May 17, 2011
It all started at age 11 in the nail polish aisle of the local drugstore in Oklahoma. Staring disdainfully at the humdrum selection of polish colors in front of me, I sassily remarked to my mother, “…these are old lady colors!”
Innocently she asked me to choose my favorite, but c’mon, what 11 year old wants to paint her nails mauve? I wanted bright blues, purples, oranges – anything but the readily available soft pinks and sophisticated burgundies.
I went home disappointed but not defeated. Instead, I dug through my craft bucket, grabbed bottles of paint and began mixing away. Soon I was painting each nail its own unique and vibrant color, creating my own patterns and gradients – it was essentially a party on my nails. My discerning taste and love of the evocative qualities of color revealed at age 11 was an unknowing precursor to what lie ahead.
Through Industrial Design, I discovered the specialized realm of CMF – Color, Material and Finish Design. CMF Design is unique because it breathes life into Industrial Design – they are not two separate fields, but integral and dependent upon one another. CMF has the power to transform an object, to yield different emotional responses and characteristics based on aesthetic nuances. Like Industrial Design, it requires a broad understanding of many different subjects and constant learning. In the short time I’ve been at New Deal Design, my knowledge of CMF has grown exponentially with the variety of exciting projects and talented individuals I get to work with on a daily basis
At NDD we hold color in high regard, and treat CMF as an inherent part of the Industrial Design, not as a cosmetic afterthought. One question we hear a lot–
What makes a color “good”?
It’s not one easy to answer. A color is not “good” because I like it or he likes or because it’s the current trend. Creating and choosing a “good” color is a balance of informed intuition and understanding. It’s about being sensitive to the ways colors interact with each other, the emotive qualities they convey, and the cultural significances they hold.
It’s a combination of emotion and technical know-how. On the emotional side, it involves using different kinds of knowledge and experiences, to know how to use a color to provoke the right feeling. It’s also about having a controlled understanding of colors that are brilliant but not wacky.
On the technical side there is color theory and interaction, chemistry, and an acute understanding of material properties and processes. It’s important to have the technical understanding of not only how colors interact with each other, but how a color interacts with its material and surface. The material application has a profound impact on the way we perceive the color. A color applied to metal will have a very different appearance compared to that same color in rubber – and we will have a very different emotional response to each one. For instance a red anodized aluminum part will reflect brilliant and rich depth of color, it will appear radiantly warm, and conversely will be hard and cold to the touch. A satin finish brings notions of sophistication and luxury, while a high polish finish appears pristine and attention grabbing. That same part made of red rubber will evoke softness and warmth in look and feel, the color will appear duller because of it’s matte finish, and it’s porous squishy surface provides tactility that connects us viscerally to the material, reminding of us of skin. Once a color is added to a material and texture applied; it becomes increasingly complex in perception.
NDD is not only creating “good” CMF, but we are proactive about researching and recommending materials with specifications that engineers can understand and directly communicate with their vendors. Our library contains many tools that help capture and connect these visceral and technical nuances that enable us to create, select and implement the right CMF. For instance, we developed a paint plaque that is designed to show how a color reacts to a variety of surfacing applications – i.e. pillowed surfaces vs. flat, chamfered vs. radii, etc. We also use this tool to understand how the color will react to different levels of gloss – what is 6% gloss compared to 15%? It was built to nest and link multiple pieces together to visualize how colors can interact with each other and in different proportions. It’s an extremely helpful tool and communicates much more than a pantone book ever could.
Color is an insanely subjective field, and it’s important in CMF design to be fairly contrarian to other people’s opinions and the latest “trends”. At New Deal Design we embrace this philosophy and apply it to our CMF approach – just because neon salmon may be the latest color trend, it doesn’t make it “good”.
