Color by committee

"The colors start to trickle into the marketplace in the industries that are easier to color," says Verdolt, "and then after a year the palette is released in more detail."

CMG grew out of an organization of paint and dye manufacturers in the 1950s. The group morphed into the nonprofit CMG in the 1960s.

A smaller group, the Color Association of the United States (CAUS), convenes twice a year and forecasts colors for apparel and interiors. Many professionals belong to both CMG and CAUS.

"The evolution of color is ongoing," says Jim King, a research fellow at Dupont Performance Coating in Troy, Mich., "and CMG monitors that, but I have to translate what colors are important to the automotive world. Color needs to have excitement, and when you see it, it has to have a 'Wow' factor, and it's hard to do because we have so many [technical] constraints."

Mr. King sees the trend of "beige or pale brown metallic" shades of paint on cars continuing, but evolving more toward a "yellowish, greenish" version rather than brown. More transparency and pearl effects will be added, too. The newest effect in car colors is to add little flakes in the pigment that result in directional color characteristics.

In other words, as the car moves it can change colors. "They are called interference pigments," says Verdolt. "They are micas. You look from one angle and the car is blue; another angle and it's red. Tires with color are also starting to appear."

With gardening high on the list of hobbies these days, Ms. Rutka cites stone- and pebble-textured products she worked on, which will be introduced by a manufacturer next year.

"We're seeing products that have a mixed metal and stone influence," she says, "that natural, pebbly effect. And with the year 2000 coming, people are looking for ways to relax and bring their lives into greater harmony and balance. This means colors that are on the cool side of the palette that are calming and spiritual."

She also worked on a white luminescent men's razor from Norelco that came out in January. "A lot of people today want to see into products," she says,"and the iMac computer is best example of color transparency."

As an example of how color influences sales, Verdolt recalls Igloo coolers. "They used to be sold in standard red, white, and blue," she says, "and they asked me, 'What would you do?' I said, 'There's no fun here. This is not a serious product.' So we made them in colors that were popular in summer like raspberry, yellow, and turquoise. Sales went up 15 percent."

The iMac is the prime example of color and design meeting in one product for a "Wow" factor. More than 850,000 were sold in the first quarter of their introduction.

"Steve Jobs took the multicolors of the Apple logo," says Rutka, "and applied it to a rounded, transparent computer that is extremely friendly. You want to hug it. Some people call them Lifesaver colors, and people now are more readily accepting of color in technology products."

(c) Copyright 1999. The Christian Science Publishing Society

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