The Sherwin-Williams General Industrial Coatings division released its fifth color trend forecast — “V: Colors, Finishes and Effects Evolving and Emerging in Industrial Design.” This year's report includes a careful analysis of the first four forecasts, as well as emerging trends that will affect the industrial design industry for the next three to five years.

The release of “V” coincides with the five-year anniversary of the Sherwin-Williams DesignHouse, where the color experts who manage the trend program are located. Since its founding, the DesignHouse has researched, tracked, identified and shared many trends in industrial design. On this anniversary, the team analyzed the accuracy of past reports to understand what predictions were right, what influenced unforeseen shifts, and how these findings will affect the evolution of color in coming years.

“We're thrilled to be celebrating our fifth anniversary with the release of our latest trend report,” said Kiki Redhead, global CMF and trend manager for Sherwin-Williams DesignHouse. "As we approached this milestone, we looked back at all we've done thus far and, rather than only offering insight into future trends, we took the opportunity to reflect on our own work, as well as the evolution of industry trends overall.”

According to the announcement, inspiration for “V” comes from a myriad of sources and involves a delicate balance of art, science, history and futurity. The DesignHouse team uses the six pillars of forecasting, a part of the M3Trend process developed by Redhead, to identify influential factors and visualize future pathways. For this forecast, the team investigated the catalysts that drove mega trends, mega trends that inspired macro trends and macro trends that led to micro trends. After countless hours, they identified one central concept: authenticity.

“We found that society is driven by the desire for authenticity,” said Redhead. “Sherwin-Williams is no different. It's why we're analyzing past work in this year's report, and it's why we continue to reinforce our commitment to driving innovation and sustainability, both for our team and for our customers.”

Top insights from V include:

• Verses – From nature to the cosmos, relationships play a big role in shaping the world we live in.
• Color Spaces – Twenty-two colors break down the evolution of trends across six different color spaces.
• Effects, Finishes and Textures – Tactile materials offer new ways of connecting to the world around us.

Access the full report here.