A MAGAZINE FROM Iggesund paperboard ISSUE 47 2014
colour love
I love colour. Especially strong, bright colours like
red. It’s a colour that makes me happy. What’s your
favourite colour and why? Does it evoke feelings, as
for me, or do you prefer it for professional reasons?
Nowadays we take colours for granted, and
we’re surrounded by colourful communication in
­digital media and print. In just a few decades, colour
reproduction in print has been simplified dramatically. Calibrated screens and a chain of custody from the
designer’s monitor to the printing press have made
everything so much easier.
The richness of colour is so natural and well
developed that what used to be the norm – the blackand-white photograph – is now more of a departure
we use to create a different, exciting effect.
Someone who uses colour differently to
show off everyday miracles is photographer
Fabian ­Oefner. He recreates sound waves,
gravi­tation and natural phenomena analogously, by filling pools with layers of paint. See
the fascinating results on pages 15-18.
It is clearly not just me who likes colour. The global network Colourlovers, for example, has more than
4 million members. Read more about them and other
digital aids on page 20.
Here in the northern hemisphere, summer is just
around the corner, hailed by an explosion of inspir­
ing colours in nature. The town of Iggesund is in a
climate zone where we are lucky enough to have four
distinct seasons. So after every colourful summer
comes an autumn with lovely red leaves and after
that a winter of severe climate and dazzling snowy
land­scapes, a sight that can truly cleanse the soul
when combined with a winter sun. And remember,
white is a colour too.
Inspire, a source of inspiration,
provided by Iggesund Paperboard,
home of Invercote and Incada.
Address
Iggesund Paperboard
SE-825 80 Iggesund, Sweden
phone: +46 650 280 00
inspire@iggesund.com
www.iggesund.com
Publisher
Jessica Tommila (responsible under
Swedish press law)
Editor in Chief
Elisabeth Östlin
elisabeth.ostlin@iggesund.com
Editorial committee
Véronique Lafrance, Lydia Lippmann,
Winnie Halpin, Ian Huskinson, Staffan
Sjöberg, Elisabeth Östlin
Publishing Agency
OTW Communication
PO Box 3265, SE-103 65 Stockholm
Editor and project manager
Anna-Lena Ahlberg Jansen,
anna-lena.ahlberg@otw.se
Art Director
Jessica Sunnebo
Contributors
Michael Dee, Petra Dokken,
Sam Eichblatt, Isabelle Kliger,
Anna McQueen, Cari Simmons
Photos and illustrations
Eva Hjelte, Jann Lipka, Fabian Oefner
Translations
Comactiva Language Partner AB
Prepress
Done
Printing
Strokirk-Landströms, Lidköping, Sweden
Göteborgstryckeriet, Sweden (cover)
ISSN
1404-2436
Inspire is printed in English, Chinese,
French, German, Japanese and Swedish
Jessica Tommila, manager Market Communications, Iggesund
the cover
This issue is printed
on Invercote Creato
240 g/m2 in fourcolour offset with a
dispersion varnish.
The colours used are:
c30m0y100k0
c0m100y20k0
c100m0y48k0
c40m0y30k0
Inspire aims to inform and entertain
with stories and photos that are not
restricted to the scope of Iggesund's
own business. As its name suggests,
the idea is to be inspirational and not
to infringe on a company's or person's
image rights or intellectual property.
Products that are made with Invercote,
Incada and other paperboard from
Iggesund are marked in the text.
In this issue
The grand dame of colour
Lidewij Edelkoort has been a successful trend oracle for more than 30
years, with no signs of stopping. She is constantly on the move to forecast
the colours of tomorrow. page 4
Dutch treats
Many Dutch designers have a special relationship with colours. Why is
that? Meet design studios Raw Color and Scholten & Baijings. page 9
Spectacular messes
Photographer Fabian Oefner documents the beauty of everyday natural
phenomena, using pools of paint and dye. page 15
No room for error
For Akzo Nobel the challenge is to print physical samples that the
­consumer can translate into paint on their walls. page 17
A palette for Plato
Every colour was chosen for a reason, explains Genís Carreras who designed
a series of graphical illustrations on philosophical themes. page 19
Going online
In the digital age, online communities focusing on colour, patterns and
design have emerged. Today they are a hub for million of users worldwide. page 20
Bright pop-up
A promotional pop-up book for an Incada event got its palette from the
landscape in England's Lake District. page 22
a world of white
Views on whiteness of paperboard change with geography and market.
Here is what you should look for when selecting paperboard. page 24
Homage to the square
Colourful squares became a signature for artist and teacher Josef Albers,
whose colour theories still are in use today. page 26
From the catwalk, Chanel spring/summer show 2014.
photo: gianni pucci / indigital images
Inspire # 47
The colours of
tomorrow
Not many people can predict what hues and styles will be
in fashion months or years from now, but Lidewij Edelkoort
has a special insight that has given her a reputation as a trend
oracle. Inspire spoke with her about her work, her tastes and
her mysterious intuition.
Text: Petra Dokken illustration: eva hjelte / woo
Lidewij Edelkoort is one of the most renowned trend
forecasters of today. Time magazine named her one of the
world’s 25 most influential people in fashion. Edelkoort,
a 63-year-old Dutch national known as Li, has a sense of
what colours, fabrics, shapes and styles will be in fashion
two years or more in advance. When she talks about her
work, she refers to the gift of intuition – being able to feel
the trend before it can be observed in the public sphere.
Tell us about your mission. How do you work?
“I feel it. Like most trends, you feel it before you can
observe it. Then, later on, you will find the references in
current art exhibitions, musical lyrics and so on. When
you look at the future, I say, try to improve it. Always try
to improve whatever we are doing, which does not necessarily mean doing more. It can mean doing less, doing
something differently or more responsibly. That has been
the mantra of my existence – to improve the future.”
At her Studio Edelkoort in Paris, she works with some
loyal co-workers who have been with her from the beginning, as well as a number of young talents.
Have the conditions for trend forecasting changed since
you started?
