The Pantone Color of the Year 2026 is Cloud Dancer, which sounds like a fancy way to describe white. Is it even a color though?

“It is a key structural color,” Pantone states, “whose versatility provides scaffolding for the color spectrum, allowing all colors to shine.”  It conveys “a feeling of airy lightness to all product applications and environments,” Pantone says.

Pantone 11-4201 Cloud Dancer, its full name, “serves as a symbol of calming influence in a frenetic society rediscovering the value of measured consideration and quiet reflection,” the authority on color trends states.

Laurie Pressman, Vice President, Pantone Color Institute describes Cloud Dancer as “an airy white hue that exemplifies our search for balance between our digital future and our primal need for human connection…”

Leatrice Eiseman, Executive Director of the Pantone Color Institute, says, “The cacophony that surrounds us has become overwhelming, making it harder to hear the voices of our inner selves. A conscious statement of simplification, Cloud Dancer enhances our focus, providing release from the distraction of external influences.”

Designing with Cloud Dancer

Cloud Dancer can easily make a statement on its own, or effortlessly combines with just about any color in the spectrum. Pantone suggests various ways to use its new color of the year, in beauty, fashion, packaging, and more.

Pantone suggests combining Cloud Dancer with two color palettes. The “Powdered Pastels” palette includes pastel and neutral tones, such as Lemon Icing, Peach Dust, and Orchid Tint. Or, opt for more contrast with the “Light & Shadow” palette. It includes Quiet Violet, Hematite and Blue Fusion. “Cloud Dancer gracefully blends into a veiled palette of softened hues that ultimately dissolve into shadowy shades,” Pantone states.

Artists & Designers Interpret Cloud Dancer

Pantone will collaborate with artists across all areas of design to interpret its Pantone Color of the Year 2026. Cloud Dancr will be showcased in limited-edition designs that will be available on Pantone’s website.

Illustrator Emiliano Ponzi is the first artist to debut a Pantone Cloud Dancer design—a tote bag. The tote will showcase the artist’s distinctive visual language, which combines conceptual depth with graphic precision.