The 22nd edition of ColourNext advances a colour-and-material intelligence forecast in which “Cardinal” functions as the Colour of the Year and “Spring Tune” as the Wallpaper of the Year, together outlining a 2025 design vocabulary grounded in emotion, reflective calm, and expressive identity. 

Asian Paints ColourNext has released its 2025 forecast (22nd edition), positioning “Cardinal” as the Colour of the Year and pairing it with “Spring Tune” as the Wallpaper of the Year to frame the year’s dominant colour and décor narratives. 

“Cardinal” is presented as a dusky hue intended to foreground authenticity and the complexity of being human, with emphasis on emotional resonance, warmth, and a forward-facing boldness that can translate across interiors, fashion, and design contexts.

Within the same forecast, “Spring Tune” is described as a nature-evocative wallpaper concept, using muted tones and botanical motifs (including stems, leaves, and flowers emerging from attar bottles) to propose serenity and contemplative domesticity.

Beyond the annual “colour + wallpaper” selection, the forecast is structured around four design directions—Feel More, Salt, India Everywhere, and Bad Taste?—that function as thematic containers for broader cultural and aesthetic shifts expected to influence design practice during 2025.

The 2025 Forecast Directions as Design Hypotheses.

The four named directions can be read as hypotheses about how people will seek meaning in spaces—through heightened feeling, elemental materiality, a mature global Indian aesthetic, and a recalibration of taste norms toward maximal expression. 

Practical Reading: What the Forecast Implies for Specification 

While ColourNext is presented in cultural terms, it can be operationalised as a set of specification heuristics—linking colour choices, surface patterns, and material cues to distinct affective and social narratives.