“When I first understood that I had this talent, it was a
different time. Since then we have sort of overdone things,
overproduced and overconsumed. Now we can see a
4
different mentality, and we are definitely changing in the
way in which we consume, so trends will adapt.”
We meet Edelkoort in Stockholm on the evening before
she is to give a presentation on trends for 2014–2015. As
she is almost constantly on the road, she picks her hotels
carefully. A new favourite in Stockholm is the luxury boutique hotel Ett Hem, which was decorated by her friend
Ilse Crawford. It is intimate and cosy with scented candles,
a fireplace and fresh flowers. She is dressed in black with
red lipstick, her dark hair accented by a striking grey high­
light in front.
Colour is your very special subject. How do you pick up
on the colours of the future?
“When I do colour cards I am completely an instrument.
I just know, and it has nothing to do with my own taste.
For example, I am not particularly fond of turquoise, but ­
I have talked a lot about it lately. So why do I pick up that
beige and not the other? It is very mysterious, of course.
But when I meet with other colour specialists, we always
have the same ideas, so it is nothing personal.”
You have to keep your work at arm’s length?
“Yes, abstract and remote. My intuition works strictly
professionally, to make business for others. It is a requirement, I guess, since what I do is my personal opinion.”
Inspire # 47
Inspire # 47
5
How important is colour to us?
“I think it is vital. It is a mood maker, a shifter, and some­
times very important for our psyche. I can actually see how
colours are becoming lighter and lighter, as things are becoming better and we leave hard times behind a bit more.”
For you personally, are there colours that you like to
wear or that you like to be around that keep coming
back to you? “On the darker end I like navy, aubergine and black to
wear. Black is easy since I travel so much. I love grey – it
seems to be able to bend itself to other colours. Even
bright colours come to life next to grey. Green is another
colour that I like. At my house in Normandy I even collect
ceramics in green. Perhaps a shot of yellow too. So I like
very stable colours, but of course I also get the seasonal
urge. I just bought a lovely pale green sweater, but that is
the icing on the cake.”
Some 20 years ago Edelkoort ventured a forecast of
the year 2020, looking at different aspects of society. She
says the forecast is looking remarkably accurate, marking
the first time she was really able to assess her long-term
predictions.
Her success, which has lasted for more than 30 years
and shows no signs of slowing, is clearly founded in a
unique mind. Her extensive travel schedule helps her stay
current. She doesn’t mind travelling, she says, “even if airports can be awful”, but she tries to stay at hotels that she
likes. She also takes time off in the winter to stay quietly
at home in France or at her favourite spot by the ocean
in Morocco, enjoying long dinners with good wines and
good friends. These are the periods when she creates and
writes the books that are published each season, focusing
on trends and colours.
So what are the big colour trends ahead?
“We will have to consider how to give colour to a thing,
so it is not so much about the colour itself as the way you
distribute the colour. I just did a whole book on colouring
that looks 10 years ahead. What is new is that you don’t
leave the colours plain. The next things to consider are
dip-dyeing, spotting, brushing, tie-dyeing, block printing,
painting plains and making lively monochromes so they
are not hermetic.
Bio Lidewij Edelkoort
Lidewij Edelkoort started as
a fashion coordinator at the
Dutch department store De
Bijenkorf in the mid 1970s.
She soon became a pioneer
in trend forecasting and
founded the network Trend
Union in Paris in the 1980s.
Trend Union presents
forecasts every season in
works such as Trend Book,
Key Book, Pattern Book
and Colour Forecast. Twice
6
a year it goes on tour to
cities such as Paris, London,
Milan, Stockholm, New York
and Tokyo, giving audiovisual presentations that
set the agenda for various
industries. Studio Edelkoort
is a creative think tank that
does trend forecasting and
market studies for clients in
a wide range of industries,
from cars to skin care.
“The whole idea is that everything needs to get a life.
Stripes, checks, windowpanes – having fun with colour.
To be more liberated, considering colours an ally instead
of an enemy – that goes for both consumers and businesses.
Colour will become another way of expressing, a simple
way of doing so – you don’t have to do it all the time. And
that is really all there is to it. It is actually de-dramatizing
colour and at the same time making colour much more
cultural, aesthetic and exceptional. This is my new theory.”
How does a colour trend get a life? Where is it born?
“Out of the zeitgeist, I guess, all over the planet. My job
is to catch it early on and say that it is burgundy and not
bordeaux, because this time around the colour is lighter,
fruitier and more lively.
“Colour trends go in big waves. Sometimes the colour
trend shifts from dark to light, or very light, but there are
really no rules. One thing is certain – black and white is
always there. As we speak, pink is still modifying itself in
its 19th year. Today it does not have to be cute, but it can
be monumental, it can be art. And yellow, which I call
the new pink, is in its fifth year. I expect yellow to go the
same route as pink has.”
Your name is huge in fashion, but you work in many
different fields. Do you also have experience in working
with paperboard or paper?
“I have a long relationship with cardboard. In the very
first trend book I ever did, I made textile textures inspired
by cardboard. The zigzag folds made the textiles very
elastic. Over the years I have worked with paper many
times in many ways. It is really a passion of mine.”
Are the colour trends different for different businesses
– one trend for fashion, one for interior design and so on?
“Not that much. There is a large correlation between
cars and cosmetics, lingerie and food. It seems that these
domains are going hand in hand. It is a development we
can see over maybe the last 20 years. If you buy a bright
yellow coat or you drive a bright yellow car, it’s sort of
the same thing. You want to say, ‘I’m sunny side up, I’m
bright and optimistic.’ ”
Are we seeing more colours overall?
“Yes. Colouring is in a rapid expansion, I think. I under­
stand that we are able to see more colours than 50 years
ago. The eye is actually becoming more refined. Stucco,
greyish white, greenish grey, beige grey – a while ago
we would have said that these are the same colour, but
they are not. Consumers are getting more sophisticated
concerning colour.” ❤
Twice a year, Edelkoort creates a
collection of trend books for the
textile and fashion industries. Her
recent book Beyond Colours is a
book on how to distribute colours
in pattern, beauty and lifestyle for
the summer of 2015.
