Pantone’s Color of the Year was announced a couple of weeks ago — prematurely, apparently. Monaco Blue was merely the top color for Spring 2013.
Or perhaps Pantone is responding to the tepid reaction to Monaco Blue as the Color of the Year. A lot of the journalists who wrote about Monaco Blue for Color of the Year said, “Eh, it’s blue.” In any case, Pantone has officially announced Emerald as the Color of the Year for 2013.
We were ready for blue offices, and still are. Blue is known as a calming color. Fortunately, green is even better. Not only does green lead to serenity and balance in the office, but there is some reason to believe that it can be good for your health.
Research has long shown that exercising outdoors has even better health benefits than exercising indoors. Plenty of reasons for this have been suggested, from the uneven terrain outdoors to the fresh air your grandparents always said was good for you. Once researchers determined that looking at greenery through a window had health benefits — for example, people who can see trees from their hospital beds heal more quickly — it was a small step to showing treadmill runners videos of nature while they ran.
Finally, researchers tried showing green screens to indoor exercisers, and comparing their effects with red and with gray screens. Sure enough, just looking at green helped subjects exercise longer and enjoy their workouts more.
We hope Emerald will have the same effect on the people in your office if you decide to choose this color for your new office furniture. Contact us to discuss new or pre-owned office furniture and refurbished Herman Miller cubicles of any color.