I hate the Pantone color of the year 🧻

Maybe White is the Zeitgeist -- that's why I hate it

Pantone announced it’s 2026 Color of the Year is “Cloud Dancer” white and my first reaction was, wow, this may be the sign of the times, and I hate it. There is a lot to hate about white as “Color of the Year”, both literally and metaphorically.

Photoshop of the Cloud Dancer swatch (by me)

In fashion language, white suggests luxury, like, you don’t have to work, because if you worked, you’d wear a more practical color that won’t get stained within 5 minutes. Staying clean is a privilege — the aristocracy keeps their hands clean and the working class gets dirty for them.

But in another since, white is NOTHING. Empty plate, empty room, empty pockets, empty future. Like this comic I made 13 years ago and titled “Legacy” 🥹

Sticky Comics, 2012

I can’t skip over the White Nationalist angle either — is it too on-the-nose? As a color, white symbolizes purity. White Nationalism draws on the idea of a “pure” in-group, where “purity” is defined by the powerful as “white” plus a bunch of other far-right crap. Whiteness, as an American cultural identity, is getting pushed on us in ethno-fascist visual language from the Trumpers and far right, calling for a return to the “glory days” of pre-Civil Rights Era America. As far as trends go, White Nationalism will keep coming at us in 2026, so if that’s what Pantone is getting at, they’re not wrong 😭

Anyway, white just isn’t my thing. I’m too messy for it, I drink too much wine 🍷, and as a color it doesn’t generally bring me joy. I don’t even like to draw on white paper (I prefer shades of tan). BUT if you’re a fan of white for kind & loving reasons, do your thing 🤍

And there are a few good things about white: Simplicity. Cleanliness. Plus it’s an empty canvas, or a blank page that hasn’t been written yet. So even if Pantone threw their hands up and declared that color is OVER, we don’t have to give up yet.