8
Three important colour ranges in
time, predicted by Lidewij Edelkoort:
Grey
Gold
This is perhaps the colour
most associated with
Edelkoort’s work. “I did
a whole trend book for
summer with only grey
and greyish colours,” she
says. “That was of course
very brave in the ’90s, but
I trusted my intuition.”
Projects related to this
prediction included a series
of raincoats and clothes
as an answer to a forecast of floods, as well as a
project to work on a trendy
retirement home with an
architect in Eindhoven, the
Netherlands. “We worked
on different grey tones
for different personalities,
types of people from blond
grey to mousy grey. It was
an amazing project, and it
made me look forward to
growing old.” Grey is now
an ever-present colour that
has no gender boundaries.
As Edelkoort says, “Grey
keeps growing on me.”
“I did the whole cover of
my 2000 Trend Book in
gold,” Edelkoort says. She
predicted the importance
of the colour in fashion, textiles and interiors, but also
foresaw the precious metal
as an investment tool in the
early 21st century. Now, 14
years into the new century,
with times easing up a bit,
we’re seeing an explosion
of the colour gold with
the general public. “When
it comes to investing in
gold, I recommended it to
everyone else but forgot
myself.”
Nudes
Nudes is the name for skin
colours. “A very cool range
of colours that does not
take a wrinkle,” Edelkoort
says. “We see new nudes
all the time, and it is an
ab­stract range that is also
very daring. Nudes will never be mainstream. Instead,
the colour range will stretch
itself in time.”
Inspire # 47
Holland’s fields of flowers are world
famous for their breathtaking beauty.
Dutch designers, perhaps inspired by the
natural beauty that surrounds them, are
known for using colour in vibrant and
unexpected ways. Here we meet a few of
these designers and ask them about their
approaches to the universe of colour.
Text: Michael Dee
raw color
Beyond the
rainbow
Raw Color is a multidisciplinary design studio based
in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. Its designers move with
remarkable ease and sophistication between graphic
design, installation, Web design, photography and
interior design. And what unites it all is colour, explains
Christoph Brach, who founded the studio in 2007 with
Daniera ter Haar.
You work in a wide range of design fields. Why?
“It’s the influence of our education. Daniera and I
met at the Design Academy Eindhoven. It doesn’t have
the strict, classical division between product design
and graphic design that’s so typical of other design
schools. Each department has a theme, a DNA. ‘Man
and Identity’, for instance. This generates identities
expressed in textiles, accessories, styling, photography
or colour forecasting. We applied the same approach
to our studio.”
Where did the name Raw Color come from?
“Initially we used our own names, but it felt a bit
clunky. Raw Color was actually the title of our first project, some visual research into vegetables and their
powerful colours. The vegetables were pressed, and
the colours were preserved on colour cards and made
into an installation. Then we started getting emails
from people who thought that Raw Color was the
studio’s name. We decided to use it. Colour is a very
Inspire # 47
Raw Color took its name
from one of Christoph
and Daniera’s earliest
projects, shown as an
installation. Vegetables
were pressed, their
colours turned into ink
used for printing, using
a new printing process.
The visitor could watch
posters of the vegetables
being printed slowly with
their respective colours.
9
Raw Color was
asked by the Dutch
company Arco to
create a new palette for its “Balance
Table” to celebrate
its 25th birthday.
Four new colours
were chosen:
natural, grey, deep
green and pink.
In “Paper Shades”,
Raw Color combined traditional
techniques with
cutting-edge
technol­ogy. Five
carefully selected
shades of wood
were simplified to
the smallest fibre.
10
Together with Rubia Natural Colour,
a specialist in the
development of
natural dyes, Christoph and Daniera
combined existing
colours to create
new shades. The
research was also
presented as an
installation called
“Tinctorial Textiles”,
where 13 curtain
panels overlapped each other
to create colour
blends.
The dust, originating
from one plank,
was trans­formed
into a pile of paper.
By combining the
classical medium of
handmade paper
with the contemporary production technique of
laser cutting, the
ab­stracted leaves
of each tree type
were cut out of the
sheets. Through this,
the shadows projected different shades
onto each piece.
Graphic identity for the
store AOO in Barcelona.
The letters represent the
words Altrescoses, Otrascosas and Otherthings
in Catalan, Spanish and
English.
Inspire # 47
“Colour is a very visual thing
and it unites everything
that we do.”
visual thing and it unites everything that we do. Raw
indicates purity and simplicity, and our work is very
direct.”
Dutch designers increasingly regard colour as a para­m­
eter in their work. Why do you think that is?
“I think it’s a reaction against what went before.
The 1990s were very black and white as far as interior
design was concerned. Plus, in Holland we had Droog,
a design company where the early designs were
monochrome, conceptual and dry with an ironic twist.
Designers wanted to work with something new, and
colour has so many possibilities.”
Do you do research into colours?
“Yes, but mostly because of our own curiosity. But
we have also done research for commercial purposes.
We teamed up with Rubia Natural Colour, a Dutch
company that specializes in natural plant dyes. They
had developed many colours over the years, but
they had never combined them to make new colour
shades, which we did – blue and indigo, light pinks
and oranges. Those shades are now on sale. From this
collaboration we also made our own project called
‘Tinctorial Textiles’, where 13 curtain panels executed
in semi-translucent wool overlap with one another to
create colour blends between the panels.”
Are your clients always sophisticated enough to understand what you’re trying to achieve for them through
the use of colour?
“Most of them are, but then we work mostly for
companies in the creative fields. We did an interior for
the Royal Dutch Touring Club. It has a very distinctive
blue-and-yellow palette as part of its identity. It was a
really big challenge to use those colours in an interest­
ing and unexpected way.”
Colours are of course sensitive to changing trends,
whether it be fashion or advertising photography.
“We always keep that in mind, and it’s especially
important when it comes to company identities. There
are, however, certain colour combinations that we always avoid. Hard colours. Black and red. Black and yellow. Blue and yellow. Combinations like that remind me
of budget shops and supermarkets. But those colours
can work if they’re combined with a subtle, sophisticated tone.”
