2019 Color Trends

The Impact of Color

Color has always played a huge role in our lives. We all know our favorites, and it’s not uncommon for us to share a few. Each hue transmits a particular feeling, energy and mood, and by learning more about these trends we’ll be able to explore exciting inspirations we might otherwise ignore.

So let’s take a look at a few more emerging color trends for 2019.

Gold

In the creative, makeup and beauty worlds, the color gold is the champion of luxury brands. Models adjust their selfies with that perfect golden-hour glow, artists attach gold leaf to their canvases, and jewelry designers go in on fantastic gold designs.

And with an ever-growing global economy, it’s not a total shock that our tastes are becoming more expensive. The color gold is, in fact, driving this trend as we find ways to exude a sense of confidence in all areas of our lives. Psychology tells us that gold can make you feel glamorous while also inviting courageous feelings of passion and wisdom. Pretty cool!

Gold Inspiration

Are you feeling a little fancy today? Try out one of these gold design tutorials. I myself have already used this color a few times this year! Not only is it applicable across a variety of projects, but it also ranks as the top searched color on both Envato Market and Envato Elements! How’s that for gold standard?

How to Create a 3D Gold Text Effect With Photoshop Layer Styles

Recreate the metallic sheen and luster of stunning gold letters with this text effect tutorial! Join Enrique Elicabe as he explains how to use Photoshop layer styles to achieve realistic gold textures and colors.

More Gold Tutorials

Want more gold tutorials? Jump to a few of our favorites.

• How to Make a Stellar Photo Effect With a Star Brush in Photoshop
• How to Create a Surreal Stitched Portrait in Adobe Photoshop
• How to Create a Gold Foil Logo Mockup in Adobe Photoshop

Natural Greens

Artists have always been connected to nature—and therefore, the color green. Green is the color of life. It’s associated with feelings of growth, harmony, renewal, and balance. It’s the circle of life all in one color, really. We notice it throughout the seasons, and now that we’re becoming more conscious of our environmental impact, natural green colors are dominating our work spaces, creative activities, and lifestyle designs.

Natural Green Inspiration

Hunter green is one of the most common greens designers are excited by, although you’ll also find many variations. Naturally, it inspires many creative projects with nature-infused themes, but it’s also associated with wealth and finance. So you’ll find it most prevalent in design topics like stationery, websites, and more.

Create Earthy 3D Typography in Photoshop

You can also use these colors for a brilliant text effect! Recreate this look with stellar stock images in Adobe Photoshop. Ed Lopez shows us how in this awesome tutorial above.

More Green Tutorials

Unwind and relax with a nature-inspired tutorial. Jump to a few of our favorites.

• How to Create a Typography Poster Design in Adobe InDesign
• How to Create a Quick Retro Video Glitch Text Effect in Adobe InDesign
• How to Create a Dark Surreal Photo Manipulation in Adobe Photoshop

Neon Green

Remember the 90s TV show, Double Dare? Now you can relive all your favorite slime fantasies with one of the boldest fashion statements to hit the catwalk: UFO green. Daring and slightly unusual, this bold color choice has already been favored by fashion giants like Gucci and Versace.

So how do you stand out when everything is already so saturated? Many looking to this bright neon trend might be trying to do just that: stand out.

Neon Green Inspiration

From the catwalks of the spring 2019 runways to the fictional paradises seen in digital art, neon green is definitely a stunner. At the forefront of what you’ll see from this trend are vibrant vacation clothes, graphics, and colorful photography. But you can also check out our tutorials to find out how to use this cool color.

How to Create a Punk-Rock Portrait in Procreate

Procreate is the go-to digital painting app for many new artists. And now you can create epic, neon-colored hair with this tutorial from Maria Dimova. Learn how to use different brush settings and layer styles for a vibrant hairstyle.

More Neon Green Tutorials

Try out this wild color out yourself! Check out these helpful tutorials.

