Now's the time when the design community pinpoints trends for the year ahead and Pantone is getting in on the fun with its pick for the 2020 Color of the Year: Classic Blue.

The soothing blue is a major departure from last year's choice, a vibrant peach shade called Living Coral. According to Laurie Pressman, vice president of the Pantone Color Institute, the versatile pick speaks to consumers' longing for more satisfying lifestyles. "Our selection highlights people’s desire for calm and reassurance and their craving for the comfort of something trusted and familiar, whether for lifestyle or within their home.

Classic Blue is the kind of shade that brings to mind the sky at dusk. It's quite a familiar tone, making it ideal for both interiors and exteriors. So what's the best approach for incorporating the Color of the Year into your home? "Classic Blue lends itself well to all different types of materials, textures, and surface finishes, from a dry dusted matte to the lustrous sheen of metallic, satins, and sequins," Pressman says. "It also pairs well with luxe materials, including lush velvets and silks."

And as for color pairings, the possibilities are endless. It's the perfect match for soft pastel blues and peach tones, or even energetic greens along with black and white for a dose of drama. If you're a fan of neutrals, Classic Blue is still a failproof option.

This year also marked the first time Pantone opted to bring the color to life at an event in New York City for a group of media and design professionals. "We made the decision to unveil our PANTONE Color of the Year 2020 at a live event to enable our community to engage with color in a different way, to turn color into a more immersive experience by highlighting color as something we see visually, but also something, a feeling, that be translated to our other senses; hearing, smelling, tasting and touching," Pressman says. "In so doing, we are hoping to share with our community the full impact of color and create a more memorable color experience and journey for them."