You work with some very interesting shades. For me
they often evoke memories and sensations, in an almost
Proustian way.
“The ingredients of a shade are not always so
obvious. We are working for a Dutch textile company
right now, using only shades of grey – colourful greys,
I would call them. Black with a little bit of yellow, or
black with little bit of blue. Subtle and yet very exciting. Each tone with a story to tell.” ❤
rawcolor.nl
Inspire # 47
Eindhoven has
a natural history
museum, but its
collection of stuffed
animals cannot be
shown due to lack
of space. “Stuffed
– Peep” aimed to
bring the collection to the public
through photographs and cards
with cut-out letters
representing the
sounds of different
animals.
Yearbook for the
TextielLab. The
book is executed
with an open spine
incorporating the
distinguishing logo
of the TextielLab
and TextielMuseum,
formed from the
combined letters T,
L and M.
11
Scholten & Baijings
Exquisite
and surprising
The Dutch design duo Scholten & Baijings are
known throughout the international design world for
their functional products and exquisite use of colours,
whether for bed linen, furniture, glass or porcelain.
Stefan Scholten and Carole Baijings met in 1998. “We
fell in love and founded our design company the next
year,” says Stefan.
Dutch design has been dominated by conceptual think­
ing since the 1990s. You’re an exception.
“We tried working conceptually early on, but it didn’t
suit us. We feel that a design must be functional and
work in everyday life.”
You put a strong emphasis on colour.
“With most designers, colour is the very last thing
they think of in the design process. For us, colour is
there from the beginning, and we put enormous effort
into getting every shade absolutely right.”
The colours are often very subtle, as in the porcelain
collection for 1616/Arita.
“1616/Arita is one of Japan’s oldest porcelain manu­
facturers. Our task was to create a collection that appealed to the contemporary market while connecting
to the company’s tradition and fantastic palette. We
turned the use of the company’s existing palette up­side
down – made it lighter or darker by applying thinner
or thicker layers of glazes. We also made use of the
unique grey-white clay that is sourced locally for the
porcelain.”
Your use of colour is often surprising.
“We often ask ourselves how we can make a product
more transparent, create an illusion of lightness. Asymmetrical layering is one way, as we did with the bed
linen and towels collection for Hay. It took a long time
to get the colour tones spot on, but we also discovered
that the layers were very difficult to reproduce. This
was a great advantage, as illegal copying is a big prob­
lem in the design world.”
What inspires you in your work?
“We love going to museums, and the Victoria and
Albert Museum in London is our favourite. What we
have seen can suddenly emerge in a new project. We
were asked to design a new toilet seat for Pressalit. Our
seat has a subtle dot pattern that seems to light up the
bathroom. The colours were based on colours we had
seen in illuminated manuscripts from the Middle Ages.
Going to museums is certainly time well spent.” ❤
scholtenbaijings.com
12
The owners of
Japanese porcelain
company 1616/
Arita contacted
Scholten & Baijings
for a new collection
to “revive their for­
tunes”, says Stefan.
“They even showed
us photographs of
their grandchildren,
explaining that
they wanted to
leave them a healthy
business! Luckily
the collection was
a great success.
We based it on
company’s existing
palette but made it
lighter or darker.”
Inspire # 47
The collection for
the Danish company
Hay earned them
first prize in the
Dutch Design Award
2011. “Hay were very
patient with us,"
says Stefan. “There
were many trials
and errors before
the colour tones
were right.”
“For us, colour is there
from the beginning, and
we put enormous effort
into getting every shade
absolutely right.”
At London Design
Festival 2013,
Scholten & Baijings
made an installation at the Victoria
and Albert Museum,
resembling everday
living rather than
objects displayed
on pedestals and in
glass showcases.
Inspire # 47
Scholten & Baijings
were asked to cre­
ate a new and more
colourful collection
of sideboards and
shelving systems
for Dutch furniture
company Pastoe.
“Shift” has sliding
doors in translucent
acrylate.
13
More Dutch treats
Graphic designers in the Netherlands are exploring new worlds of
colour as they push the boundaries of form and function.
Text: Michael DeE and Anna-lena ahlberg
Studio Dumbar
OK200
Our Polite Society
The Stone Twins
Studio Dumbar was founded by
Gert Dumbar in The Hague in
1977. Since then the studio has
grown and now has offices in
Rotterdam, Shanghai and Seoul.
“Looking for the pure essence”
is at the heart of the studio’s
philosophy whether it’s branding
offline or online. Colour is part of
that essence, as can be seen in
their work for Universite Twente
and Alzheimer Nederland.
studiodumbar.com
OK200 is an Amsterdam-based
graphic design studio founded
by Mattijs de Wit and Koen Knevel in 2010. They work with various projects, from printed media
to Web design, always with a
strong focus on typography. The
name comes from the server
response code that means your
request has succeeded.
ok200.nl
A graphic design studio based
in Amsterdam and Stockholm,
formed in 2008 by Jens Schildt
and Matthias Kreutzer. The duo
design graphic identities, books,
magazines, posters, exhibitions,
record sleeves, websites and
more. They made the graphic
identiy for the museum Bauhaus
Dessau, Germany.
ourpolitesociety.net
A creative partnership estab­
lished by Declan and Garech
Stone. The Stone Twins' business
idea is concept-driven, strategic design solutions that work
across the full spectrum of the
media landscape. Their acclaimed book Logo R.I.P. is part of
the collection in the CooperHewitt National Design Museum
in New York.
stonetwins.com
Brigiet van den berg
Matthijs van Leeuwen
Studio Kluif
Almost Modern
Young graphic designer working
in Amsterdam. Finished her stud­
ies in 2011 and has since then
designed books, annual reports
and graphic identities.
brigiet.nl
Works with graphic design and
visual communication/branding
and has a strong focus on typog­
raphy which can be seen in his
campaigns and poster designs.
matthijsvanleeuwen.com
Paul Roeters and Jeroen Hoedjes
founded Kluif in 1999. Today the
award-winning studio consists of
12 designers working with pack­
aging design, creative strategy
and identity design.
studiokluif.nl
A graphic design studio in
Rotterdam­, founded in 2006 by
Jorn de Vries and Markus Rummens. Known for their typed
posters.
almostmodern.com
14
Inspire # 47
photographic art by
Fabian Oefner
Artists and designers around the world are pushing the frontiers of the
virtually infinite universe of colour. Meanwhile, colour engineers are finding
new ways to ensure the exact reproduction of paints and pigments.
