What a happy omen, that the Colour Czars Pantone have chosen Story Factory colours for their Pantone colours of 2021! ‘Ultimate Gray’ combined with ‘Illuminating’, which they call “a marriage of colour conveying a message of strength and hopefulness that is both enduring and uplifting“.
However:
These Are Not The Colours You’re Looking For
Pantone actually has three different colour systems:
- Pantone Matching System (PMS) for Graphics, Print and Digital, and
- Fashion, Home + Interior (FHI) system, which is split into:
- TPG for Pigments and Coatings, and
- TEX for Textiles.
The colours of the year are aimed at the fashion industry. Ultimate Gray is Pantone 17-5104 TEX, while Illuminating is Pantone 13-0647 TEX, both of the FHI system.
The other system, PMS, uses different colour references with different codes. And that’s the one we use in design and graphics and all things digital. The closest colours are:
Pantone X Story Factory
So, how do those colours compare to the Story Factory ones?
| Story Factory Grey | Story Factory Yellow |
 |  |
| RGB: 109, 110, 113 Pantone 4292C (PMS) | RGB: 255, 203, 0 Pantone 116C (PMS) |
| Pantone Grey | Pantone Yellow |
|  |
| RGB: 151, 153, 155 Pantone 7C (PMS) | RGB: 249, 229, 71 (Pantone 106C) |
I might be biased, but I prefer my colours; the yellow is warmer, and the grey gives better contrast.
Though I’m still taking the positive omen!
