Participants at the Fenestration and Glazing Industry Alliance (FGIA) 2024 Fall Conference learned about emerging color trends expected to influence building products over the next three to five years. Sherwin-Williams' Kiki Redhead, who leads all Color, Material, Finish (CMF) initiatives for the company’s Industrial and Performance Coatings division, presented these forecasts. FGIA attendees also toured Sherwin-Williams' headquarters, including its DesignHouse in Minneapolis.
Redhead collaborates with industrial, product design, and architectural clients to drive coatings innovation and trend forecasting, incorporating both aesthetics and sustainability. During the conference, she highlighted the methodology behind identifying and applying color trends across various market segments, emphasizing the importance of timing and application.
“Application is key,” Redhead noted. “The right color on the right product sells better.”
Redhead shared three major color trends influencing architectural design:
Technology: Traumatic events like the 2008 housing crash and COVID-19 impacted color preferences, with warm whites replacing the sterile feel of cool grays and whites in recent years. Redhead predicts off-whites will dominate in the coming years, with bronze and brown replacing the popularity of black.
Building Fulfilling Futures: Emotional connection is increasingly critical in product design. Warm tones, such as sparkling brick-inspired reds, and lighter, nature-based greens are expected to gain traction, while darker colors like black and bronze are gradually lightening.
Chief Empathy Officer: Focused on compassion and self-care, this trend showcases colors like textured clay red and low-gloss navy. Black, too, is softening and evolving, making it more suitable for commercial architecture with added texture or sparkle.
For more information about FGIA and its activities, visit FGIAonline.org.
