26 Dec The History of Holiday Colors

When you think about the holiday season, distinct colors come to mind connected to the holiday you celebrate. However, how often do you stop to think about where these color associations came from? Why do we have such strong connections between these colors and our holiday traditions? We decided to learn the history and fun […]

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7 Dec 2024 Colors of the Year

It’s that time of year, when we round up all the 2024 Colors of the Year so you have them all in one place. What is always fascinating about rounding up these color choices is seeing what they tell us about this moment in time. The choices Pantone makes, as well as the major paint […]

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22 Nov Black: A Timeless and Elegant Design Staple

The color black is often considered a staple in design – although it’s technically not a color at all. It is achromatic – meaning “without color,” and absorbs all the colors on the visible light spectrum. Despite this, designers treat it as a color and use it in a variety of ways throughout interior design. […]

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19 Oct Pink: Complex and Popular

On the surface, the color pink and its connotations might seem straightforward. In modern Western culture, when we think of it, the common association is with femininity, romance, and a certain doll whose movie dominated the Summer of 2023. However, the history and meaning of pink is more complex. How society has labeled pink has […]

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28 Sep Fall 2023 Color Trends

Fall has officially arrived in the northern hemisphere. That means it’s time to break out the sweaters, scarves, and boots and switch from iced coffee to hot. It’s also time to pore over the Fall 2023 collections to see what’s trending on the runways. In particular, what colors are trending, and how will they eventually […]

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13 Sep The Peaceful World of Blue

A world of blue surrounds us. Above our heads, we see the pale blue sky. If you are lucky enough to live near a coast, you can look out and see the deep blue ocean that makes up most of our world. This tranquil color is the most common favorite color across the globe, with […]

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10 Aug White: Renewing and Refreshing 

White offers a sense of reflection and renewal in both life and design. Learn how to capture the sense of optimism and positivity this color can offer in your commercial design choices.  “White. A blank page or canvas. His favorite. So many possibilities…” Stephen Sondheim, Sunday in the Park with George Color Meaning The color […]

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25 Jul Orange: Spontaneous and Playful

One color that encapsulates the happy, bright, and energetic quality of days in the summer sun is orange. Traditionally a color low on the popularity scale, it is making a comeback in pop culture and bringing joyful energy into our hearts through fashion and home decor. Read on to learn more about the meaning behind […]

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29 Jun Summer Reading: Books About Color

Summer is here. NeoCon 2023 is over. It’s time for some relaxation, right? Last year we shared a few of our favorite books about textiles with you. Maybe it was Kristen’s 2022 Color Diary, but this year we have color on the brain. Summer is one of our favorite times of year to play with […]

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Text reads NEOCON 2023 COLOR TRENDS above 4 different colored circles|

27 Jun NeoCon 2023 Color Trends

Walking the floors of the Mart this year, we weren’t stuck by any overwhelming new color trend. In fact, NeoCon 2023 color trends didn’t feel like a huge departure from the colors we saw trending in 2022. Instead, they felt like more of a continuation and expansion of that palette. There were still a lot […]

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Hands holding indigo with the word indigo in white.|

20 Jun Indigo: Introspective & Powerful

Nestled between blue and purple on the color wheel is the beautiful color indigo. This often-overlooked color has been around for many years and has an interesting history. This blue and purple hybrid is the color of jeans, many flowers, the night sky, and is a popular dye. It carries much meaning, symbolism, and history […]

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11 May Creative and Independent Purple

Purple has a history of being a complex color with many different meanings. Combining the calming effects of blue and the intensity of red, it conjures various feelings from the viewer. Creative, mysterious, and regal, purple is a dynamic color for your commercial and interior design choices.  Color Meaning and Symbolism  Purple is the color […]

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13 Apr Designing with Green

The color green is always around us in nature. From the trees in our neighborhoods and local green spaces to the many foods we eat daily, green is almost everywhere we look. There’s a reason for that. Green is the easiest color for the human eye to perceive. It falls directly in the middle of […]

