with Adobe and The Ocean Agency, a nonprofit that uses creativity to address environmental crises facing marine life and habitats.
Richard Vevers, Founder and CEO and of The Ocean Agency also commented,
These Glowing colors are the ultimate visual indicator that we have reached a tipping point, not just for coral reefs, but for the planet. For the first time in human history, we are on the verge of losing a major planetary ecosystem, and only urgent, global action on a local and global level will prevent this from happening.
Creatives are being challenged to use the colors in codes #0029fd, #FFFF05 and #9007f9 to create attention-grabbing work across any medium to raise awareness of the existential threats to coral reefs. You can find the creative brief here.
Gabriel Grimsditch, UN Environment Coral Reef Expert, commented in a statement about the color project,
The future of the world’s coral reefs hangs in the balance, threatening both marine life and hundreds of millions of people who rely on them for food, livelihoods and coastal protection. We urgently need to sharpen global attention to the crisis facing corals, if we, as a global community, are to prevent the loss of one of the world’s major ecosystems.
The Adobe Stock curated collection for ‘Glowing, Glowing, Gone’ and The Ocean Agency assets will be highlighted in the Adobe Blog and on the Adobe Stock social channels. Select assets are provided for free to the creative community who take part in the Glowing Design Challenge hosted by The Ocean Agency at glowing.org.
Through social channels and the global communities, they’re hoping that the campaign will raise awareness about the health of coral reefs.