Dezeen Magazine

Dulux Colour of the Year 2020: Tranquil Dawn

Tranquil Dawn named Colour of the Year for 2020

Paint brand Dulux has selected a cool-tone shade of green as it's Colour of the Year for 2020, which is meant to offer an antidote to an "increasingly disconnected" modern society.

Dulux says that Tranquil Dawn "embodies the nation's mood on the approach of a new decade".

"It reflects a growing desire to understand what it is to be human at a time when advances in technology are making us feel increasingly disconnected from each other," explained the brand.

Dulux Colour of the Year 2020: Tranquil Dawn
A shade of green named Tranquil Dawn has been named Dulux's Colour of the Year

A team of expert judges that includes former editor-in-chief of ELLE Decoration UK, Michelle Ogundehin, and Heleen van Ghent from paint company Akzo Nobel's global aesthetic centre helped Dulux come to a decision on the 2020 colour.

The panel considered technological developments such as robotics, big data and artificial intelligence, which Dulux believes is making the human experience "more chaotic".

Dulux Colour of the Year 2020: Tranquil Dawn
The colour was chosen as it "embodies the nation's mood"

"At the start of this new decade, the panel identified that the world has a growing desire to understand what makes us human," said Van Ghent.

"Against a background of increasing technological power, we want to understand our place in society and how we can make a positive impact on it."

Dulux Colour of the Year 2020: Tranquil Dawn
The colour reflects a desire to feel more human

Tranquil Dawn's green hue is also meant as a nod to elements of the natural landscape – Dulux's UK creative director, Marianne Shillingford, compares the colour to "the space between the land and sky".

"A new decade heralds a new dawn and the hazy pale green tones of Tranquil Dawn are calming and comforting just when we need it most in our lives," she added.

"When paired with neutral pastels and rich jewels it becomes incredibly powerful at creating spaces that encourage making better human connections."

Dulux Colour of the Year 2020: Tranquil Dawn
Tranquil Dawn follows Spiced Honey, which was Dulux's Colour of the Year in 2019

Dulux named Spiced Honey – a warm, orange-brown hue – as its colour for 2019. The paint brand also created a complementary colour palette called Dream as part of its trends forecasts for the year.

Comprised of off-whites and soft beiges, the palette was intended to be "perfectly suited to the cold, wintry tones of the weather outside, allowing users of any space, room to let their minds wander".

Last year Pantone named a peachy orange shade named Living Coral as its colour of the year for 2019. At the time Ogundehin criticised the choice, writing in an opinion piece on Dezeen that the choice "harks of naivety, not optimism".