Pantone's colour of the year has ruined my blog

It’s a slight exaggeration, but honestly, it’s taking up way more space in my head than it should.

I’m sure you’ve – all of my thousands and thousands of readers – have noticed that each year I change the colour of all the links, hyperlinks, social links and site links on my website (blog?) to Pantone’s colour of the year.

It was hard enough to do it this year when “Mocha Mousse” was announced. I’ve never been a fan of any shade of brown, and this mousse is so noncommittal it made me shudder. But I am, if anything, a stickler for consistency.

Why?

Or am I?

What, in the name of all things Olivia Colman, am I supposed to do with “Cloud Dancer”?

Again, why?

They say, “At this time of transformation, when we are reimagining our future and our place in the world, PANTONE 11-4201 Cloud Dancer is a discrete white hue offering a promise of clarity. The cacophony that surrounds us has become overwhelming, making it harder to hear the voices of our inner selves. A conscious statement of simplification, Cloud Dancer enhances our focus, providing release from the distraction of external influences.”

I say, whatever.

Give us colour. In this miserable, dystopian time we’re living in, give us something warm, give us something comforting, and please baby Jesus give us something hopeful. Not … nothing.

I’m far from the only one who thinks this is a load of nonsense. Some say, “It feels like a eugenics-y move.” Others say, “It reminds me of two-ply toilet paper – three-ply if we’re being generous. It’s the uncanny veneers of a Fox News broadcaster. It’s the threatening silence of a suburb that has driven out anyone with a skin tone deeper than beige.”

But I’m not here to give feedback (any more than I already have). I’m here to say (ask) what I am supposed to do now?

Get creative and add a background highlight to all my links?

Be normal and not worry about it?

Or ignore Pantone and pick one of the two other colours rumoured to make it (lapis lazuli or phthalo green)?

I don’t know yet.

Any suggestions are welcome.

Shreddie for anything

This is the kind of creative bonkers I can’t get enough of, and honestly, I’ll put some money somewhere that it works. I know, I know, people will say ‘but metrics and sales data’ and all that, and I’ll say ‘brand awareness, long-term’ and all that, and the conversation will go round and round until I win.

Stellar job by McCann London.

BBC Two idents

Big fan of idents, and am loving the new ones for BBC Two.