As the new year gets underway and people search for hope and clarity in these unprecedented times, is it any wonder or coincidence Pantone’s pick for color of the year?

Pantone 17-5104 Ultimate Gray & Pantone 13-0647 Illuminating.

Pantone has called these two colors “A marriage of color conveying a message of strength and hopefulness that is both enduring and uplifting.”

As food and beverage package designers, we look at ALL of the packaging while shopping or researching. We know yellow is used a lot to grab consumers attention. A few examples are Lay’s® Classic Potato Chips and Cheerios™. These products practically jump off the shelf.

We understand the challenges of using gray in food packaging because it does not offer much appetite appeal. Matter of fact, in our quick Google search, we could not find one good example of a popular food brand using gray as its designator color.

We have all seen yellow and gray work well together in fashion and home décor but in food packaging? Our search lead us to this cheerful, uplifting design featured in the DIELINE. This line of convenience store cups beautifully illustrates the harmony of using yellow and gray with their simple, everyday activities that we all crave and can relate to these days.

These two colors embody our desire and need to feel secure & positive in our daily lives and kudos to the design team that pulled this union off. Just looking at these cups made us happier!

Ending on this bright spot, we at Levitskie Creative, want to wish all of you a more predictable, brighter year.

Contact us if you’re looking for an upbeat conversation!