Here are a few of these pioneers who are expanding our
awareness of what colour can do.
Inspire # 47
15
Fabian Oefner
Not your usual
nature photos
A Swiss photographer uses colour to reveal the
unseen miracles of daily life.
It’s testament to the boundless capacity of nature
to amaze that, even in an age where we can
create almost any image by digital means, Fabian
Oefner’s striking photographic work stands out as
somehow profoundly different.
Created in a studio, but without digital manip­
ulation, his photographs document the ephemeral beauty of
every­day natural phenomena like sound waves, gravity, centrip­
etal force or iridescence. The Swiss artist describes his use of
vivid colour as “bait for the viewer”:
“It’s the first thing you notice, but then it makes you start
thinking about what’s really happening in the image. It’s the
anchor that draws you deeper in.”
While he had an artistic background (his mother is a painter),
Oefner had also always been curious about the natural world.
“I only found out later that’s what they call science. Sound
waves were the first phenomenon I observed that really interested me. I was fascinated by the possibility of turning an
audio signal into a visual signal.”
Despite the pristine surfaces of his work, his process uses
prosaic materials such as paint, dye and salt, and is very
analogue — and occasionally, very messy. The “Orchid” series
was created by filling a small pool with several layers of paint,
and a top layer of black or white, into which he dropped a ball
bearing, capturing the multicoloured splash with a high-speed
camera.
In “Dancing Colours” he put dyed salt on top of a speaker
and turned the music on. The bouncing crystals are a visual
manifestation of the sound waves travelling through them.
“As you can imagine, playing around with all those colours,
you get a huge mess,” he laughs.
“I’ve had to repaint my studio three times already this year.
The images look simple, but it sometimes takes dozens of tries
before you get it right.” ❤
fabianoefner.com
Text: Sam Eichblatt
Chasing the accurate swatch
For Akzo Nobel, accurate colour reproduction is critical
when printing swatches, samples and fan decks.
a home decorator needs to know that the shade on the swatch is
the same as the one that will come out of the paint pot. That’s why
companies like Akzo Nobel take real care when selecting a printer.
“Through our retail and trade brands, including Dulux, Flexa and
Sikkens, we sell paints, coatings and lacquers in 50 different coun­
tries,” says Heleen van Gent, head of Akzo Nobel’s Global Aesthetic
Center, who handles the company’s “colour collateral” or everything
they use to describe their colours. “Our challenge is being able to
produce samples that consumers can translate into paint they can
visualize on their wall.”
Peter Rotteveel, team leader for colour infrastructure and process­­
es at Akzo Nobel Coatings, is responsible for the company’s colour
infrastructure, colour tools and colour databases.
“In terms of our samples for paints and coatings, we cannot oper­
ate without colour accuracy,” he says. “When we introduced a new
collection 18 months ago, we wanted to be sure that the samples we
were going to produce were 100 percent aligned with the recipes in
the market.
“Visual colour assessment is very subjective,” he says. “It varies
between people and even with the same individual, depending on the
time of day, the day of the week and any number of other factors,
including how close to deadline they are. So we defined objective
approval criteria based on colour measurements. Now it’s yes or no
– there’s no debate.”
Akzo Nobel used to provide physical samples to colour collate-
ral producers, but they weren’t always accurate enough. “We still
use physical samples, but the target is now digital, in the form of an
electronic measurement we take of a sample using software we devel­
oped in-house,” Rotteveel explains. “This measurement also serves as
reference for the development of our recipes. Through this we ensure
that our recipes accurately match the produced colour collateral.”
Another change Akzo Nobel made was no longer approving
matches during the production process. “They aren’t relevant to us,”
Rotteveel says. “We’re buying an end product, and how printers get
that result is not important as long as it meets our criteria.”
Akzo Nobel limits the pigments its printers can use to the colourants they used in their paints to ensure the best match between collateral and recipes. “Our printers seem to like the process,” Rotteveel
says. “They are more in control, and the process is more efficient.”
Heleen Van Gent says Akzo Nobel’s colour accuracy techniques
mean that when the company develops product recipes, it has the
same reference all over the world. “The key thing is that the colour
the customer chooses on a swatch is what they’ll see on their wall,”
she says. “That’s where we and our printers can’t fail.” ❤
Akzo Nobel’s fan decks are printed on Invercote.
Text: Anna McQueen
A world of colour systems
Defining colours is a
combination of art and
science. Here are just two
of the many approaches in
use today.
RAL
Used predominantly in Europe,
the RAL Classic System began
as a 40-colour set for varnishes,
powder coating and paint. From
there it has grown to a colourmatching system comprising 1,625
shades and a variety of effects.
Increasingly, its digital offering is
expanding as it offers software for
architects, decorators and design­
ers to integrate these colours with
graphics and CAD programs. The
RAL numbering system is based on
nine colour subsets with sequential
numeric codes, starting with the
yellows (RAL1000 Green Beige),
running through the rest of the
rainbow and ending with blacks/
whites (RAL9023 Pearl Dark Grey).
NCS
Natural Colour System codes
match how the human eye, rather
than a computer, perceives hue
and nuance (blackness and colour
saturation). First outlined by
19th-century German physiologist
Ewald Hering, it identified six basic
opposing colours the eye recog­
nizes – white/black, red/green and
yellow/blue – and defines all other
colours as composites of those.
