2005 Color Forecast
by , (10 comments)
O.K. I’m not big on these things, but every year Pantone and a few magazines (like Communications Arts and Graphic Design USA) come out with their annual color forecasts (colour if you’re a Brit). And this always results in me thinking “who in the heck decides these things for the whole design world?”
Is it a few secret “color experts” bent on world color domination? Is it some old ladies picking Pantone swatches out of a hat? Is it just a computer algorithm? Searching for the answer, I was happy to find that at least one designer had the wherewithal to put together his own color forecast for 2005 rather than using my current method of “this looks good.”
Comments (10)
Tim said:
There’s some shady group of mafioso like fashion people who ‘predict’ (or decide, for the more cynical) what colours and materials will be ‘in’ in the fashion world, god knows how they do it…… However, I thought that us Graphic designer type people didn’t bother with this sort of thing!
Posted on January 19, 2005
Travis said:
Yeah. I usually don’t bother with them either. But if I happen across them, I’ll see if there’s a color or two that I like. Since much graphic design (at least in many corporate advertising scenarios) is influenced by the client’s logo and/or product colors we probably don’t have to rely on them as much as product and fashion designers do - especially since they have to work on products so far in advance.
Now I just wish there was someplace that reviewed these color forecasts at the end of the year so that we could all call foul on their respective authors.
Posted on January 19, 2005
Steve Merryman said:
These color predictions always give me a chuckle. I envision a panel of “experts” rubbing their chins and nodding sagely at the pretty little blobs of color, completely believing in their all-encompassing power to determine the future color choices of the great unwashed (aka regular designers).
I’ve long felt that many of the “top” designers have enough pretention to match their admittedly considerable talent. That’s why I admire their work, but ignore most of their words.
By the way, the link to Graphic Design USA is incorrect.
Posted on January 19, 2005
Travis said:
The link to Graphic Design USA is now fixed. (Not sure why i linked that magazine in the first place since it’s not that great compared to other design magazines.)
Posted on January 19, 2005
Andrew Pollak said:
I am the art director for Frisbee and when it comes to picking new colors for our frisbee lines I usually use Pantone picks. It has been great in the guessing game of what colors are going to be “COOL”
But lets face it, it totally depends on your concept.
Posted on January 19, 2005
Kyle said:
How do we tell if the 2004 forecast was close to being “correct?” Could major printers from around the nation/world tell you how much of a particular spot color they used? Sure, that would be time-consuming, but how would the forecasters know if they forecast came true? Maybe if those colors were used in their favorite magazine?
Posted on January 19, 2005
Travis said:
I think that it would be harder graphic-design-wise, but overall (including product design, fashion, and interior paint colors) they could probably figure out which colors of products and clothes sold the best … like which color of a certain shirt sells out first at the Gap and which color of iPod mini is the best selling one on Amazon.
Posted on January 19, 2005
Bennett Holzworth said:
I think graphic design is in an interesting position as far as color trends go. In one respect we can create about any color we want in print, but the paper industry is always a little behind for obvious reasons. I agree with Travis that many of us rarely deal with color trends, especially with established clients. Never-the-less it is good to at least know what is going on around us.
It would be interesting to see some research as far as last season’s color trends and predictions. We can all look back over certain eras and see some obvious trends. The Day-Glo eighties, forrest green mid-90s and the more recent Martha Stewart color era. I am sure the fashion, car and paint industries do this form of research.
I did a Day-Glo search and found out that DayGlo has there own color palette recommendations. You just have to pay for it.
I wonder if anyone predicted Drew’s black & red color trend.
Posted on January 19, 2005
Bill Kerr said:
One word answer:
FASHION
Fashion dictates everything that is perceived as being “in” at the time… but is about 2 years ahead of the curve.
At work, we look at fashion magazines from Paris and Milan to choose pallettes. Not a bad source.
Also, we had visitors from a sister company of ours, Pecler’s Paris, who do color and texture forecasting for all design mediums, from environmental and industrial to print. Really interesting stuff.
Posted on January 20, 2005
Jad said:
One better word answer:
Women.
Color predicition is like the stock market with everybody getting to vote, not equally, of course, since those with more money (or media influence) get more votes. Whichever way the total votes go, so goes the market. If there’s no consensus, then the market moves sideways.
With color, women - at fashion mags, department stores, and closets - vote for their color. Whichever way the total votes go, so goes the clothes. If there’s no consensus, then the women regroup and try again next year.
And speaking of consensus, 650 million Chinese women (roughly, more or less, prolly less) have collectively chosen hot pink as the color of the year (the year of the cock) in China. I doubt it’ll influence colors in the west, but…
Posted on March 3, 2005