COLOR FORECASTING
No Crystal Ball...Just Time, Energy and Research

A lot of time, energy and money are spent several times a year as color professionals from multiple industries gather to forecast color for all industries. Why? Because these professionals recognize that "color makes the world go buy." It is estimated that approximately 60% of all consumer buying decisions start with color as the primary consideration-not brand, not store, certainly not price.

So what happens when color forecasters meet to determine the colors of the future?

How Color Trends Are Forecasted
Color Marketing Group holds two international conferences annually. At the conferences, attendees spend a lot of time in intense workshops dealing with color-from validating previous forecasts, to determining the best-selling colors of today, to short-term forecasting for the next 12–18 months and long-term forecasting 19 months out or longer.

Within the workshop, the color professionals discuss their bestselling colors, and also share information (in a noncompetitive way) regarding colors they plan to introduce in the next 12–18 months. Discussion will also take place as to what they see happening with the direction colors are going, and what is influencing these directions. In the end, they agree by voting on a final workshop palette that best represents the directions they discussed.

All the workshop results are consolidated and then the forecasts are boiled down to the final forecast so that the result is a consensus of many workshops, resulting in the final color palette.

An Eye on the Forecast
When someone sees a color forecast for the first time, it's common to incorrectly assume that the forecast colors are representing specific hues, and therefore are the only "correct" colors to use going forward. It's an easy mistake to make, as the colors are communicated by using color notations from systems such as Pantone, Munsell, RAL, RGB, CMYK, NCS and other color notation systems. However, these color notations are for the purpose of communicating a representation of the forecast hue.

Whether for consumer colors or contract colors, color forecasters are not trying to define a specific hue or color. They are looking for directional changes colors may be taking, such as getting lighter or darker, warmer or cooler, clearer or grayer, or just the relative importance a color family may be expected to have in the future based on observation of many outside influences.

To be effective as a color forecaster, you need to be actively involved in knowing what is happening around you. There's no crystal ball that helps you—it takes time and energy. It involves constant research.

Color forecasting is not a science; it's not an art. Rather it's a conscious effort of the professional who constantly observes the universe around him or her, and through observation, education, gut feelings and sometimes trial and error, can translate that information into forecasts that help industries build products in colors that work together, and in colors that sell. The tag line for Color Marketing Group says it all: "Color sells, and the right colors sell better."

Bruce Knott is director of the Window Fashions Certified Professionals (WFCP) program and media relations for Grace McNamara Inc. He is also a chairholder in Color Marketing Group (CMG), serves as a director on the boards of CMG and the Window Coverings Association of America and is on the advisory board for We Make Color Easy. Reach him at bruce@gracemcnamarainc.com.

Excerpts taken from the July '06 issue of Window Fashions. For the full article, visit The Shops at GMI, Pocket CEU, "Color Forecasting: It's Marketing, Not Magic" at