For example, the NSC notation for
the blue of the Swedish flag is NCS
4055-R95B: 40 percent darkness,
55 percent saturation, 5 percent
red and 95 percent blue. NCS is
the reference norm in 19 countries,
including Sweden, Norway and
Spain. ❤
Text: Sam Eichblatt
Scepticism, Pluralism, Idealism, Optimism and Emotivism are some of the philosophical schools interpreted by Catalan designer Genís Carreras.
A philosophical palette
A “visual dictionary of philosophy”
uses colour to convey big ideas.
At first glance, the bold, bright colours
and deliberately simplified shapes of
Genís Carreras’s Philographics series
might appear playful. However, they
are the young London-based Catalan
designer’s visual shorthand for some
of the biggest philosophical concepts
human­kind has ever wrestled with.
The 95 works are graphic illustrations
representing different philosophical
schools – each an “ism” – from Existentialism to Feminism to Capitalism, plus a
few that only students of philosophy may
recognize, designed in the international
Inspire # 47
typographic style of a 1950s modernist
poster.
“Colour is maybe the most important
thing in the project, because I was using
the minimum of visual elements,” says
Carreras. “Everything was chosen for a
reason. For example, Hedonism, which is
pink and red. It’s the colour of flesh, and
candy – a tempting colour that conveys a
taste, sweetness and desirability – whereas the blue in Altruism suggests goodness
and calm.”
However, he says, his choice of colour
was largely intuitive. “I can’t generalize
that blue means ‘this’ and red means
‘that’. There’s not a universal code to explain the colour choices in the project.”
Originally Carreras’s final-year university project, Philographics raised more
than four times its Kickstarter goal (65,217
British pounds, or 79,200 euros), allowing
the designer to launch a book, art prints
and postcard sets – and a professional
career. But the use of vibrant colour has
remained consistent in his work.
“Bright colour triggers something in my
brain that makes me happy,” he says. “As
a consumer of visual culture, that’s what
I like. I can always justify the reason I’m
using it in my work, so it’s become an important part of my style when I design.” ❤
geniscarreras.com
Text: Sam eichblatt
19
One of the greatest benefits
of the digital age is that
the images, text and symbols
that are the currency of
design are now infinitely
reproducible. They can be
shared around the globe,
creating a fast-moving and
international visual language.
Text: Sam Eichblatt
Kuler
Adobe Creative Cloud tool Kuler
is an online community that
gives its users the freedom to
choose colours from a wheel,
and then post the resulting
“theme” for sharing and commenting. Users can limit their
palettes to analogous, mon­o­
chromatic, triad or complementary colour rules, but the tool’s
point of difference lies in its
ability to let them visually tweak
the theme’s RGB values by clicking and dragging on a sliding
scale.
kuler.adobe.com/create/
color-wheel
Pinterest
Color Scheme
Designer
Created to generate an eyepleas­ing palette for website
designs, Colourschemedesigner
utilizes a colour wheel to allow
its users to pick their basic hue.
It will then generate a palette
based around different shades
of that colour, or variations on
complementary or analogic (i.e.,
similar) hues. Finally, it has a
simple one-click function to test
how the resulting colour combinations will look when applied
to a mock-up of a basic website
template.
colorschemedesigner.com
20
The surprise success and rapid ­
upward rise of the visual
bookmarking site – it was the
­fastest site in history to clock
more than 10 million unique users
– has led to increasingly sophisticated boards with content
collated and followed by design­
ers and ordinary users alike. The
proliferation of online colour
palette generators ­– including
Design Seeds, DeGraeve.com and
Pictaculous – means that anyone
can display and link back to both
a beautiful image and the colour
palette it inspired, side by side.
pinterest.com
Inspire # 47
Colourlovers
The online community Colour­
lovers began as a small start-up
based in Portland, Oregon, in
2005. Over the past decade it has
mushroomed into a global hub
for more than 4 million users who
create and share new colours,
palettes and patterns and follow
inter­national colour trends
through a range of online media.
Originally conceived when
found­er and Microsoft alumnus
Darius A. Monsef IV was considering the intriguing concept that
colour perception is subjective
and that every human sees and
experiences colour differently, the
site evolved at the same pace as
other social media. It now offers
online tools as well as a wealth of
user-generated content – in effect,
a digital version of the largest and
most consistently updated swatch
and pattern book in the world.
Read the article on Josef
Albers's book Interaction
of Color, now also avail­
able on iPad. See the last
spread.
Colourcode
This nifty, minimal online
tool lets designers create
swatches consisting of up
to 10 colours, simply by
moving the cursor across
the screen and clicking
to select the hue and its
corresponding HEX code.
“Freebuild” a swatch
by moving the mouse
horizontally to change
the colour or vertically
to change the lightness,
or you can constrain the
selection by selecting
monochrome, complementary, triad or quad
swatches. colourco.de
Inspire # 47
The content is grouped in various
ways. If you’re interested in
fashion-related hues, you can
search through the Colourlovers
fashion channel to find palettes based on the latest collections from
Milan, or search via Trends, which
does the same using street fashion.
The same goes for the latest in
branded packaging design, print
colour trends, homes and interiors, weddings – anything, in other
words, that that might be useful for
a designer’s mood board.
Members can also use the site’s
proprietary software to generate
their own palettes. The free tools
range from basic to the advanced
COPASO palette maker to PHOTOCOPA, which allows members
to upload personal or royalty-free
stock photos from which colours
are sampled to generate new
palettes. colourlovers.com
Dictionary
Monochrome: One colour or
­shades of one colour.
Complementary colours: These are
opposite each other on the colour
wheel. When placed next to each
other, they create the strongest
contrast.
Analogous colour
schemes: Use colours that are next
to each other on the colour wheel.
They usually match well and create
serene and comfortable designs.
A triadic colour scheme: Uses
­three colours that are evenly
­spaced around the colour wheel,
for example, purple, orange and
green.
A tetradic or quadratic colour
(quad) scheme: Uses four colours,
consist­ing of two sets of complementary colours.
Swatch: A small sample of colour,
or colours.
HEX code: Six digit colour code
mainly used for web.
CMYK: Four inks used in some
colour printing: cyan, magenta,
­yellow and black.
