i + D - January/February 2021 - 44

Material
Matters
Paint
& Color

" We chose Urbane Bronze prepandemic, " says Waddell, based
on trends and factors the global
forecast team identified. But
she says as the months wore on
during the pandemic, the choice
proved to be prescient. " People
really began leaning into sanctuary
at home, " she notes. " We chose
Urbane Bronze for its reflection on
the need to pause and be mindful
of how we're living, and it ended
up being even more relevant than
what we could have imagined
for how we want to live going
into 2021. "
Eiseman also says that when the
pandemic hit, Pantone was already
on the path to choosing its colors.
" When we saw how the pandemic
was affecting people and how
anxious they were, we felt the
need to really reach out and bring
in something that would bring
that level of cheer-in the form
of Illuminating yellow-plus the
sense of resilience and stability
that grey offers, " she says.

Paint company PPG also begins
its forecasting in January for the
following year, uniting 30 stylists
from all around the globe,
representing various components,
from automotive to home paint
to aerospace. " When we met in
January 2020, we saw that beige was
already bubbling to the surface in all
the regions of the world, " says Amy
Donato, senior marketing manager
for color and creative assets at PPG.
" Then we went home, and COVID
happened. To keep the integrity of
our forecast process, we needed to
come back and make sure that we
were reflecting what was happening
in the world. " But what had been
observed in January was that
consumers were craving a sloweddown lifestyle and simple comforts-
" those trends were maximized even
more, " says Donato. PPG's colors of
the year are Transcend, a soft beige,
plus Misty Aqua and Big Cypress, a
reddish brown.

Urbane Bronze by
Sherwin-Williams makes
for a dramatic home
office setting designed
by John McClain.
(Image: Stephen Allen
Photography)

The Brain Game
Karen Haller, applied color and design psychology expert, and
author of The Little Book of Colour (Penguin, 2019), does not
focus on annual color picks in her work, believing instead that
colors in a given residential or commercial project should be
based on their impact on one's wellbeing and, of course, how
the color plays in a room with regard to lighting and other
environmental factors.
" Color can be a reflection of how we want to feel, how we
want people to view us, or it can support how we are feeling
right now, " Haller says. In her book, she outlines the impact the
psychology of color can have on people's relationship with color,
and how people can bring more color into their life. The book has
quickly become a playbook of sorts for interior designers who
want to learn more about the psychological impact of color on
their clients.

PPG's palette of
the year includes
Misty Aqua,
Transcend,
and Big Cypress.

Haller says that in the U.K., where she's based, designers are
" pretty much over grey. " Instead, the trending color is green, a
nod to getting back to nature, which is certainly something that
has resonated in 2020.

(Image: PPG)

" It's the idea of reconnecting to nature. And it's not our natural
state to live constantly in grey, " she points out. " Grey is the
color, psychologically, of shutting down our emotions, and this
doesn't support our health or positive wellbeing. "
At PPG, Donato is seeing color psychology playing a significant
role particularly in hospitality settings. " We've noticed the color
palette is all about improving mental health, providing calmness
and a serene cocoon effect, " she says.
And in the education sector, the psychology behind color
is also incorporated. PPG recently released a study about
colors for education and how students can be happier, more
focused, and more engaged when certain colors are used
in their school settings.

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i+D - January/February 2021

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i + D - January/February 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of i + D - January/February 2021
