Using Pantone's 2025 Color of the Year in E-Learning #487

Pantone 2025 Color of the Year in E-Learning: Challenge | Recap

Welcome to PANTONE 17-1230 Mocha Mousse!

Pantone announced its 2025 Color of the Year: Mocha Mousse. Pantone describes the color as:

For Pantone Color of the Year 2025, we look to a mellow brown hue whose inherent richness and sensorial and comforting warmth extends further into our desire for comfort, and the indulgence of simple pleasures that we can gift and share with others.

What is the color of the year and why is it important? 

• It shows what colors will be trendy in things like fashion, home decoration, and graphic design, helping set the overall style.
• Designers use it as a source of inspiration to guide their creative choices.
• Companies and brands use it to give their products a fresh and current design style.
• E-learning designers looking for trendy or fresh colors to use in their projects.

Using the 2025 Pantone Color of the Year in E-Learning Courses

Pantone offers color harmonies to help you make the most of this year’s color, Mocha Mousse. Here are some ideas for using it in your e-learning projects:

• Color Palette: Use Mocha Mousse to create a unified theme color for your course. Apply it as a background color or integrate it into visual elements like tooltips, charts, diagrams, and icons.
• Accent Color: Highlight key information or draw attention to specific areas by using Mocha Mousse as an accent color in buttons, markers, or interactive elements.
• Design Element: Add visual interest by incorporating Mocha Mousse into monochromatic themes, gradients, or patterns.
• Color combinations: Pair Mocha Mousse with other colors to craft a cohesive and distinctive theme. 

Using with Tints and Shades to Create Custom Color Palettes

One of the easiest and safest ways to create a color palette is to start with a base color and use tint and shade values for the secondary colors.

• Tints: Lighter versions of a color created by adding white. They make the color look softer and less intense.
• Shades: Darker versions of a color made by mixing in black. They create a more dramatic or elegant effect.

E-learning designers can use tints and shades to build custom color palettes. Here’s a quick example I created using a slide template from the Content Library:

Creating Custom Colors in PowerPoint with Tints and Shades

Creating tints and shades is a simple way to design a cohesive color palette. Here’s a quick tutorial on making your own in PowerPoint:

🏆 E-Learning Challenge of the Week

This week, your e-learning challenge is to design a template or interaction using Pantone's Mocha Mousse. 

🧰 Resources

This is our 12th Pantone color challenge. Check out the previous challenges to see what other course designers have created for inspiration.

• 2014: Radiant Orchid
• 2015: Marsala
• 2016: Rose Quartz-Serenity
• 2017: Greenery
• 2018: Ultra Violet
• 2019: Living Coral
• 2020: Classic Blue
• 2021: Illuminating
• 2022: Very Peri
• 2023: Viva Magenta
• 2024: Peach Fuzz

✨ Share Your E-Learning Work

• Comments: Use the comments section below to link your published example and blog post.
• Forums: Start a new thread and share a link to your published example.
• Personal blog: If you have a blog, please consider writing about your challenges. We'll link to your posts, so your great work gets even more exposure.
• Social media: If you share your demos on Twitter or LinkedIn, try using #ELHChallenge so your tweeps can follow your e-learning coolness.

🙌 Last Week’s Challenge:

Before you   into the year's final e-learning challenge, check out the ways course designers use worksheets and job aids to help learners put their learning into practice.

Making Learning Stick with Job Aids RECAP #486: Challenge | Recap

👋 New to the E-Learning Challenges?

The weekly e-learning challenges are ongoing opportunities to learn, share, and build your e-learning portfolios. You can jump into any or all of the previous challenges anytime you want. I’ll update the recap posts to include your demos.

Learn more about the challenges in this Q&A post and why and how to participate in this helpful article.