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16 Mar Color Trends from the 2023 Spring Runways

Spring 2023 runways are serving the spring vibes everyone craves after a few unpredictable years. Collections this season were overtly optimistic and joyful, full of feminine touches. After an incredibly stressful three years, designers are asking us to find beauty and joy again, even in a still stressful world. There were lots of springy, feminine […]

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Bright yellow background with water drops on it with text on top that says Yellow.|Design Pool pattern with sunflowers against a textured background.|

14 Mar A Pop of Yellow

Yellow: the universal color of happiness and warmth. It surrounds us every day. Think, the warm rays from the golden sun beaming down onto sunflowers surrounded by the buzzing of bees hard at work. Designers use this cheerful color to get our attention due to its high visibility. It makes an appearance on our street […]

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14 Feb The Power of Red 

The month of February is filled with red. February highlights holidays like Valentine’s (and Galentine’s) Day as well as American Heart Month, which focuses on the ways Americans can prioritize heart health. Red is an emotionally intense color with varied and complex meanings. It draws the eye and calls attention to itself. For interior designers, […]

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8 Feb A Color Diary – Kristen’s Year in Color

You really never know when inspiration is going to strike. For Kristen, reading a book about codes launched an entire series of work, both in her professional life and personal life. She designed the award-winning Cryptology Collection, creating patterns with coded messages. She also began working with codes in her needle punch artwork, especially during […]

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Screenshot of Ultrafabrics website showing a photo of Kristen Dettoni with the headling Poetry of Color.

2 Feb Poetry of Color from Ultrafabrics

Thank you so much to the team at Ultrafabrics for inviting Kristen to talk about color as part of their Poetry of Color series. Any day I get to talk about color and trends is a good day! Especially when I get to do it someplace beautiful. Thanks so much for inviting me to be […]

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Photo of different colors of paint dropping onto a flat surface

6 Dec 2023 Colors of the Year

It’s time to round up the 2023 Colors of the Year. This year we’re looking at the major paint companies and, of course, Pantone. Why see them all in one place? As we move from one year into the next, color trends tell us a lot about the mood of a particular moment, like a […]

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|Circles with different colors with the words Fall 2022 Color Trends.|Screenshot of Pinterest board showing color trends spotted on Fall 2020 Ready-to-Wear runways.

8 Sep Fall 2022 Ready-to-Wear Color Trends

Twice a year, we spend time poring over the latest runway shots of designers’ collections. Why? Because fashion plays a huge role in setting trends for industries way beyond the runways. Trending colors may not always make their way directly into residential or commercial interiors. Yet, being aware of what is happening in fashion gives […]

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Photo of a photographer's loop and a variety of color cards used by printers.

9 Aug Spot Color or Process Color

For designers, our work speaks through color. On its own, the language of color can sometimes be confusing. So too can the language of printing that color. When printing, printers apply color to a surface in two different ways. A printer either uses spot color or process color. Neither process is superior; they’re just different. […]

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Four circles of solid color with words above that read NeoCon 2022 Color Trends|36 colored circles in a grid with the words NeoCon 2022 Color Trends below. Each circle has the hex number inside for that particular color.

5 Jul 2022 NeoCon Color Trends

Walking the floors of theMART at NeoCon, we are keeping our eyes peeled for overarching trends in the industry. This year we saw four major trends: Acoustics, Biophilia, Transparency in Manufacturing, and the Experiential Office. In addition, we also pay attention to what colors are trending. For NeoCon color trends this year, we saw a […]

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Color Wheel with words on top that read the language of color

16 Jun Basic Color Terms Defined

Like any discipline, color has a language. To work with color confidently, it is helpful to learn that language. Thankfully, it’s not complicated. Knowing a handful of basic color terms is all you need to understand what people are saying about color. A firm understanding of these terms will help in both working with color […]

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4 color swatches with title Spring 2022 Color Trends|Spring 2022 Color Trends text with four rows of color circles