• How to Create a Slimy, Alien Text Effect in Adobe Illustrator
• Create a 3D Vintage Lightbulb Sign Using Illustrator, Cinema 4D, and Photoshop
• How to Create a Suffragette-Inspired Poster in Adobe InDesign

More Neon Colors: Pink, Orange, & Purple

Neon green isn’t the only psychedelic color to emerge for 2019.

And last year we called it! Many fan favorites come in the form of electric neon pinks, oranges, and even some unique purple flavors. Neon colors, after all, are an ode to the eclectic retro ambience of the 1980s. Everything certainly pops with them, and if used effectively, they can bring creative, spunky energy to any piece.

Neon Color Inspiration

Fashion designers like Jeremy Scott are also going full-on construction worker with bright, neon yellow accents for jumpsuits and other quirky designs.

Need some neon inspiration? Try your hand at a bold photo effect like the one below.

How to Create a Neon Rainbow Photoshop Portrait Effect

In this tutorial, Abbey Esparza shows you how to add a punk-rock pop art vibe to your portraits in Adobe Photoshop. Learn how to create the perfect neon glow and how to bring more vibrancy and brightness to any portrait.

More Neon Color Tutorials

Excited to try your hand at these colors? Check out these amazing tutorials.

• How to Create a Stylish Neon Portrait in Procreate
• How to Create a Realistic Neon Light Text Effect in Adobe Photoshop
• How to Create an 80s Neon Horns Photo Manipulation in Adobe Photoshop

Cobalt Blue

Will we ever grow tired of blue? Blue is a color you can feel and also design with. And the cobalt version refers to the extraordinary pure blue pigment discovered by chemists at the turn of the 19th century.

Cobalt Blue Inspiration

Cobalt blue was a favorite among legends like Vincent van Gogh. It also inspires a magical energy you might find in many neon-themed designs. Try out the one below for a cool text effect.

How to Create a Neon Glow in the Dark Text Effect in Adobe Photoshop

This insightful Photoshop lesson comes from designer Laura Keung. Follow along as she shows you how to use layer blend modes and multiple brushes for a unique neon look.

More Cobalt Blue Tutorials

Looking for something to make with cobalt blue? Check out these tutorials.

• How to Create an Abstract Poster Using the Puppet Warp Tool in Adobe Photoshop
• How to Create a Russian Text Effect in Adobe Illustrator
• How to Create a Surreal Dance Scene in the Rain in Affinity Photo

Try These Trends

How will color guide you in 2019? Explore these trends and test out new color palettes to improve your skills.  For more help, find exciting new tutorials to try over on Tuts+.

About the Author Melody Nieves

I’m a digital artist with a love of all things Photoshop. Check out my tutorials for great tips on digital painting, photo manipulation, and photo effects on Envato Tuts+! View all posts by Melody Nieves

A recent television commercial for Esurance introduces viewers to Beatrice, a gray-haired woman with oversized glasses and an unfashionable scarf who is identified as an “offline over-sharer.” Beatrice brags to two friends that she saves 15 percent in 15 minutes on her car insurance– as well as “a ton of time” posting her vacation photos on her “wall” rather than mailing them. She actually has taped snapshots all over her living room wall.