RGB: Additive colour model with
red, green and blue light, mainly
used for web.
We asked members of
Iggesund’s designer club
about their favourite colours
and digital tools.
Andrea Mejeras, packaging
designer, Argentina
“My favour­
ite colour is
orange. It’s
0c48m95y0k
light but
not very
bright, warm but not hot.
It fits with other cold and warm colours, and it contrasts well with black
and white. Also, the spot colour (PMS
151) and the CMYK are very similar.”
“In Illustrator, I like to work with
curves using the arrow tool – I feel
free to make everything with it. In
Photoshop, the adjustment tools like
levels and colour balance are very
useful, and I use the clone stamp tool
to improve images.”
Charity d’Amato, founder of
Chartreuse design studio, USA
“My all-time
favourite
colour is
18c0m100y0k
also the
name of my
company. ­
Chartreuse is so versatile. It can be
a great neutral, working nicely with
greys and taupes, but it can also
swing towards the bold, punchy
­colours of fun and loud designs.
“I love my trusty iPhone for snapping images for reference and inspiration. I can’t get enough of Instagram
with the help of photo apps Over­
gram, Rhonna, VSCOcam and PhotoCollage. Like every designer, I use all
sorts of Adobe soft­ware for my work,
but I love my mini portable Jawbone
JamBox to take my tunes from place
to place to pump me up for those
challenging projects.”
Mayda Freije Makdessi,
design educator, Lebanon
“White is the
main colour I
use, be0c0m0y0k
cause it can
resonate with
quiet, cool elegance at
times, and other times is crisp, stark
and edgy. It is complemented with
printing techniques such as blind
­embossing, and die- or laser-cutting.
“My scanner is my favourite tool,
because a big part of my work, such
as calligraphy and illustration, is done
by hand, and it allows the transfor­
mation from the handmade to the
digital form.”
21
pop-up paper board
Pop-up book creators Papersmyths designed
this vibrant pop-up book for Incada to show
how this folding boxboard is produced. Titled
From the seedling to the board, it was originally
used as a giveaway for a promotional event at
the mill in Workington, UK.
“The colour palette, based on a promotion­al
video commissioned by Iggesund for the launch
of the new Incada grades, was chosen to rep­
resent the unique characteristics of the Lake
District,” explains paper engineer Iain Smyth, the
book’s designer. “It combines a light palette with
grey stripes and bright colours that jump out in
the pop-ups.
“The board maintains the saturation of
colour,” he says. “This is one of its great properties, along with its brightness, foldability and
stiffness. The book is an excellent promotional
tool, as it really demonstrates the outstanding
qualities of the board from which it is made.”
Incada products are widely used for book
covers, greeting cards and packaging of food,
cosmetics, chocolate, pharmaceuticals and tobacco products. Smyth, who has been designing
and creating pop-up books for the publishing
industry for more than 25 years, says Incada is
ideally suited for this kind of application.
“The board really performs well,” he says.
“This is primarily due to its brightness and stiffness, which make it perfect for pop-­ups.” ❤
Designer: Iain Smyth
Illustrator: Jakob Dawod
Printing technique: Four-colour offset printing
Finishing techniques: Hot foil stamping with silver
and holographic foils, embossing, cutting, creasing
and gluing
Printer: Taylor Brothers, Bristol, UK
Material: Incada Silk 350 g/m2 (cover)
and 220 g/m2 (pages and pop-up details)
22
Inspire # 47
expo objects
Spin masters
“Pirouettes”, the most recent addition to Santoro Cards’
3D card collections, is an innovative collection of cards
based on a rotating, interactive spinning top. Their rocking
base invites you to tap, spin and turn the card, constantly
discovering something new and hidden within the artwork.
Despite their complexity, the eye-catching cards are intuitive to open, placing no demands on the recipient.
“With its consistency, rigidity and stability, Iggesund’s
Invercote Creato lived up to all our rigorous requirements
when creating the Pirouettes collection,” says Lucio
­Santoro, founder of Santoro Ltd. ❤
Company and designer: Santoro Cards
Material: Invercote Creato 350 g/m2
Printing technique: Four-colour offset printing
Finishing techniques: Die-cutting, creasing and folding
Text: isabelle kliger photo: jann lipka
Bold but never
regular
For the cover of its 10/13 issue, the design magazine
Novum decided to do something unique, presenting the
theme of typography using a filigree type never before
seen in magazine publishing. The cover was created by
Munich-based agency Clormann Design, using laser technology to communicate the message “Be bold, be light or
be italic but never regular.” The inner page sparkles in a
copper tone printed on Invercote G Brushprint Silver.
The black letters are printed on the reserve side of the
Invercote G, giving it an uncoated tactile feel. ❤
Company: Novum magazine
Designer: Clormann Design Studio
Material: Invercote G Brush Print Silver
Printing technique: Four-colour offset printing on the reverse
side of the board (used on the outside of the cover), a copper
tone printed onto the metallic surface on the print side of the
board
Finishing techniques: Laser-cut filigree letters
Printer: Kessler Druck & Medien
Have you designed or made exciting packaging or a graphic design product using material from Iggesund Paperboard? Or perhaps you have some tips for
these pages? Don’t hesitate to contact us with samples and information: Inspire, Iggesund Paperboard, SE-825 80 Iggesund, Sweden.
Inspire # 47
23
Whiter
than
white
Why is it that two white paperboards can look so different?
And as a consumer of paperboard, what should you look for?
If you’ve ever selected paperboard, you know how
difficult it can sometimes be to choose
one white paperboard over
another.
Text: Cari Simmons
24
Inspire # 47
“We have no visual memory for colour at all, so I recom­
mend that all customers take their time when comparing
samples,” advises Daniel Hawkrigg, a senior research
scientist at Iggesund. “View samples in pairs, select one,
then close your eyes for a while or move the sample out
of view for a few seconds – and then look at it again. If
you have a light box, use it.”
