A house full of color (CP 1/2009)

Colors speak volumes – especially when it comes to cars. BASF Coatings has inaugurated a new Color Design Studio recognizing the special importance of color.

You can sit and ponder over nuances for hours,” says designer Mark Gutjahr. He and his associates Eva Höfli and Katja Pauli spend a lot of time with BASF Coatings automotive customers in the conference room of the Color Design Studio discussing key questions.

What paint colors go best with which models? What feelings and associations do they provoke? What trend do they represent, or perhaps establish? “The quest for new paint colors is increasingly challenging,” says Höfli.

The range of available nuances and effects is expanding, with pioneering pigments and techniques opening up new options that lead to more complex technical and design considerations.

Aside from clothing fashions, hardly any product is more closely linked with consumer self-image than the automobile. Having the right color alone can be decisive for buying behavior, which is why finish is one of the principal battlefields in the cutthroat automotive market..

In a strategic move, BASF Coatings opened a new and expanded Color Design Studio with its own building, located near corporate headquarters in Münster.

“Our growing team now enjoys ideal working conditions,” says Gutjahr, adding, “It is the biggest facility of its kind in the coatings industry.

The additional space and bigger rooms allow us to present more effectively. And the atmosphere of the facility itself promotes open, productive communication.”

The modern building offers more than 300 square meters of space, about 180 of which are set aside for presentation. There is also a conference room, a library with comfortable seating and a lighting booth for simulating lighting variations and observing the optical effects on paint colors.

“You could hardly ask for a better environment for presentations, and for the subsequent creative process in working with the customer,” Pauli confirms. Especially the garden, just a step away through the wide sliding glass doors of the presentation room..

75 new colors

Presentation: Color tone is essential, having a major impact on the character of products. Designer Marc Gutjahr (left) presenting new trends

Each year the Design Team develops more than 20 trendsetting ‘key colors’ for the automobile industry. Around 75 new colors are being presented in addition to the key colors for the North America and Asia Pacific regions. The designers draw inspiration from architecture, product design, fashion, art, consumer preferences and many other sources and fields. They study trade journals and design magazines, attend trade shows and art galleries, and meet with trend consultants.

“We love coming up with something new,” says Höfli, “Right now, one of the things we are working on is a ultra-chromatic finish to achieve a deep and luminous color effect.”

Technical feasibility is a key issue. That is why we remain in constant dialog with BASF Coatings color labs. “It is always exciting to see advances and new potential being discovered for technologies that can turn ideas into reality,” says Gutjahr.

The lab’s sophisticated equipment allows us to reliably predict at an early stage whether a particular finish in development will be suitable for mass production later on. If a finish is considered feasible, it is called a ‘perfect match’.

Trend tracking, color creation, and -technical implementation – developing finish colors is a long and complicated process. It all starts and ends in the Color Design Studio – from initial research to presentation of the perfect match to the customer.

www.basf-coatings.de ("Design")