Down to Earth - Colors

April 23, 2007

This… ’stuff’? Oh… ok. I see, you think this has nothing to do with you. You go to your closet and you select out, oh I don’t know, that lumpy blue sweater, for instance, because you’re trying to tell the world that you take yourself too seriously to care about what you put on your back. But what you don’t know is that that sweater is not just blue, it’s not turquoise, it’s not lapis, it’s actually cerulean. You’re also blindly unaware of the fact that in 2002, Oscar De La Renta did a collection of cerulean gowns. And then I think it was Yves St Laurent, wasn’t it, who showed cerulean military jackets?

And then cerulean quickly showed up in the collections of 8 different designers. Then it filtered down through the department stores and then trickled on down into some tragic casual corner where you, no doubt, fished it out of some clearance bin. However, that blue represents millions of dollars and countless jobs and so it’s sort of comical how you think that you’ve made a choice that exempts you from the fashion industry when, in fact, you’re wearing the sweater that was selected for you by the people in this room. From a pile of stuff.

Did I just throw a quote at you from The Devil Wears Prada? I did, in fact. It’s a quote that stuck in my head after I saw the movie several months ago. And while I hope it’s safe to consider myself a moderately fashion-conscious guy, I’m more interested in how the same principle applies to the web.

You may not know this, but the colors that are popping up this year—colors in new furniture, wall paint, even kitchen appliances—were pretty much pre-determined. And even designed to coordinate with one another.

There is actually an association called the Color Marketing Group that exists solely for the purpose of tracking and helping to unify color trends.

So whether you want to fight the trends or follow obediently in line, here is what they predicted to be ubiquitous this year (and seeing how it’s late April, I think you’ll agree these have already become noticeable):

Natural Colors and Rich Accents

Greens and Blues. Not the wild and flourescent colors of “Web 2.0″, but botanical greens and natural sky & water blues are taking over. Earthtones are also becoming increasingly popular, especially browns (did Microsoft actually get this one right with the brown Zune?!), but also keep an eye out for tans, beiges, and softer greys.

CMG also notes that rich, ethnic accents are great offsets to these mellow naturals. Think reds and oranges like rust, ochre and russet. These colors, reds especially, are expected to really take off in 2008, diverging both lighter—deep pinks like coral— and richer—deep raspberry-like hues.

To see these colors in action on the web, take a look at Alazanto (rich reds and browns), AndyLim Creative (understated greys with beige overtones), Cap Estel (blue accents on mellow tones), and the WebVisions conference (earthy greens). Let’s go paint the web!

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