2018-2019 Color Trend
Color Trends for Plastics
Client /
Shanghai KUMHO-SUNNY
Plastics Co.,LTD.
Role /
Color Designer
Year /
June, 2018
Why Are We Interested in Color Trend Analysis?
The spray-free aesthetic plastics industry currently lacks such a Color, Materials, Finish Design Box for plastic materials. When developing products, designers often evaluated color designs based on prototypes with sprayed-on coating, when the final products were manufactured by injection.
Our hope is to produce a trend handbook or standard that can lead the way for CMF in the plastics industry, allowing designers to estimate the physical appearance of products from an early stage.
In the past, the involvement of material suppliers usually would only began in the corporate R&D (structure and mould development) stage, rather than the design stage.
Through efforts such as trend analysis, we hope to bridge the distance between plastics suppliers and frontline designers, and improve our services by better understanding their needs.
How Are Colors Represented on Aesthetic Plastics?
Every color appears differently across materials, and each material has limitations on the range of colors.
It is important to take materials into account when designing colors.
Plastics are historically associated with light weight and cheapness, compared to the vivid natural materials.
Color design is particularly crucial in improving the visual impressions of plastic products.
Limited by the base material, fewer colors can be represented on aesthetic plastics.
However, it can achieve rich visual effects through transparency, uniformity, 3-D structures, and addition of inclusions.
On Analyzing Color Trends
Trends are created by designers, who search for emotional needs within themselves, and attempt to meet similar needs from consumers through their products. This is why the 2018-2019 Aesthetic Plastics Design Box focuses on user psychology in a Maslow hierarchy framework.
The Maslow hierarchy describes a universal system of psychological needs from basic survival to self-actualization. The same needs can be seen in what people demand from products.
The Design Box also includes conventional color study approaches, e.g. PESTCD and consumer insights.
The color trends are analyzed based on the two dimensions above.
The 2018-2019 Color Trend Analysis
Interconnection/Outer
Innovation
1. Immersive Experience
2. Real Tactile Sensations
Comfortable
Uncomfortable
self-regard
Credibility
Transparency
Escapism/Inner
The 2018-2019 color trends of aesthetic plastics can be described by four main themes:
Translucent Resonance Interconnection Unlimited
Translucent
Vibrant Blue
Elena Mora
Trust and Power of Restoration Are Key.
Oxford Dictionaries declared “post-truth” as their international word of the year.
We performed the analysis in late 2017, when a story of kindergarten child abuse made national news in China. Circumstances made us reflect on what “post-truth” entails: in such incidents, what concerns people is not the final result of the investigation, but whether our community can resolve its own problems with justice.
Against this background, there is a rising need for transparency. For this theme, we have chosen colors and textures that appear transparent and restorative, such as Vibrant Blue, Misty Green, and Mango Yellow, as well as translucent light-diffusing materials.
Resonance
Glaze Umber
Claesson Koivisto Rune
Key Words: Technology and Health
“I’m fine -> Help me” tells the story of a depressed person. It’s a story that can happen all around us.
We should use new technologies to make ourselves healthier. One way is to design products that are more in tune with how people feel.
Under this theme, we have chosen colors that show warmth and history, such as Glazy Ochre, Corduroy Green, and Lead White. The woven texture endows plastics with feelings of warmth and nostalgia.
Interconnection
Outer Space Purple
Lundy Island, UK (by Jogorman)
This is about the connections between human and nature, past and present, across regions or cultures.
The theme of Interconnection comes from the 2017 G20 Summit Declaration: “Shaping an Interconnected World”. The future is one in which everything is connected to everything.
Under this theme, we have chosen colors that show enthusiasm and play well with light, e.g. Outer Space Purple, and Electric Blue. Emphasis is given to special textures that can be achieved with plastics.
Unlimited
Purple Smoke Gray
Erin Cone/Exhibition:Stages of Believing
Between the Mind and the Outside World
In early 2018, many viewers were deeply moved by Forever Young, a film on the trials and tribulations of Chinese intellectuals in the 20th century. The film asks the question, “Do you still have the courage to carry on, if you know what your life will become?” The future stretches infinitely forward, shaped by factors we can and cannot know.
Under this theme, we have chosen colors that feel minimalist, slightly feminine, or gender-neutral, e.g. Ashy Purple, Dirty Pink, and monochromatic tones. Coupled with the frosted texture, they represent the tender parts of our authentic selves.