The Pantone Color of the Year 2026, PANTONE 11-4201 Cloud Dancer, is described as an airy, billowy white that opens space for creativity, quiet reflection, and calm. A white that is both warm and cool, its serene presence symbolizes the need for clarity in a noisy world. And as soon as the choice was announced last week, an old debate resurfaced: Is white even a color?
White is often thought of as the “absence” of color. But color science says otherwise. To understand this critical color, we examine the science behind how we see white and how it’s produced.
Light Is the Real Source of Color
Human color perception begins with light. Objects don’t inherently possess color; instead, they absorb certain wavelengths and reflect others. The reflected mixture enters our eyes and our brains interpret that signal as a color.
The visible color spectrum—what we know as the rainbow—spans wavelengths from roughly 380 to 720 nanometers, broken into the three primary colors of red, green, and blue. By mixing these in different intensities, we can create millions of colors. When we mix red, green, and blue in equal intensities, we perceive the result as white light.
Because white reflects all wavelengths, it is deeply influenced by the color temperature of the light source. A white object may appear crisp under daylight, creamy under afternoon sun, or slightly blue under fluorescents. The light source doesn’t just illuminate the white—it shapes its entire appearance. This becomes crucial when comparing whites across products, materials, or environments.
Read our blog: Color Perception Part 1: The Effect of Light
Additive vs. Subtractive Color Theory
Understanding how white is produced in different systems requires a look at the two major color models: additive and subtractive.
Additive Color (RGB)
Additive color is the color you get by adding light. Screens, phones, and digital displays use red, green, and blue wavelengths (RGB) to create all other colors.
- No light = black
- Full-intensity RGB = white
Digital devices rely on this combination to simulate a wide color gamut by manipulating how much light each pixel emits. This is why the white on your phone or monitor is literally made of light.
Subtractive Color (CMY/CMYK)
Subtractive color is the color you get by subtracting wavelengths from white light using inks, dyes, or pigments. It works by controlling how much light a material reflects back to the viewer. In print and packaging, for example, cyan, magenta, and yellow absorb—or subtract—their opposing wavelengths to produce the desired hue.
In this system, white is the absence of color, because no combination of inks or pigments can be mixed to produce it. White comes entirely from the base material or substrate, which is one reason people often debate whether white qualifies as a color at all.
However, when you look at pigment chemistry, the story becomes more interesting. Manufacturers create white materials using specific ground substances such as chalk or minerals like titanium dioxide and zinc oxide. Even white paper, cotton, wool, and other natural materials rely on bleaching processes to remove their inherent yellow tint.
How the raw material is prepared introduces subtle variations of warm or cool undertones—and this is why we see so many different shades of white across paints, plastics, textiles, and everyday products. In this context, white is very much a color, with its own measurable properties and visual nuances.
Read our blog: Additive vs. Subtractive Color Models
Why So Many Whites Aren’t Really White
A surprising amount of the “white” materials around us—paper, textiles, packaging, plastics—aren’t naturally white at all. Manufacturers often add optical brightening agents (OBAs) to either the color formulation or to the base material to create a visually brighter white.
OBAs work by absorbing ultraviolet (UV) light that we cannot see and re-emit that light in the blue region where we can see it. Our eyes will perceive this white to be brighter than the white that doesn’t contain optical brighteners.
This “whiter-than-white” effect can be appealing, but it complicates color communication. OBAs only fluoresce under light sources that contain UV. Under LEDs or other low-UV lighting, a brightened white may suddenly look dull, yellowed, or mismatched. This means two white materials can match in one environment and clash in another.
Read our blog: Optical Brighteners: A Primer
Does Cloud Dancer Use OBAs?
No, and that’s part of what makes it special.
PANTONE 11-4201 Cloud Dancer is a natural, non-optically brightened white. Its reflectance curve remains balanced across the visible spectrum withno artificial blue peak, no fluorescence, no optical enhancement.
This means Cloud Dancer:
- Reflects light uniformly
- Maintains consistent appearance under varied lighting conditions
- Is more predictable in digital and physical color workflows
- Behaves like a true, neutral reference white
When formulating this soft neutral, manufacturers must still consider whether the base material contains OBAs, since any color standard will behave differently on brightened substrates. A light booth is often used to compare and evaluate these shifts accurately.
In contrast, many popular whites (such as PANTONE 11-4001 or 11-0700) include OBAs and often measure above 100% reflectance in the blue region—clear evidence of fluorescence. For industries that rely on color accuracy, the difference between a natural white and a brightened one can significantly affect perception, measurement, and production outcomes.
So… Is White a Color?
Yes, white is absolutely a color. It has a measurable spectral profile, it participates fully in both additive and subtractive systems, and it influences how every other color is seen. It is also one of the most challenging colors to manage because its appearance depends on light, material composition, and human perception.
White may appear simple, but its science is anything but. And perhaps that’s the point: the quietest colors often invite the deepest conversation. Cloud Dancer encourages us to look more closely and appreciate the interplay of light, perception, and material that shapes every color we see.
If you’d like to learn more about reproducing PANTONE 11-4201 Cloud Dancer, fill out the form and a Color Expert will be in touch.
