Colour, Material and Finish

Our latest directions for 2024 feature diverse CMF palettes for Memory, Helter-Skelter, Provenance and Submerge.

Memory

The Covid-19 pandemic was arguably the biggest collective event of global trauma in most people’s lifetimes and dissecting the impact of this experience has only just begun. This story looks at the ways in which memory can make sense of a collective experience.

In Memory, storytelling is integral, with photographs and recordings all clues to a half-forgotten past. Visually, memories can have an innocence that appeals; escaping to filtered glimpses of the past will be seductive.

Helter-Skelter

As it becomes increasingly difficult to navigate reality from fantasy, analogue from digital and fact from conspiracy theory, an element of nihilism sets in. This is an anarchic story that delights in twists and turns, unsettling and questioning, jolting us out of comfort and passivity.

Distortion, reflection and exaggeration play an important role combined with a colour palette with the potential to provoke in Helter-Skelter.

Provenance

Broad concerns about sustainability, the dangers of greenwashing and recognising a new commitment to localism is reflected in the story Provenance.

Visually, this direction references craft values and localism. Lesser-known fibres and plant dyes are key, while 3D printing and engineering of natural materials exemplifies the marriage of craft and technology.

Submerge

This story charts how our relationship with water is evolving and often contradictory; we seek out blue spaces for relaxation, yet anxiety about the precarity of water, too much or too little, informs everything, from fiction to urban planning.

Submerge explores the physical qualities of water in surface and pattern while other materials are directly sourced from the sea.

Work with material and colour?

For MIX Magazine, design and colour forecasts two years ahead of the season, our digital archive, Signals, in depth CMF Directions and more, become a Colour Hive member.

The CMF Directions feature 100+ pages and over 250 fully credited images from directional designers and creators.

The standards for all colours are referenced to the closest Pantone, NCS, RAL, plus RGB, CMYK, LAB and HEX breakdowns, and are supplied digitally.