Cloud Dancer and the Illusion of Calmness Amid a Global Crisis

As in previous years, the Pantone Color Institute has selected one hue from its vast color system as the Color of the Year for 2026. They named it PANTONE 11-4201 Cloud Dancer–an elegant shade of white positioned as a symbol of calm. Shortly after Pantone announced Cloud Dancer as its 2026 Color of the Year, the internet was flooded with criticism and disappointment, with many accusing the company of being insensitive to the current global socio-political climate.

Each year, Pantone relies on a global team of color specialists to determine the Color of the Year, drawing from a wide range of cultural phenomena: film and television, design and fine art, fashion trends, interiors and architecture, technology, social media, and major upcoming sporting events. “We're looking for respite, looking for relief, emotional disconnection, overstimulation from visuals,” said Laurie Pressman, Vice President of the Pantone Color Institute, as quoted by ELLE. From Pantone’s perspective, Cloud Dancer is positioned as a visual response to these cultural signals and to what they describe as a moment of “collective exhaustion.”

Leatrice Eiseman describes Cloud Dancer as “a lofty color that feels like a breath of fresh air,” one that functions as a calming presence amid the noise of everyday life. As we know, the pandemic accelerated everything, and many people are still grappling with uncertainty–arguably, all of us are. Questions about where one’s life is headed have become increasingly urgent, Eiseman notes. In this reading, the white hue emerges in line with its intended meaning: light as clouds, offering a way of seeing the world through harmony and calm.

In graphic design applications, PANTONE 11-4201 Cloud Dancer functions as a primary base color–a framework for an entire color spectrum–allowing other hues in a palette to stand out while remaining cohesive. It adapts easily to different materials and textures, offering visual lightness and a sense of spaciousness in composition. In that sense, Cloud Dancer is undeniably versatile. Yet this very flexibility raises a critical question: does the Color of the Year still hold relevance within contemporary graphic design practice, or has it become a neutral backdrop emptied of urgency?

Another question inevitably follows. If Pantone Color of the Year is meant to represent the “color” of cultural phenomena and social conditions of the present, is white truly the right choice? The shift from the 2025 Color of the Year, Mocha Mousse–an earthy brown closely associated with materiality and groundedness–to Cloud Dancer feels abrupt. While Mocha Mousse could still be read as a reflection of diversity, sustainability, the climate crisis, and the search for stability amid global uncertainty, Cloud Dancer has instead been criticized as a step backward: a choice that is “too safe,” even evasive of today’s socio-political realities.

Criticism has come not only from social media users but also from designers and academics. Speaking to CBC News, Erin Finley, an instructor at Ontario College of Art & Design University, noted that Cloud Dancer was not a widely anticipated choice. She added that many creative practitioners are instead seeing a strong pull toward green; colors associated with the Earth, water, and ecology, as a far more accurate reflection of today’s zeitgeist. In the context of ongoing wars, humanitarian crises, environmental destruction, and genocide, a white hue is seen as failing to “touch the ground,” remaining too abstract to function as a symbol of the times.

Criticism of Cloud Dancer has grown sharper when situated within the current context of the United States, where Pantone operates. Amid rising tensions around immigration–ranging from increasingly strict border policies and mass deportations to the resurgence of anti-immigrant sentiment in political discourse–the choice of white has been interpreted by some as a form of “whitewashing.”

Within this context, the calm offered by Cloud Dancer is not experienced as an inclusive safe space, but rather as a luxury accessible only to certain groups. White, historically laden with associations of power and white supremacy, becomes difficult to separate from this political reading. Instead of reflecting the complexity of a multicultural society struggling for recognition and protection, Cloud Dancer is perceived as an insensitive symbol.

Responding to these criticisms, Laurie Pressman told The Washington Post that skin tone did not factor into the selection of Cloud Dancer at all. She pointed to similar debates that emerged when Pantone chose Peach Fuzz in 2024 and Mocha Mousse in 2025. For Pantone, Pressman emphasized, the question is far more fundamental: what are people looking for, and how can color respond to that need?

Leatrice Eiseman also addressed accusations of a lack of creativity. Rather than “defaulting to white,” she framed Cloud Dancer as a blank canvas: an opening toward new possibilities and new ways of thinking. Yet this is precisely where the debate intensifies. For critics, the idea of a blank canvas feels deeply problematic in a world marked by wounds, conflict, and demands for clear positions. Cloud Dancer, rather than being read as potential, is instead seen as a posture of neutrality–and in today’s socio-political climate, neutrality itself is a form of alignment.

As we enter a new year shadowed by climate anxiety and profound socio-political upheaval–when humanity seems to be standing at the edge of a cliff–Pantone’s decision to name Cloud Dancer as the Color of the Year 2026 is viewed by many as a refusal to confront realities beyond its comfort bubble. This moment should remind us that design–including color–is, and has always been, political. Color does not exist merely as a trend, but as a social and political representation. Cloud Dancer may be intended as an invitation to pause and breathe, yet it ultimately shows the widening gap between the narrative of calmness produced by the global creative industry’s gatekeepers and the harsh realities faced by marginalized communities around the world.