Today, paint company Dulux has revealed its Colour of the Year 2025 – True Joy. Dulux’s Colour of the Year reveal is one of the most important events in the paints trend calendar, so it could be an indicator of where styles are headed in the coming year.
As the name of the colour suggests, Dulux True Joy is a very cheerful and bright yellow that will lift anyone’s spirits. Bright yellow is known to inspire positivity and hope, so it’s fitting that Dulux has also announced its partnership with YoungMinds, a charity that supports and provides mental health resources for people under 25.
(Image credit: Dulux)
Another reason the brand chose True Joy as its Color of the Year for 2025 is to inspire confidence – and remind people not to be afraid to embrace color and boldness in their homes. It’s an energizing, uplifting color that aims to inspire people to look to the future and explore new horizons.
“The meaning behind a colour choice is so powerful,” explains Marianne Shillingford, Creative Director and Colour Expert at Dulux. “The sheer joy that colour evokes physically compels us to create something better for ourselves; it allows us to leave the past behind and gives us the inspiration we need to build a future for our proudest, most confident selves. Simply put, True Joy is a call to action.”
“It starts with a story,” she continues, “and we compare that story to what we’re actually seeing in design. We’ve seen yellow come out and be used in a really bold and exciting way. So we knew this was something real.”
“But then there was a story about us being more adventurous, jumping into the unknown, not sitting around and waiting for things to happen, but being active in making them happen in our lives. This feeling of being active, positive and joyful. We are programmed to seek joy. Even when things are going wrong, we tend to look forward to happier times. And yellow embodies all of that. It is one of the most powerful colors of the spectrum that gives us positivity and joy when we need it most.”
How does Dulux COTY 2025 compare to last year?
Similar to True Joy, Dulux’s Colour of the Year for 2024 focused on how paint and colour contribute to how we feel in our homes. But while the energising True Joy is about confidence and happiness, the Colour of the Year for 2024 is about feelings of serenity and tenderness – the soft pink was meant to recreate the feeling of a comforting embrace.
While Sweet Embrace was all about softness and pastels, True Joy promotes a fun, more dopamine-fueled home decor trend.
(Image credit: Dulux)
Dulux Color Moment 2025
If you’re not quite sure how to decorate your home in yellow and make the most of its signature colour, Dulux has also launched the Colour Moment 2025 collection with specific colour palette suggestions.
These colors help you choose shades that go with True Joy, so if you don’t want to go all-out, you can easily find colors that work best with it to use as an accent color or accent color on your wall.
Marianne shares how to use bright yellow like this in your home, especially if bold shades aren’t something you typically use to cover entire rooms. “It’s like adding spice to food. Or bright nail polish. You love it, you’re drawn to it but you use it in small amounts. You can use it in a pillow on your couch, you can use it in a frame around a picture you really love, you can buy a vase and paint it yellow, you can use it in a dark space, you can use it in a small circle on your bedroom ceiling so you can see it when you wake up in the morning – use small amounts and see what happens. You don’t need a lot of yellow to make a big difference.”
(Image credit: Dulux)
Three paint ideas are available, each of which can be viewed via the Dulux Visualizer app.
First, there’s the Bold story, which is filled with vibrant colors like red, blue, and yellow (of course); then we have the Human palette, which combines True Joy with muted, earthy colors; and finally, there’s the Proud color story, which is filled with spice shades as well as dark blues and greens.
(Image credit: Dulux)
True Joy can be mixed with any Dulux paint, both online and in-store using a Dulux colouring machine. But if you’re looking for a ready-made yellow paint, the brand offers a wide range of colours – from a modern buttery yellow to a deeper mustard yellow. Here are some of our favourites.
Our Favorite Picks
Dulux One Coat Golden Sands Matt Emulsion Paint 1.25L
Dulux Golden Sands is a warm yellow with a more earthy golden undertone compared to True Joy.
Dulux Light + Space Lemon Spirit Matt Wall Paint 2.5L
If you’re looking for a cooler, softer yellow, Lemon Spirit, which is reminiscent of lemon pie and meringue, is perfect. It’s also the perfect paint for small spaces as its formula contains light-reflecting particles that visually expand the room.
Dulux Vanilla Emulsion Paint Matte 2.5L
Speaking of buttery yellow, if you love this currently trending colour that is taking the world of decor and fashion by storm, then we might suggest Dulux Vanilla Sundae, it is beautifully smooth and creamy, just like butter!
“It may be hard to imagine how yellow paint could fit so easily into your home, but it’s actually more versatile than you might initially think,” concludes Marianne. We can’t wait to start experimenting with this truly cheerful color.