22 Mar Spring 2022 Runway Color Trends

Every year, spring marks a time of awakening. Flowers bloom, birds sing, trees grow leaves. Humans and animals emerge from the dark days of winter. It’s a season of rebirth, renewal, and hope. As we pored through photos from the Spring 2022 Ready-to-Wear collections, there was a noticeable feeling of hope and optimism. Two years […]

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|Watercolor color wheel featuring 12 colors||

20 Jan Learn About Color with 5 Fun Exercises

Color surrounds us, inspires us, and influences us. You can read about color science and color theory all day long, but the best way to work better with color is to play with it. The more you learn about color through experiencing it, the more you’ll train your eyes and use it better in your […]

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9 Dec 2022 Colors of the Year

It’s that time of year when we gather everyone’s pick for 2022 Colors of the Year in one place. Not only is it inspiring to see the beautiful colors companies have chosen to represent the upcoming year, but it’s even more interesting to hear why they chose what they did. What happened in the year […]

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8 Jun Ryan Stanley Talks Color Software

This past year Kristen and Ryan Stanley, Senior Director of Color at PVH Corp, have participated in a series of panel discussions hosted by Shoshana Burgett of ColorKarma. These discussions centered around color, with Kristen speaking from a design perspective and Ryan from a science perspective. As a designer, Kristen works with color daily and […]

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17 May Kristen’s Top Five Favorite Color Tools

Communicating color can be a difficult task. How we perceive color varies from person to person. Yet, when you’re designing a pattern to be printed, you need to find a way to remove those variables. A designer and printer need to communicate color so that what is printed is correct. Therefore, both parties need to […]

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5 Apr 2021 Fall Color Trends From Fashion Collections

Our March Trend Letter was all about trends we spotted while poring through the look books from the 2021 Ready-To-Wear shows. As designers created yet another collection in various stages of pandemic lockdown, collections were quite different from each other. However, an overarching theme did emerge: texture. Huge knits, pleats, leather, satin, faux fur. These […]

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12 Jan Naming Colors of Your Products Just Got Easier

White. Bone. Snow. Ecru, Linen, Cream. If you’ve ever shopped for new paint or fabric, you’ve seen a lot of different names for colors. Is there really a difference between these colors? Maybe, maybe not so much. Sometimes, there is a definite difference. Most people would pick which color is white and which is cream […]

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18 Dec 2021 Colors of the Year Round Up

Each year we like to round up all the paint companies’ colors of the year. It always gives insight into where we were in the year that’s closing out and where we’re heading. When it comes to picking a Color of the Year for 2021, the colors differ from company to company. Yet, their picks […]

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|Snow Tired Color Palette|

11 Dec Snow Tired Mixes Whites with Warm Neutrals

We’re heading into the weekend with hot cocoa on the brain. For sure, this marshmallow snowman here for all the snow tired vibes we’re feeling. This time of December is when Instagram switches from photos of pumpkin pie to photos of cute kids on a sugar high posing with their gingerbread houses. I love seeing […]

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4 Dec Winter Decor Mixes Neutrals & Pops of Color

It seems like everyone started decorating for the holidays early this year. For those last hold outs, Thanksgiving is officially behind us, there are no more excuses! It’s time to break out your winter decor. It’s easy to get overloaded on red and green this time of year, so we’ve been looking for inspiration in […]

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25 Nov Thanksgiving Pie Color Palette!