When one friend counters that she saves more than that in half that time (presumably from Esurance), Beatrice is miffed. “I unfriend you,” she blurts out.
” That’s not how this works. That’s not how any of this works,” groans her friend, before the narrator introduces Esurance and the company’s slogan: “Welcome to the modern world.”
Get it? Though 28 million people over 55 already subscribe to Facebook and boomers buy twice as much online as younger adults, according to Forrester Research, cranky, befuddled Beatrice can’t fathom social media.
Responding to complaints about the spot, Ellen Hall, a blogger for Esurance (which vows in its mission statement to make “people’s lives a little better– by valuing our customers”), wrote in a post that the ad’s intent “is to show that it can be difficult to keep pace with technology these days (no matter your age).”.
Negative stereotypes.
But the company’s underlying message is that your elders are idiots, so buy our product to be cool and not like them. The campaign amounts to a self-inflicted wound, given that consumers over 50 buy nearly five times as many new cars (which require insurance) than does the prized 18-to-34 demographic.
Chuck Schroeder, 71, founder of Senior Creative People, a consulting firm that specializes in communicating with mature consumers, worries that many advertisers depict older adults as decrepit Luddites “still looking at their VCR flashing ’12,’ on and off.”.
As an example, he cites Taco Bell’s new spokes-codgers, Harold and Lenny, who evoke Statler and Waldorf, the grumpy Muppets in the theater balcony.
” Today they’re eating Waffle Tacos, tomorrow they’re loitering,” warns Taco Bell’s schlubby pitchman. Of course, he sits on a park bench and wears a hearing aid. Meanwhile, attractive millennials eat “next-generation” breakfast sandwiches nearby. Restaurant industry analyst Technomic Inc. estimates that nearly 1 out of 5 of the fast food chain’s regular customers are 55 and older, but never mind them.
Brainwashed by the culture.
Taco Bell and Esurance are outliers; far more advertisers commit sins of omission, ignoring the 50-plus demographic. “Older people are kind of written off by advertisers, as if these people are not important and don’t buy anything,” says Dilip V. Jeste, associate dean for healthy aging and senior care at the University of California, San Diego. “It’s unfortunate that older people themselves buy into it.”.
The 50-plus market that many advertisers ignore or insult is not big: It is enormous. According to a Nielsen study, by 2017 boomers will control 70 percent of the country’s disposable income. From 2007 to 2010– tough economic times– retirees were one of the few demographic groups to experience stable or rising incomes. Nearly 60 percent of homeowners over 65 are not weighed down by mortgages, compared with just 11 percent of 35- to 44-year-olds. And boomers account for 80 percent of America’s luxury travel spending.
While boomers and the “greatest generation” watch more live television than younger viewers, many older adults unsurprisingly tune out ads; more than half of older adults surveyed by the advertising firm GlynnDevins do not believe ads portray them as “people to be respected.”.
Paltry marketing budgets aimed at older consumers reinforce the perception that aging consumers lack value. The Nielsen study revealed that “less than 5 percent of advertising dollars” target adults ages 35 to 64, and cites age 49 as the “cut-off,” when many marketers stop courting customers. When boomers reached middle age, says Lori Bitter, president of The Business of Aging, a consulting firm in Alameda, Calif., advertisers decided “they weren’t relevant.”.
Call it the Ponce de León Effect– the obsessive search for a fountain of youthful consumers. Bitter, who characterized the lack of respect for older buyers as “bizarre,” recently advised a major company in the packaged-goods industry. The company had copious data proving that its customer base is between 47 and 70. Nevertheless, Bitter’s client worried that targeting that market would make its brand look old. “We are a youth- and beauty-focused culture,” Bitter says. “We sort of culturally brainwash ourselves.”.
Brazen ageism.
Nearly two-thirds of companies, according to a 2005 survey, “had no specific plans for targeting boomers or 50-plus consumers in their product development, marketing or advertising.”.
Aside from entrenched societal ageism, reasons for this include outdated assumptions that older consumers are cheap and so brand-loyal that they are immune to advertising. And many agencies have no place for older creative talents.
In 2012, Ad Age asked Nancee Martin, director of talent for TBWA Worldwide, to assess job opportunities for older copywriters. She was dismissive. “There’s a commonly held conception that to be a creative, you need to know what’s hot, what music is cool, what website is all the rage– and with age you become less aware of those things.”.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the median age of advertising employees is 39.3– about three years younger than all workers. But many creatives at big ad agencies feel career prospects waning by their mid-30s.
Rob Baiocco, 50, cofounder of the Baiocco and Maldari Connection, recalls working on the coveted Captain Morgan rum account in his 30s while an executive creative director at Grey Advertising, but “then I got a little bit older. Some of the people that were looking at the brand probably thought, ‘You know, let’s get some younger guys.’” Baiocco sensed pressure and resigned the account. Big agencies, he says, often force out aging creatives or assign them “less sexy” accounts like pharmaceuticals.
Boomers spend– and change brands.
Agencies often associate success with award-winning spots that sway young people, says Bob Hoffman, author of 101 Contrarian Ideas About Advertising. “Nobody in the advertising business and very few people in the marketing business ever built a career on successfully talking to 60-year-olds.”.
Despite the youth worship at many ad agencies, Ken Dychtwald, CEO of the consulting firm Age Wave, believes many marketers live in the past. Lifetime brand loyalty “was once a reality, but now it’s just a myth,” he says. Previous generations often selected a brand between the ages of 15 and 25 and never switched. That became the target age for advertisers.
But that has changed. A study in 2007 found that 70 percent of boomers would change home appliance brands and slightly more would switch clothing preferences. Brent Bouchez, 56, cofounder of the ad agency Bouchez Page, calls boomers “brand-promiscuous.”.
A 2014 survey by Adroit Digital found most millennials had roughly the same level of brand loyalty as their parents. In fact, the survey found that 24 percent of respondents expressed more brand loyalty than their parents.
Nielsen’s study, a collaboration with the ad agency BoomAgers, debunks the myth that older people are tightwads. Boomers, it says, “were born into a post-war culture of affluence and optimism.” With no firsthand experience of the Great Depression, boomers have always spent freely and are not stopping now. “Boomers make the most money and spend what they make,” concludes the study.

