One of my colleagues, Beth Simon, is a member of Color Marketing Group (www.colormarketing.org), a professional association of 1,000 color designers who determine the direction of color for the next one to three years across every industry imaginable – from cars to casinos to coffee packaging, this is the group who decides what colors are in and out.
Beth just attended the 2008 Spring International Conference in Montreal, Canada, and I asked her to share some of the more innovative things she saw happening with color. Not surprisingly, the Olympics are expected to influence color palettes. You can expect to see many of the colors from the athletes' uniforms reflected in packaging and products, with emphasis on reds and oranges inspired by countries such as India, China, and countries in South America.
With all the talk about sustainability and eco-systems, colors from nature and global influences will be very strong. Look for a major color shift in blue that leans toward green, which represents the influence of water and nature. White will be an important neutral, especially with bright colors. Interestingly, the bright colors are inspired not only by nature, but also by the Internet, video games, i-Phones, etc.
Several designers, Beth included, collaborated on a palette dubbed “Joie de Vivre” (The Joy of Life) a collection of bright colors designed to help offset the gloom and doom of economic recession and global warming. According to Beth, “No matter how bad things may get, we need hope and promise… and a splash of color does that.” In hard times, consumers tend to go “safe” when it comes to purchasing big ticket items, like buying a beige couch rather than a more colorful one. Joie de Vivre introduces a bit of “visual hope” by allowing consumers to accessorize with less expensive, colorful items, such as pillows, candles, and detailing on hard goods. The palette’s bright colors are influenced by the Internet and florals: sunny yellow, turquoise, lime green, Kelly green, purple, red, royal blue.