This week our color palette is inspired by Thanksgiving. This year, in particular, Thanksgiving has us reflecting on our community. Before we talk color, we want to take this opportunity to thank our followers, partners, customers, families, and friends, who have supported Design Pool this year. We know we are not alone in experiencing the […]

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|Color Palette Pies|Color Palette Example P576 and P950

20 Nov Friday Color Palette: Holiday Baking!

Today we’re launching the first in a new blog series: Friday Color Palette! Our original color palettes are popular each week over on Instagram and especially on Pinterest, where we first began sharing them. They’re too fun not to share here also! For a little background, we started creating these palettes as a way for […]

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5 Nov 2021 Spring Runway Trends & Color Forecast

This month we’ve been poring over the 2021 Spring Ready-to-Wear collections looking for inspiration and trends to share. This year was particularly interesting given the collections were all created in the early days of the pandemic and there were few traditional runway shows. Designers responded creatively in both their collections and how they presented them […]

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25 Aug Natural Dyeing with Avocado and Yarrow

Our latest trend letter is all about natural materials. Wicker, rattan and cane are catching our eye on modern pieces, geometric lighting and even with loud pops of color. Natural materials are inspiring products even in the automotive industry. But, natural materials are also extending into textiles and not just in fiber form. Natural dyes […]

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6 Aug NeoConnect Trends 2020 & Free Color Card

We’re always on the lookout for beautiful colors, color combinations and color trends. Even though Neocon was canceled this year, we still found inspiration following along with their virtual event, Neoconnect. We already talked about the 5 big trends we saw in terms of product and manufacturing. Now we’re looking at Neoconnect Color Trends Color […]

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3 Jun Create Your Own Color Reference Library

How do you make sure you get the right color from print run to print run? For us, it’s communicating with our printer and giving them a very clear reference from our color reference library. Whether printing on-demand or with traditional methods, the more clear you can be from the start, the better the outcome […]

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Effectively using color in healthcare environments||Color_KwickScreen-P1143b|Color_KwickScreen-P1143b

14 May Using Color in Healthcare Environments

As we move through different spaces and environments throughout the day, our experiences are impacted by color choices made by the designers and architects who created that space. How we experience and perceive color can impact everything from our moods to our buying habits and even our healthcare outcomes. As healthcare facilities rethink the way […]

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DesignPool_ColorTrends_Fall2020Palette|DesignPool_ColorTrends_Fall2020

6 Apr Color Trends from Fall 2020 Fashion

Do you subscribe to our newsletter? You should! Each month we send out a monthly trend letter full of exclusive content about material, pattern, color trends we’re seeing in different industries and links to some of our recent blog posts. Occasionally we send out other newsletters full of interesting news about what we’ve got going […]

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10 Feb 2020 Spring Runway Color Trends

At Design Pool, we love tracking trends, and color is one of our favorite trends to track. Color is such an integral part of our day to day business and color trends are constantly providing direction and inspiration to our designers as they color designs for the market’s end-use. Over the years, we have learned […]

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26 Jul How Do Our Eyes See Color?

Part 3: How do our eyes see color? The physiological reaction to color is the first step to understanding our reaction to color. Light enters the eye through the pupil. Hazel Rossotti describes the process in Color, Why the World Isn’t Grey as “When it reaches the retina on the inner surface eye, it passes […]

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19 Jul How Do We Perceive Color?

Part 2: How do we perceive color? Webster defines psychology as the science of the mind or mental states and processes. It is the science of human and animal behavior. Perception is defined as the act or faculty of apprehending by means of the senses or the mind. A single unified awareness derived from sensory […]

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12 Jul What is Color?

Part 1: What is color? Itten said in The Elements of Colour, “Colour is the children of light”. Leigh Hunt, a 19th century poet wrote, “Colors are the smiles of nature”. Goethe wrote in his Theory of Colour. “ Colours and light it is true stand in the most intimate relation to each other, but […]

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10 May 10 Fun Facts About Color

Color can be both amazing and complicated, but how exactly does it work? At its most simple, different wavelengths are reflecting off an object and back to our eyes, where they hit the eye’s retina. Yet, this simple reflection of wavelengths has an effect on people that is far from simple. Color can change a […]

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18 Mar Understanding Color Theory & Using It Wisely

Whether or not we realize it as we move through our day, color is affecting our mood, our decisions, and maybe even our hunger level. People are drawn to that sweater on the rack, or the couch on the showroom floor because of its color. It is what catches the eye first and either draws […]

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