G.F Smith launches 12-month project to beat shades of grey in the world
Ever since a certain film a few years back, grey has been the colour of choice for many in décor, clothing, and even cars – and greeting card board specialist G.F Smith wants to do something to lift the drabness!
The British-based supplier of special papers to the creative and packaging industries has launched the world’s largest colour survey in a 12-month research project as a response to the widespread trend towards duller, muted shades – the now classic 50 shades of grey.
Following on from the launch in New York on Monday, 9 October, for the next year people around the world are invited to participate in G.F Smith’s online survey, and select their own personal vision for the Colour Of The Future from a near-limitless palette, and explain in a single word what that shade represents to them.
“If we all take time to think about the future, and that’s a big subject, does it look muted to people or do some people see the future in a completely different way?” asked the company’s global brand director Ben Watkinson.
“We want to test and challenge the idea that the world is trending towards colourlessness. The future is an exciting, intimidating and, for some people, scary thing to consider – what might that mean in terms of colour and how does that change globally?”
The hugely-ambitious international project to determine the Colour Of The Future will see G.F Smith publish the results in a year’s time, working closely with a futures expert to analyse potentially hundreds of thousands of responses from all over the world to identify any patterns in colour choice, determining whether there is a clear international winner, and consider what that choice might say about people’s shared hopes for the world of tomorrow.
From paper sculptures and immersive exhibitions to G.F Smith’s first colour study back in 2017, the company has worked with creative partner Made Thought to challenge the conventions of how it connects with its community and the creative industries.
Alistair Webb, Made Thought’s creative director, said: “When it came to the design of the Colour Of The Future campaign, we wanted to create something that felt like a blank canvas, something that allowed people to apply their own vision to the study. It was less about influencing perception but instead about inspiring a dialogue with everyone’s vision of the future.”
As Ben explained, colour touches people’s lives in countless ways. It has long been known to influence moods, energy levels, and even buying decisions as the colours people surround themselves with send out messages about who they are – or who they want people to think they are. Whether people are feeling blue or seeing red, their lives are shaped by colour.
However, recent years have seen a plethora of reports that the western world is losing colour. From the muted neutral palettes of the average home to the grey car in its garage, the slate clothes of corporate wardrobes to the bland beige buildings of cityscapes, it can sometimes seem like colour is leaching out of everyday lives.
Last year, a study reported that one of the effects of climate crisis has been to render European blue tits less colourful than they were 15 years ago – even our birds are going grey!
G.F Smith wants to find out if climate crisis, global unrest and all the other forms of existential uncertainty have led to this desaturated world or, perhaps, the dullness of the human environment has led to the existential threat which people are faced with today.
Ben added: “When we look to the future, do we see the world as bright and vibrant, or dull and drained? Does the future look different to different parts of the world? Or is it unique to the individual?”
As a leading collaborator with the UK’s creative industries which has many greeting card publishers and printers among its customers, G.F Smith is the company behind the iconic Colorplan paper range launched in 1936 which now encompasses 55 colours, so the firm’s history and that of colour are closely intertwined.
Six years ago, in 2017, G.F Smith asked more than 20,000 people around the world to pick their favourite colour, and this extensive survey concluded the shade most representative of global tastes was Marrs Green (#008c8c), a beautiful dark teal, which became Colorplan’s 51st colour.
Working with Made Thought, G. F Smith has created a dedicated digital platform for the colour survey, which takes less than two minutes to complete. People are invited to select their individual Colour Of The Future from a vast palette of shades, and then to summarise in a single word what that colour means to them.
After launching with a major event in New York on Monday with Parsons and AIGA, the Colour Of The Future campaign continues with events in Sydney and Melbourne in Australia, and Wellington, New Zealand, in November, and more events in the UK and Europe in the months to come.
Supported by G.F Smith’s network of partners around the world, the research programme will engage tens of thousands of people across countries and backgrounds in what will be the biggest global colour survey ever conducted. Click here to take part.