It sounds a little like doing the Coca-Cola versus Pepsi
blind taste test, but these small efforts can help make the
difference when selecting paperboard. It’s also helpful to
be aware of a number of underlying factors that affect a
paperboard’s whiteness. For example, whiteness can be
subjective, which is why context is so important.
“Views on whiteness change with geography and
market,” Hawkrigg says. “As you go south, people tend to
prefer a greener white. Here in the North they like a blue
or pure non-tinted white. A reddish tint is preferred in
China, perhaps because red is considered lucky there.”
Geography, market and personal taste all affect
people’s perceptions and preferences when it comes to
whiteness. At the same time, some consumers rely strictly
on c i e whiteness figures when it comes to selecting both
paper and paperboard.
c i e whiteness is a standard that is recognized world­
wide in the pulp and paper industries. While the c i e figures are important, judging a paperboard on the numbers
alone can be misleading, Hawkrigg says. A high whiteness
value is no guarantee that a customer has selected the best
paperboard for the occasion.
“A c i e whiteness value does not specify a particular
colour,” he says. “It indicates a plane in the three-dimensional colour space used to define colour, and this plane
encompasses a range of visibly different colours.” The
c i e whiteness value does not correspond to how white a
sample is, but rather how white it is perceived to be. “Perhaps counterintuitively, there is not a direct correlation
between proximity to the physical property that is white
and the human experience of whiteness,” Hawkrigg says.
A high c i e whiteness level is often achieved by using
large amounts of dyes in the paperboard. So while the
sample has a high value, the paperboard can in fact look
dirty. Adding a lot of dye to paperboard can also affect the
print quality. This is why achieving a high lightness level
can often result in a more desirable whiteness.
achieving lightfastness and whiteness, but we have achieved both,” Hawkrigg says.
“Iggesund is very good at manipulating obas (Optical
Brightening Agents) or fwas (Fluorescent Whitening
Agents) to give us high levels of fluorescence, which in
turn lead to the perception of higher whiteness without
having to add dye,” Hawkrigg says. obas have been used
in paperboards for many years, but there has been a trend
to increased levels in recent years. Paperboard producers
have been adding increasing amounts of oba, in partic­
ular in the surface-size and baseboard, in their efforts to
increase fluorescence levels while still maintaining the
stability of their products.
Judging colour can be a complicated business, so
Hawkrigg keeps it simple for those considering whiteness
when selecting paperboard. “Don’t worry too much about
the figures,” he says. “Look at the samples and select what
looks good to you.” ❤
“View samples in pairs,
select one, then close your
eyes for a while or move
the sample out of view for
a few seconds – and then
look at it again.”
L*a*b* is a three-dimensional system for describing colour
that is designed to correspond with the perception of the
human eye. The l* corresponds to lightness and a* and
b* to the colour-opponent dimensions. A sample with
high whiteness obtained through an aggressive use of dye
will have a low l* value. A sample with a similar whiteness value obtained without the aggressive use of dye will
have a higher l* level.
Invercote g currently has the highest l* values for a
mass-market paperboard for packaging. Invercote g is also
lightfast – that is, resistant to fading and colour change.
“There is normally a negative correlation between
Inspire # 47
25
Bio Josef Albers
(1888–1976)
Originally an art teacher, Josef Albers
joined the Bauhaus in 1920 and became a
professor in 1925. One of his early collaborators was Paul Klee.
When the Bauhaus disbanded under
Nazi pressure in 1933, he left Germany for
the United States, where he became, with
the help of architect Philip Johnson, head
of the painting programme at the Black
Mountain Art School in North Carolina.
In 1950, he became head of design at
Yale University, where he developed the
budding graphic design programme. He
continued to create and exhibit his ab­
stract paintings, photography and
printmaking.
He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1973.
26
Inspire # 47
A colour classic goes digital
When the abstract painter, theorist
and Bauhaus educator Josef Albers
published his seminal book Interaction
of Color in 1963, the digital revolution
was in its infancy.
Fascinated by the way we perceive and
use colour, Josef Albers originally created
the book Interaction of Color as a teaching
aid and a handbook for graphic artists. It
included many of his own vibrant geometric
studies and visual exercises, along with folios
of swatches and shapes that students could
manipulate as they followed the text, in order
to explain complex colour-theory principles.
This interactive element has recently allowed Albers’s book to make the leap into
the digital realm. Yale University Press has
released an iPad app for Interaction of Color,
which adds deeper levels of interactivity
inspired by Albers’s teaching methodologies,
as well as additional video footage and audio
commentary to enhance the original text. ❤
yupnet.org/interactionofcolor/
Text: sam eichblatt
photo: arnold newman (portrait), jann lipka (ipad)
COLOUR LOVE
Lidewij Edelkoort
Raw Color
#myinspireco
ver
CO14008E
Scholten & Baijings
Fabian Oefner
Genís Carreras
Colourlovers
Papersmyths
Josef Albers
With the digital version of the classic book, you can read all the chapters as well as
explore all the visual exercises.
Inspire1402_inlaga.
indd 28
2014-04-14
instagram
contest!
15:10
Colour the back cover of Inspire
– and win Albers’s masterpiece!
The cover is inspired by Albers’s
colour theories and his homage to
the square. From 1950 to his death
in 1976, he produced hundreds of
variations on the basic composi­
tional scheme of three or four squares inside each other.
Now it is your turn to put some
of the theories into practice. We’ve
Inspire # 47
left the back cover empty, so use
your imagination and make a colourful design. We would love it if
you share your design with us on
Instagram. Post a photo of yourself
holding the cover and tag it
#myinspirecover.
We will select one cover winning
Albers's book, five covers winning
an Iggesund reference material
of choice and five covers winning
Iggesund's 1963 kit, featuring
typical Scandinavian designs.
Are you curious about the every
day life of designers? Follow Inspire
on Instagram, @inspirebyiggesund,
for editorial sneak peeks, inspiration and contests.
27
colour love
Lidewij Edelkoort
Raw Color
Scholten & Baijings
Fabian Oefner
Genís Carreras
Colourlovers
Papersmyths
Josef Albers
CO14008E
#myinspirecover