PPG Takes Styling Directions Surface Trend Presentation to Top Art, Design Schools

PPG Industries’ industrial coatings business recently held Styling Directions Surface Trend presentations at three top California art and design schools to present the latest color and design trends identified in the TRENDCAST Styling Directions 2015 toolkit.

Three multiday events, which each used music, movies, fashion and other cultural phenomena to illustrate color and design trends, took place in the spring at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, Domus Newschool of Architecture and Design in San Diego, and the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. More than 200 students, instructors and design professionals attended each event, representing consumer electronics, appliance, apparel, industrial, graphic, interior and architecture, and fashion and textiles design.

Joe Kowalski, PPG global manager, color and surface design for consumer products, said the purpose of the presentations is twofold. The first is to strengthen ties with students and influential designers who will establish future color and design trends. The second is to create an interactive forum with customers in California’s thriving design community in a fun, youthful, creative and energetic environment.

“Many of the designers at these events already work with our color toolkits,” Kowalski explained. “These presentations give us a greater opportunity to explain and demonstrate how we project color and design trends in ways that are more sensorial and impactful to them. Attendees interact directly with our experts to study the make-up of color and discuss how they use it in their projects, whether as experienced professional designers or as students honing their craft.”

Kowalski said several instructors at each school used the presentations as an enhancement to classroom instruction.

This marks the second year PPG has taken its Styling Directions Surface Trend presentation on the road in California. In the years ahead, the company plans to extend the program’s reach to other parts of the country and the globe.

PPG created the Trendcast Styling Directions 2015 portable toolkit to help designers of appliances, outdoor furniture, electronics, recreational equipment and other products identify the colors, textures and surfaces that will keep them on the leading edge of consumer taste for the next two years. The tools in the kit reflect the latest global trends in color, effects and tactile sensations for coated surfaces based on a consensus of nearly 40 PPG experts from the Americas, Europe and Asia.

The Trendcast kit is updated each year by PPG’s global industrial color design team, whose members have backgrounds in art, science, industrial design, interior design and practical color use. Together, they analyze trends and consumer preferences across geographic and product markets to determine the factors that influence future color choice. This year, their analysis produced a palette of textures and 38 colors ranging from delicate pastels and soft neutrals to playful mixes of bold, bright tones.