There is justifiable concern out there for the environment, therefore a colour shift toward more natural looking colours is occurring in consumer products. So predicts the Color Marketing Group (CMG), an international association of colour design professionals. This group has predicted colour trends accurately for the last 43 years.
So what does this all mean? Well according to CMG appearing “green” will be extremely desirable to a broad spectrum of people, be it corporate leaders, designers of all stripes, marketers and individual consumers. Not to worry, this doesn’t mean we will suddenly be colour blinded by various shades and tonal varieties of the colour green, it simply means, consumer products we buy, will look more natural. There will be an inclination for products to look hand made, undyed and unbleached. Textures and natural imperfections will suddenly and proudly show through the packaging. Natural colours are becoming very fashionable in the retail world but has been an important trend in graphic design for a few years now and is bound to increase. These include off whites, rock and soil colours and brownish greens while blues continue to remind us of sky and water, which is inspired by environmentalism. Meanwhile metallics are becoming less cold and alienating and are becoming warmer – coppery, bronzey etc.
Hand in hand with environmentism is globalism, which is inspiring a host of ethnic accent colours. These are coming from India, China and Latin America. Some of these include Moroccan reds and glowing oranges, rosy pinks, sunny yellows and turquoise. These colours exist already in home design and fashion but look for these to also show up in restaurants and hotels.
If nothing else, colours and textures set a mood but in this latest trend “to be green” seems to be part of a larger transcending movement toward a global view. Is this a temporary blip, with a lot of band wagon jumpers vying for consumer dollars? What of it, if growing global/environmental awareness is a result.
Shawn Richards
Senior Graphic Designer
Mystique Brand Communications
