Architectural Color Trends and Impact on Building Products Shared at FGIA Fall Conference

Kiki Redhead drives all Color, Material, Finish (CMF) and trend initiatives for Sherwin-Williams Industrial and Performance Coatings, including spearheading the DesignHouse in Minneapolis, MN. FGIA conference participants were given the opportunity to tour the Sherwin-Williams headquarters, including the DesignHouse, earlier in the week.

Redhead collaborates with industrial, product design and architectural customers on coatings development and trends including ideation of aesthetics, performance and sustainable solutions for manufacturing. “I work in color services, delivering color expertise through color trends,” said Redhead. “[As part of] the product design category, you can use color to your advantage, with qualitative and quantitative data.”

Colors apply differently to different market segments, Redhead said. Trend methodology can help you understand the process of identifying color trends and how they relate to manufacturing and architecture. “We categorize when, how and where trends are going to show up,” said Redhead. Color trends start in home decor, then small appliances, then large appliances, then exteriors, she said.

Trend management involves identifying trends, analyzing their lifespan using data, observing their evolution and tracking their success and acceptance over time. “After that is trendspotting, or seeing and recognizing trends before, during and after their peak,” said Redhead. “This is a validation tool used by forecasters to support the direction of their trends.” Finally, management concludes with trend reporting and trend application. “Reporting means presenting the content and spreading the word of your trend forecasting,” said Redhead. “This allows the trend to come full circle.”

Trend reports are great for sales, said Redhead, but if those colors aren't applied in the marketplace, no one sees them. “Application is key,” she said. “You need to show your customers what your products can look like. Color sells, but the right color on the right product sells better.” Redhead went on to share three “color stories” that show society’s impact on and connection to architectural color trends.

Technology: A Color Story

The first color story Redhead shared focused on technology and society’s reactions to large, traumatic events in our culture. “White got really sterile around the time of the 2008 [housing] crash,” said Redhead. “Homeowners wanted to use it to make their homes seem clean to buyers. After, we saw cool grays and cool whites. Then COVID hit.” With people in their homes so much more, surrounded by white interiors with gray floors, “It was cold, with no personality,” said Redhead. “People felt lonely. They wanted warmth. That is when the warm whites started coming back.” She stressed that this is also important for windows. Companies should consider shifting to off whites in the next five years, Redhead advised.

A new trend in building products is tactility, said Redhead. “Some coatings can have a slight texture,” she said. “Use it in a gold or a bronze. You've been hearing about black for years, but we are moving away from that to bronze and brown.”

Building Fulfilling Futures

Redhead’s second trend story was about building infrastructure but also interpersonal relationships, aptly named Building Fulfilling Futures. “People are getting so much more emotional in today's society,” she said. “There will be an emotional reaction to your products.” The colors shown in this collection were warm, including a "brickwork-inspired sparkling red.”

Redhead encouraged companies to lighten the bronzes in their collections. “You probably have a dark bronze, almost black, in your product line,” she said. “You need to start pulling that back or you are going to miss the boat.” Greens, too, are getting softer, she said. “Refresh your blue-based green for a more nature-inspired, soft green. No more dark pine greens. We’ve been there, done that, for the last 20 to 30 years.” That said, she added, if you want a darker forest green, make it more emerald.

Chief Empathy Officer

Redhead described her third color story as being all about compassion, and the relationship we have with ourselves. The Chief Empathy Offer color story had a vibrant red and a neutral, low-gloss navy. “Navy has been a key color since 2020,” she said. “It's starting to either go down the green path or a grayer path.”

For healthcare setting exteriors, Redhead recommended a textured clay red. Finally, she noted that black is softening. “You're going to start to see, in the next five years, black getting a little more muted,” said Redhead. “Give it texture, give it a little bit of sparkle. It’s great for commercial architecture, to make it catch the eye.”

Overall, Redhead recommended not leaving color as an afterthought. “Think about color early and often,” she said.

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