Yellow Business

A year ago, we identified Gen Z yellow as an emerging colour trend in lifestyle and business imagery. Based on continued rises in key search terms and business intelligence, we are now seeing yellow emerge as a key colour in the visualisation of corporate life and is now regularly featured in our most popular business‑related content. To celebrate yellow’s ascendency, we look back at its journey as it translates from iconic celebrities to haute couture to everyday casual workwear and business. 

2016: We start to see pops of yellow across pop culture and music performances.  The yellow Roberto Cavalli dress that Beyonce’s wore in the 2016 Lemonade visual album is legendary, a colour that she returned to in her 2018 Coachella performance representing a happiness and fierce women. 

2017: Yellow pops up on the fashion runway, like in this bold and edgy Tom Ford silhouette, debuted at New York Fashion Week in 2017. 

It’s since shown itself in street fashion and we’ve spotted both celebrities and normal people alike sporting the colour.   

2018: In 2018, we saw yellow make its mark on corporate and brand communication, being featured in lifestyle imagery that we did not see in previous years.
 
From Getty Images’ proprietary search data, we saw the search term “Yellow” jump between 100% and 300% from 2017 to 2018. 

2019: Yellow makes its way into corporate and small business advertising. Yellow is not a colour that we have seen in many visual brand guidelines, but it is trending amongst image buyers and has found its way into corporate and small business advertising. It is a colour most associated with happiness and optimism – perhaps a hopeful reflection of how businesses want to be portrayed by their customers.