AkzoNobel has launched its latest color and trends guide for the automotive and consumer electronics markets. As well as offering a glimpse at the design direction for cars, smartphones and tablet computers, it also includes the company’s color of the year for those markets, “My Gold.”
The 2016 guide was launched at a special event staged at the McLaren Technology Center in Woking in the UK. AkzoNobel supplies the high-tech coatings for McLaren Racing’s Formula 1 car and worked with McLaren Automotive to develop the color range for its road car series.
“Our team searches the world for the latest in design,” said Stephie Sijssens, color design manager for AkzoNobel Performance Coatings. “We translate these into four key trends, eight palettes and 72 color effects and textures. We want to inspire our industrial customers and together develop the colors, effects and textures for the products of the future.”
Now in its 11th year, the company carries out its own detailed market research to develop the guide and combines that with input from external design experts. The key word for the latest trends guide is transition. “It’s about finding a balance between extremes to create change from within,” continues Sijssens.
“This trend is epitomized by My Gold, which makes a timeless, yet personal statement. It has the brilliance to turn heads, but also combines extremely well with other shades, such as classic black and white, or new neutrals like dark tones and soft pastels.”
The four key trends identified in the latest report are:
- Archive – a combination of past and future – about deconstructing, organizing and archiving elements of the past to inspire the future
- Obscura – where dark and light are equally important – inspired by the daily transition of night and day
- Upgrade – where emotion and technology meet – about breaking free from our busy lives and adding a human touch to high-tech developments
- This.is.Me – balancing between the power of image and words – an expressive trend about glorious imperfection
