This morning I was at the Dulux UK Colour of the Year launch in London and I wanted to give you the ‘hot off the press’ news what their colour of the year for 2024 is.

I don’t normally talk about the colour of the year straight away as I like to give it a few months just to see what the response and uptake is. But this year I thought I would do it a bit differently and capture the mood of the room while I was there.

I was thrilled to be invited by Marianne, Creative Director of Dulux UK and Ireland and a dear friend of mine in the colour world.

The Colour of the Year launch is a hotly anticipated press event, full of journalists from the UK’s leading home and lifestyle magazines such as Ideal Home, Conde Naste, Living Etc, newspapers and of course social media influencers.

Dulux UK 2024 Colour of the Year is…

And the colour is… Sweet Embrace

Dulux has continued their run of picking a soft, muted colour for their Colour of the Year. This time it’s what I would call a barely there soft pink.

It’s oh so quiet.

Marianne Shillingford, Creative Director Dulux UK and Ireland says when life is complex and we need to decompress and step back from the complexity of life, when we need to find quiet moments of calm, home is the perfect place for us to unravel the tangle.

And she believes that Sweet Embrace is just the colour we need to embrace the quiet.

I managed to get an interview with Marianne which you can watch over here on Instagram. See her reaction when I tried to get a sneak peek for 2025 colour of the year (yes, it has already been picked).

The responses are in. What did the invited guests think of the colour of year?

The announcement of Sweet Embrace was met with applause. One journalist said it’s certainly a colour that will stay for years to come while another believed it would become a firm favourite.

There were lots of very happy influencers and bloggers gushing with one saying that she almost burst into tears she was so happy because it, along with the palettes are exactly the colours she loves.

I was speaking to a friend yesterday saying wouldn’t it be funny if it was pink given the phenomenon of Barbie pink this year.

Dulux decide on the colour 18 months before hand so they weren’t influenced by Barbie.

And you couldn’t get a more polar opposite pink with Barbie pink being vibrant, lively and loud and Sweet Embrace being an almost barely there pink, one that is soothing, gentle and a quiet whisper.

Looking at the past Dulux Colour of the Year from the last 10 years or so, the colours have been soft and muted so they do seem to have a theme going here.

I can see how Sweet Embrace could be the antidote to the hectic, digital, overwhelm of life. It’s feels instantly soothing, relaxing and encouraging you to slow down.

Being surrounded by it this morning, it made me want to whisper. If you know me, you’ll know I don’t have an inside voice. I can see my friends wanting to buy this colour by the truck loads!

From a colour psychology perspective some of the positive traits of soft pinks are nurturing, compassionate, empathic. It’s caring and supportive. It soothes us on a physical level. We feel relaxed and comforted like a warm embrace. If cuddles were a colour, it would be pink.

And for those wanting to move away from grey or white, this soft pink, yes it’s already being called a ‘neutral’ is a safe option.

The real test is still to come. Will the general public, the consumer embrace this colour and bring it into their homes? Only time will tell.

Over to you

If you’ve read my book you’ll know that colour creates an emotive response, an emotive reaction. So what are your initial thoughts? What’s your gut reaction. I’d love to know. Pop your thoughts in the comments below.

Wishing you a colourful day
Karenx

Banner image courtesy of Dulux UK

All other images are my own