Concurrents – Environmental Psychology: Blue, for 2020

by Sally Augustin, Ph.D. | February 24th, 2020

Pantone has spoken.  They have named the color of the year for 2020 and it is a shade of blue, specifically, their Classic Blue.  Classic Blue is almost navy blue, just a little brighter.  It is similar to the color of a Pepsi can. As an environmental psychologist, Pantone’s color of the year seems like a more reasonable choice to me some years than other years.  This year I support the choice made. Classic blue is a familiar color.  Experiencing familiar things can be very comforting to us and when we’re stressed we are particularly attracted to familiar options—and 2020 is shaping up to be stressful.  For instance, on one side of the Atlantic there’s the U.S. presidential election to look forward to and some of the people on the other side of the Atlantic can look forward to whatever Brexit will bring.  Also, few people would be surprised if …