Pantone's 'Color of the Year': Through the years

2013 is going to be a very 'Emerald' year. Here, the rainbow of times past.

By AJ Willingham

updated 10:12 AM EST, Mon December 24, 2012

Pantone has announced their color of the year, the color that is supposed to embody cultural moods and sentiments, fashion trends, decor, and personal expression. Hope you like green, because you'll be seeing a lot of emerald afoot.

For more than a decade, Pantone has hosted super-secret meetings with bright people to decide the color of the year, and the hues are seen as a reflection of the times -- if we're sad, do we need to be uplifted? If we're prosperous, should we be celebrated?

Above, a breakdown of Pantone's rainbow timeline, along with the reasoning for the selection from the accompanying press releases. Yep, it seems the Pantone people have been trying to cheer us up for a LONG time.

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