Join the Glowing Challenge
Use the Glowing colors developed by Pantone to create art that will make the world take notice of the ocean’s peril.
Image Source: Adobe Stock / The Ocean Agency.
From the radiant gradients in a sunset and the muted palette of the high desert in winter to the tempting berry colors birds eat to spread their seeds and vibrant florals that invite bees to seek their nectar, nature uses the language of color to attract attention; silently signaling and communicating to the world, the message it needs to convey.
Image Source: Adobe Stock / The Ocean Agency.
Nature also uses color as a warning. Known as aposematism, bright shades such as red, orange, yellow, or black and white in venomous and poisonous animals act as a warning to potential predators. The lionfish has a beautiful striped mane, but the rich coloration says that these spikes aren’t just for show.
Image Source: Adobe Stock / The Ocean Agency.
The ocean is sending us another warning: these images were captured on a dive by The Ocean Agency, a nonprofit that uses the combination of creativity, technology, and powerful partnerships to accelerate ocean science and conservation action. They have spent the last several years diving reefs all over the world, capturing an incredible library of imagery and video on the current state of ocean coral health. These corals, as beautiful as they look, are dying. Using the language of color to send their warning signal, this brilliant fluorescing is their final act before they expire.
Image Source: Adobe Stock / The Ocean Agency.
Adobe Color worked with the Pantone Color Institute and The Ocean Agency to digitally extract the glowing colors of the coral. Using Adobe Color’s powerful color engine, the specific fluorescing LAB values from The Ocean Agency’s images on Adobe Stock were isolated and converted to RGB. In collaboration with Pantone, we turned these digital values into Pantone Color Standards and selected the custom palette that would ultimately become the colors of climate change and be used to inspire climate action. The final shades are available as a set of three Pantone colors, named Glowing Blue, Glowing Purple, and Glowing Yellow.
For millennia, artists have taken inspiration from nature. Today, we challenge you to take these colors and produce beautiful artwork to bring awareness to the plight of the coral. We want to focus on finding solutions by helping put a creative spotlight on the problem. Help us shape the future of ocean health by visiting Glowing.org to view the rules and download the creative brief, asset packs, and a Creative Cloud Library of elements. Then post your work to share your vision with the world.
Join us for the month of August on the Adobe Drawing Instagram where the theme is “Coral.” Follow @AdobeDrawing and tag your art with #AdobeDrawing_Coral to have your work featured. Don’t forget to tag it with #GlowingGone to enter the contest! Let’s make the whole world above sea level glowing, to save what is underneath.
Image Source: Adobe Stock / The Ocean Agency.
About Adobe Color
Adobe Color is a creative community where artists create and share color themes and inspiration. The Adobe Color service helps you choose harmonious and appealing color combinations for your design projects.
We’d love to continue to chat about color! Help us shape the future of Adobe Color by submitting feature requests or feedback using the Feedback icon on the main menu. You can reach the team on social media using the #AdobeColor hashtag and you can always talk to us on the Creative Cloud Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram accounts.
Save or download the Complete Glowing Swatches Theme on Adobe Color.