Some Thoughts on Pantone
Rachel over at Hue (great color blog), and I obviously got the same press release from Pantone about colors of the year, etc. (See my post from earlier this week.) Rachel has a great take on their celebrity section wherein people like Tim Gunn (who I like) talk about their favorite colors. Rachel’s point of view, which I can summarize as, “Huh?,” is spot on.
Pantone used to be a standard color specifier for the print industry. Back in the olden days, it was standard procedure to specify a Pantone color when printing a brochure, etc. Now, Pantone is attempting to become the standard for any industry that specifies color. For me, it’s useless for several reasons.
First, I can go to any paint store and have a color matched. I don’t need a Pantone color for that. Who cares where it comes from? Next, and more importantly, any good interior designer knows to choose a specific color last. I’m not going to decide on their Color of the Year and then run all over God’s Green Acres trying to find fabrics and carpet to match. I’d go insane! If someone out there can explain this concept to me please do. I’m lost.
It will be very interesting to see if Pantone manages to corner the market on color. I don’t see Benjamin Moore tossing out their color consultants any time soon. It’s intriguing to see if blue-violet will become as popular as they’re predicting.
Having said that, color forecasting is a huge business and a fascinating one. Pantone is good at it, too. I’m not ixnaying Pantone as a whole. But color prediction is a completely different horse. As a designer, it’s important to know what colors are predicted to become popular, and/or how those colors change depending on geography. I think they should stick to what they’re good at.
5 Responses to “Some Thoughts on Pantone”
Avatars are randomly assigned unless you get your own
-
Posted by Jennifer at Design Hole on December 18th, 2007 at 7:04 pm
Yeah. It was funny – they chose a bright blue color as an upcoming fashion trend. But I saw 5 girls in People Magazine wearing that color on various red carpets. So how did Pantone think of that first?
-
Posted by Rachel on December 19th, 2007 at 12:11 am
they didn’t!
Do you know about the
Color Marketing Group?
They are an organization of trend-forecasters who get together bi-annually to determine what colors are going to be “trendy” in the coming season or year. The manufacturers who attend these workshops then take that data back to their factories where they specify those colors for products set to launch up to 3 years in advance. It used to be that color fads just trickled down from high fashion, but it doesn’t always work that way anymore. How on earth would 12 different clothing designers all settle on the same cobalt blue for a certain season?
-
Posted by Jennifer at Design Hole on December 19th, 2007 at 1:30 pm
Yes, I know about that group. As a student we took a tour of a different color forecaster that specializes in automotive color forecasting. They had boards up depicting 5-year color forecasts all different depending on geography. Their method is top secret!
It’s a fascinating business really. I wish I knew how they do it.
-
Posted by Rachel on December 19th, 2007 at 2:33 pm
CMG meets twice a year to create the forecasts. They break out into little groups, depending upon their industry, and analyze upcoming trends, world events, etc. So, one group might analyze popular culture, like movies and ensuing sequels. Shrek, the kids movie, was an immensely successful hit, and that chartreuse green became incredibly popular because of it. Each time a sequel came out, that green’s shelf-life was extended, and so manufacturers continued to push it, knowing it would still be getting exposure and endorsement.
seriously! does Pantone actually think they can monopolize the color market? I think they are biting off more than they can chew.