Palette Perfect: ColorDesign Gets Inspired by Pantone

While conceptualizing the next trend collection for ColorDesign, the team spent time observing the world of design and thinking about what influences color.

“Each year, Pantone releases its Color of the Year and it got us thinking a lot about color in context, and how it influences trend,” says Austin Baskett, who leads the marketing team behind the ColorDesign brand.

“We thought it would be cool to challenge our creative team to work within Pantone’s seasonal color palette—our guess is half of the industry is attuned to Pantone, and the other might not have heard of it.”

For 20 years, Pantone’s color selections of the season and annual Color of the Year has influenced product development and purchasing decisions in multiple industries, including fashion, home furnishings and industrial design, as well as product, packaging, graphic design and beauty.

To arrive at the color selection each year, Pantone’s color experts comb the world looking for influences. This can include the entertainment industry and films in production, traveling art collections and new artists, fashion, all areas of design, popular travel destinations, as well as new lifestyles, playstyles, and socio-economic conditions. Influences may also stem from new technologies, materials, textures, and effects that impact color, relevant social media platforms and even upcoming sporting events that capture worldwide attention.

Baskett says it’s critical for salon professionals to be aware of what’s happening in the world of design, color and texture influence as it sets the tone for hair color and style trends.

Each team was encouraged to create a color placement technique, or an innovate new hair color palette using a choice of ColorDesign Permanent, Ammonia Free or Fun&Glam colors.

The best artists in the world say they find inspiration everywhere they look. Colorists see inspiration through art, architecture, fabrics, textiles, design—even food.

“We wanted to challenge our ColorDesign Artistic Team in a way we never have before,” says Austin Baskett, who leads the marketing team behind ColorDesign. “We asked them create our 2019 Collection based on one of the world’s most iconic color leaders: Pantone.”

For this shoot, artists Cindy Cruz and Jean Lyons collaborated to create the Terrarium Gold finish for a muted copper with warmth.

Cruz, who has spent has years of experience assisting Orange County's top stylists, is an educator for ColorDesign and says she likes to keep an eye on color trends and translate them on clients—making her the perfect candidate for this collection.

In addition to her bespoke color placements, precision haircuts and upstyling skills, Cruz offers a variety of specialized treatments including Brazilian Blowouts and Hotheads Hair Extensions in her salon in Southern California.

Lyons is a second-generation hairdresser with more 40 years of industry experience.

“I love hairdressing more today than I did when I began my career in the 1970s,” she says. “My passion for this industry never ceases and I learn something new every day.”

Lyons, an educator for the brand, has been using ColorDesign in her salon for nearly 10 years. “I believe passion is contagious and would love to share that with every stylist I can.”