Every year, a bevy of designers and fashion influencers predict the colors that they feel will be in vogue in the coming seasons. As far as we can tell, the formula basically involves reminiscing about colors from their childhoods. This year, the Pantone Color Institute somehow settled on Tangerine Tango—a “spirited reddish-orange”—as the color of the year. Well, we couldn’t stand idly by and let the fashionistas have all the fun, so we came up with our own predictions.  Here they are:

THE CHOKE DESIGN COMPANY 2012 UGLY COLOR FORECAST

Chris

I recently went skateboarding after a three-year hiatus. Needless to say, I spent a good deal of time on the ground and went home with a giant hipper (a bruise on my hip). Over the next few weeks I watched a splendid array of color form on my stiff and swollen hip—my inspiration for this year’s color picks.

Purpura

Biliverdin Bice

Coagulated Canary

Molly

As a tribute to my maiden name, my forecast for this year is inspired by everyone’s favorite color—the color of passion—brown.

Logistics Brown

Taco Meat Brown

Brellow (brownish-yellow)

Evan

This year I draw my inspiration from distant memories of Dresser family road trips in our treasured Toyota Tercel wagon. The perplexing boxy shape that could only have been inspired by a toddler’s crude crayon drawing of a car. The nauseating chemical smell of the brown vinyl seats that stuck to your legs and left patterned imprints on the backs of your knees. A weakly creamy exterior that exuded a particular sense of quiet suburban despair. Those gaudy green exit signs that drifted tantalizingly by as our tiny bladders threatened to burst. I can still feel the anemic four-cylinder shudder and whine as it crept up the hill to Crest Road and I pried my drooling face off the window, happy to be home again.

Tercel Yellow

Regular Brown

Highway Sign Green