British artist Stuart Semple has announced the winner of his public vote for "Color of the Year," a direct challenge to Pantone's annual color selection. After collecting 4,063 votes online, the winning shade is a purple called Anarchic Venom (hex #B17DAC), now available for $9.99 through Semple's art materials brand Culture Hustle. Semple has a history of democratizing trademarked colors, having previously created alternatives to Tiffany blue, Barbie pink, and Vantablack in a long-running feud with Anish Kapoor. He also released a variant of Pantone's 2025 color Cloud Dancer, which he dubbed Proud Chancer.
This matters because Semple's crowd-sourced color vote directly undermines Pantone's authority as the arbiter of annual color trends, a role that influences design, fashion, and consumer products worldwide. Semple argues that a billion-dollar corporation should not unilaterally dictate what color defines the year, calling Pantone's choice of Cloud Dancer "Pantone deaf" and out of touch with public desire for vibrant, rebellious hues. The project raises broader questions about who gets to define cultural trends and whether color should be a democratic, accessible resource rather than a proprietary commodity controlled by corporations.