International color experts Pantone have been offering a new Color of the Year every year since 2000, when they kicked it all off with Cerulean Blue. This year, it’s Mocha Mousse, a milk chocolate shade that is supposed to be luxurious and comforting. Colors of the Year are very rarely neutrals, and this year’s choice is being met with disappointment by many people. How is it for websites?
We’ve never used this color for a website, as far as we remember. So we looked around the web instead.
Mocha websites
Lincor, a watchmaker, went all in on a very similar shade.
But this site was one of the few we saw that really leaned into mocha. We thought leather goods companies might choose mocha, or possibly banks might, but we were wrong.
Mocha plus
Most of the websites we saw used mocha along with other colors.
Coffee companies are a natural for this shade. Twin beans combined earthy greens and white with mocha.
Cafe Mouse went the opposite direction with deep brown for their main color.
We expected to find mocha in the websites of chocolate companies and cosmetics makers, but they surprised us with brights.
We found mocha in websites for crafts and handmade goods, though. Tlali-Pani mixed mocha with golden shades.
Minna used taupe.
Will you want a mocha website?
A lot of chatter about Mocha Mousse has expressed disappointment. Pantone usually has a separate section of neutrals in their color predictions for the year — the Color of the Year is usually something exciting and maybe even startling. Tangerine, Emerald, Ultraviolet all shook people up a little. Mocha Mousse? Doesn’t everybody already have that in their closet or on their furniture?
Maybe so, but it’s not that common on the web. We can see it giving a sense of quiet luxury and making your site stand out. What do you think?
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