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Color Trends 

March 2012
By Allyson Everett, Product Design Manager

Color Themes:

There is an Age of Contrast in all trend categories - embracing or creating balance in the midst of upheaval. We are turning to our own resourcefulness and creativity to reinvent yourself, your home and your career.

Grass roots movements are taking hold across the globe and this uncertainty leaves consumers craving, needing and begging for some happiness and optimism.

Colors become brighter and cleaner as consumers are staying in their homes and unstaging their interiors.


Artique - # A4924

DESIGN TRENDS:

Home Sweet Home - Emotional connection to products made in the USA. Patchwork, hand made, urban revival of mid-century modern – craftsmanship, aged and weathered looking products. Colors such as vintage red and classic blues, indigo and flags.

       

Personal Sustainability: Taking personal responsibility for our physical and financial security. Recycling and our desire to repurpose products, mix and match old with new, industrial with organic, wood and metal.

Nostalgia for the 70s and 30s: Retro Games- Bright Colors- Bold, primary color blocking, Unexpected colors and materials – Harkening back to simpler times - Uplifting color combinations- ethereal photography – photos that look vintage, like they were taken with an old poloroid camera – sundrenched products that have age and wear – Patchwork. Colors are sundrenched, mustard, gold and weathered browns.

 

Cloud Computing & Translucency: Being un-tethered gives us a feeling of lightness. Products designed with transparency and luminosity. Ethereal quality – Texture and Finish on all white or ivory – where the texture is the design element. Colors related to rain and water.

COLOR

Red - Clean, traditional and rooted on our American Flag, Made in the USA and grass roots political movements where they use the Flag colors as a rally cry

Orange - 70s influence, high energy

Yellow - lighter with green, chameleon color working well with other neutrals

Greens - Vegetal influence – resourcefulness leads to gardening, local farming and canning, vintage goods and imperfection rein over products in this category

Blue - Stability and strength, a brighter, cleaner blue that is spiritual and edgy, yet feels very American

Purple - an important color category – a deeper purple that has both masculine and feminine appeal, sells well during economic downtowns and in times of prosperity

Beige/Brown - a yellowed brown, leather goods and vintage hand made products with real character and imperfection, upcycled and reinvented

Gray/Neutral - ephemeral and translucent – complex neutral, also seeing deeper mineral gray with depth and personality



MARCH 2011

By Linda Omelianchuk, Product Design Manager

OPTIMISM
We are choosing brighter, clearer colors that are uplifting to give us a sense of optimism in the midst of difficult economic recovery and environmental disasters happening today. Warm tones of red, orange and honey, along with tetra blue-green and lime green create a feeling of enthusiasm and cheer.

   
 



ESCAPISM
People are enjoying more frequent, mini vacations away from the daily pressures of life in easily accessible, peaceful environments. From sitting in a special room in the house, to relaxing in a spa, to walking in the woods, or tending a garden, the neutral palette of soft whites, shades of grey, muted purples and warm browns give us a sense of harmony and well being.

    




AUTHENTICITY
Consumers value authentic products that are promoted sincerely with an honest story. We find real value in natural, organic and sustainable materials, and colors with longevity. Hues that are grounded in nature, colors that are faded, patinated and weathered, add warmth and a sense of history that give us comfort. There is also a renewal on handcraftsmanship in natural materials as an authentic way to create beautiful furniture, decorative accessories, clothing and crafts.






TECHNOLOGY
Advances in technology are creating exciting new special effects in textures, reflections of light, and layering and mixtures of colors on many different materials. Sophisticated, luxurious finishes appeal to consumers becasue we are spending less and discriminating more to purchase products that are unique and special. Metallics continue to be used in home decor, espciecially the warm tones of golds, bronzes and coppers.







MAY 2010
By Sherran Arthur, Marketing Manager Canada 
The biggest “what’s new” story in color today is the re-emergence of Neutrals.

Color Palette #1
Strong, saturated color has been very popular in both home decor and fashion over the past few years and continues to be so. 

Color Palette #2
Now a brand new set of Neutrals is emerging, creating an important juxtaposition of fresh, optimistic colors and chameleon-like neutrals.These new ‘chameleon’ neutrals are actually infused with color, making them both complex and versatile. They can change in appearance, depending on what they are paired with.

Both color palettes work well together. Neutrals represent the blank canvas you can add hits of color to, creating a new and fresh look for home decor.

    
  New York Spaces Jan/Feb 2010         Traditional Home March 2010

Here are more important color trends for 2010 and beyond.

Neutrals:

Neutral/Gray:
Gray with a touch of purple, this neutral is inspired from mineral, concrete and steel.

Beige/Brown:
Truly chameleon, this neutral can transition between warm and cool, pale and gold, a perfect complement to darker hues.

Colors:

Red:
Bright, clean and strong with a pink intuition. Great with neutrals.

Orange:
Rich and sophisticated, optimistic with a touch of gray.

Yellow:
Slightly greener and more natural, with a soft a touch of gray.

Green:
Optimistic and uplifting, a clear and bright accent green with a shift toward blue.

Blue:
A saturated peacock blue also influenced by gray.Rich and moody.

Purple:
Purple infused with gray and brown giving more complexity with added elegance and sophistication.

Larson-Juhl is a member of the Color Marketing Group