How Pinterest identifies its colours of the year

People who use Pinterest
Pinterest analyses billions of searches and saves from over 600 million users to identify colours gaining momentum. These real actions reveal emerging preferences long before trends peak.

Visual search technology
Pinterest’s visual AI examines images across the platform to understand which colours and combinations people are drawn to, uncovering the aesthetic worlds they are actively creating.

Human curation
In-house colour experts translate this data into cultural insight, mapping trends to specific shades and validating them across fashion, beauty, interiors and other key categories.

The Five Colours Shaping Brand Creative in 2026

In this post, we break down the five colours that make up the Pinterest Palette™ 2026, explore what they represent, and how your brand can leverage these trends in your visual identity and campaigns (with support from our creative strategists).

Cool Blue: Calm, Clear and Contemporary

Cool Blue is a soft, icy blue that feels grounding and fresh at the same time. It reflects a desire for clarity and calm in busy digital spaces.

From a branding point of view, this shade works well for brands that want to feel considered, trustworthy and modern. It is especially effective in layouts where readability and ease matter, such as websites, paid social ads and explainer content.

Rather than overhauling your palette, Cool Blue can be introduced through backgrounds, gradients or supporting graphics to create breathing room around your messaging.

Borg & The Pinterest Palette™ 2026 - Cool Blue

The Pinterest Palette™ 2026 - Cool Blue Collage

Borg & The Pinterest Palette™ 2026 - Jade

Jade: Quiet Confidence

Jade sits between green and blue and brings a sense of balance and understated luxury. Pinterest highlights it as a colour rooted in calm sophistication and nature-inspired design.

For brands, Jade is a great option when you want to elevate your visual identity without becoming overly bold. It works well in lifestyle, wellness, beauty and premium product spaces.

We often recommend integrating tones like Jade through secondary brand colours, UI elements or campaign visuals, especially when a brand wants to feel more refined while staying approachable.

The Pinterest Palette™ 2026 - Jade Collage

Plum Noir: Depth and Impact

Plum Noir is rich, dark and dramatic. It blends deep purple with warm undertones to create a colour that feels confident and expressive.

Used well, this colour can bring depth to branding and campaigns, particularly for storytelling, hero visuals or higher-end offerings. It works best when balanced with lighter neutrals or softer accent colours.

Instead of making Plum Noir a dominant brand colour, many brands benefit from using similar hues strategically in seasonal campaigns or statement creative where impact matters most.

Borg & The Pinterest Palette™ 2026 - Plumb Noir

The Pinterest Palette™ 2026 - Plum Noir Collage

Borg & The Pinterest Palette™ 2026 - Wasabi

Wasabi: Bold and Attention-Grabbing

Wasabi is the most energetic colour in the 2026 palette. It is bright, punchy and designed to cut through the noise.

Pinterest positions Wasabi as a colour for experimentation and momentum, which makes it ideal for ad campaigns and website launches, and digital touchpoints where attention is the goal.

In practice, this is not a colour most brands should lead with. Instead, it works brilliantly for CTAs, highlights, product callouts or limited-time campaigns. Small doses go a long way.

The Pinterest Palette™ 2026 - Wasabi Collage

Persimmon: Warm, Optimistic and Human

Persimmon blends orange and red into a warm, expressive tone that feels joyful and inviting. It reflects a move towards optimism and connection.

This colour works particularly well for brands that want to feel human, friendly and energetic. It performs strongly in social content, lifestyle imagery and seasonal campaigns.

We often see Persimmon-style tones used effectively to inject warmth into otherwise neutral brand palettes, especially in performance ads where emotion plays a big role in conversion.

Borg & The Pinterest Palette™ 2026 - Persimmon

The Pinterest Palette™ 2026 - Persimmon Collage

Turning Pinterest Colour Trends Into Brand Strategy

Pinterest suggests experimenting with these trending hues in ads and creative, from bold monochrome looks to strategic pop-colour accents in campaigns.

But here’s the difference: at Big Gun Digital, we don’t just use trending colours, we strategise them.

Audience-first colour integration
We analyse your brand’s personality, audience psychographics and competitive landscape to tailor a colour strategy that fits you, not just the trend.

Brand palette optimisation
We look at how trending hues can complement your existing palette rather than replace it. We assess where colour will have the biggest impact, whether that is in paid media, social content, packaging or digital design. Most importantly, we make sure colour choices support recognition, consistency and conversion.

Conversion-centre creative direction
We apply these colours where they matter most: CTA buttons, high-impact visuals, seasonal campaigns and ads tailored to your audience’s motivations. You do not need to own a trend colour to benefit from it. Often, the smartest move is integrating similar tones or influences in a way that still feels unmistakably you.

Time to rethink your colour strategy?

If you are thinking about refreshing your creative, launching campaigns in 2026 or simply want to make better use of colour, our team of digital marketing superheroes can help.

We work with brands to:

Review and refine existing colour palettes
Integrate trend-led hues without losing brand identity
Apply colour strategically across ads, social and digital touchpoints

Get in touch to explore how your brand can evolve visually while staying recognisable and effective.

The 5 Brand Creative Colour Trends Set to Shape 2026

How Pinterest identifies its colours of the year