A tale of two vodkas.
Some innovative companies, including Apple, understand that. Boomers account for 41 percent of people who buy Apple computers, notes Nielsen, and commercials for the iPad reflect this. Its campaign stars the device and a diverse supporting cast using it. “There was a baby and there was a 70-year-old man,” says Lori Bitter, pointing out an admirable strategy that “doesn’t disown anyone.” The message “is timeless and ageless.”.
Older adults might want to be youthful, “but they don’t want to be like young people,” Bob Hoffman says. “People over 50 have their own idea about what being youthful is– and it’s not like being Miley Cyrus or Justin Bieber.”.
Brent Bouchez concurs. He offers two liquor ads as neat examples of strategies that attract or repel the more than 1 of 4 vodka drinkers over 55. Ketel One’s “Tonight” ad shows attractive twentysomethings at a party– plenty of carousing and bro hugs set to a rocking soundtrack. “Beautiful ad,” he allows. But older viewers, he bets, “don’t want to go to that party.”.
Grey Goose, on the other hand, invited a broader range of consumers to its 60-second party. Its “Discerning Taste: Oysters” commercial is set on a sailboat. Close-ups show hedonistic vignettes– legs intertwined, massages, the cracking of lobster, the clinking of icy glasses. “You get glimpses of people; I can’t tell you how old they are,” Bouchez says. “The 50-year-old goes, ‘Man, that’s my life now,’ and the 25-year-old often says, ‘OK, that may not be my life, but I want to get there.’ You can target older and bring younger along. Whereas, if you target younger, you probably won’t bring older along.”.
Several recent campaigns actually venerate aging. To celebrate Cole Haan’s birthday last year, the shoe company commissioned glamorous portraits featuring icons born in 1928, when the company was founded. Dodge followed suit to mark its 100th year in business, with an online commercial that offers snippets of unconventional wisdom from centenarians. The ad uses the tagline, “You learn a lot in 100 years.”.
Swiffer’s sell.
Chuck Schroeder of Senior Creative People praises the popular “Swiffer Effect” campaign, which follows a couple in their 90s, Lee and Morty Kaufman, as they clean their tidy Valley Stream, N.Y., house. The advertisers, says Schroeder, “are not making fun of Morty and his wife; they’re living with Morty and his wife.” A spokeswoman for Swiffer, Elizabeth Ming, says the ad resonates with Americans of all ages because many consumers “aspire” to have a similar loving, enduring relationship. Schroeder sees the Swiffer ad campaign as evidence that older consumers may be starting to get the respect they deserve. He predicts more companies will decide that “they have to sell stuff to the people who have the money to buy– and that is going to be the major overhaul in what we see.”.