A Place to Act
The Dulux ColourFutures™️ 2019 Act
palette is encouraging professionals
to capture the mood of the moment in
their design.
Now in its 16th year, the Dulux
ColourFutures™️ palettes are selected
to help professionals make choices
for a wide variety of buildings with
more confidence, providing support
on all steps from inspiration through
visualisation, product choice and
application.
Based around the Dulux Colour of the
Year, Spiced Honey™, the Act palette
colours are a collection of bold,
energising colours that symbolise
a ‘can do’ attitude. Crisp and fresh,
they have an optimistic appearance
that encourages creative thought and
action.
The thought process for Spiced
Honey™ and the Act palette is about
creating a positive, proactive mood
where people are empowered to ‘do’,
to act and to take a stand.
As people tire of looking to
governments and corporations to do
the right thing, they do not want to be
the silent majority any more. There
is a growing sense of individuals and
communities taking responsibility,
getting involved and taking action at
grassroots level.
On issues that matter to people, big
and small, the mantra is think global,
act local. Small acts can make a big
difference.
This applies to families choosing to
buy sustainable produce or swimmers
taking action against the plastics that
threaten our oceans. Communities
are harnessing social media to come
together with like- minded individuals
to start and share campaigns and
petitions on the issues that matter
most.
Often, the most exciting plans can
begin close to home and people
need a place that supports them in
their endeavors and spurs them on.
Our built environments can be that
support base, acting both as a testing
ground and a springboard for action.
The idea of a honey toned neutral
struck a chord with the experts
during the forecasting workshop to
select the Colour of the Year. Honey
is associated with nourishment
and energy and the imagery of bees
themselves perfectly captured the
idea of a caring, thriving community. growing demands on our daily lives.
The future of building design requires
a fresh look at interior spaces, and the
Act palette fulfils the need to push
the brief beyond aesthetics to create
environments that inspire us to take
action, making the changes we want
to see.
The brightness of the Act palette
makes it ideal for education and office
designs, as well as social spaces where
people interact. Alongside these
exuberant tones, Spiced Honey™ acts
as the ‘sensible adult’ in the room,
keeping order and stopping things
from getting too crazy. To decide on the Dulux Colour of the
Year and ColourFutures™️ palettes,
Dulux assembled a global panel of
top design professionals to research
trends, insights and consumer
behaviours.
Dulux Creative Director, Marianne
Shillingford, says: “There’s a desire
to reach out, engage with others,
to make things better and ‘be the
change’.
“That change can be anything from
marching for women’s rights and
fishing plastic out of the ocean, to
small acts of neighbourly kindness.
People are ready to seize the moment
- it is time to act.
“This palette can help to create
spaces that encourage dynamism.
It’s a collection of colours that are
ideal for energising occupants and to
encourage them to adopt a positive,
exploratory outlook.”
We are encouraging design specifiers
to take the time to consider how
the undeniably powerful human
connection with colour can be
harnessed within design; to create
spaces that enable people to thrive
and feel productive, despite the ever
51
There were some incredible examples
referred to by our experts during
the trend forecasting process of
people coming together and crossing
divides to make a difference. One of
the most poignant was the story of
a Palestinian mother and an Israeli
mother. Both had lost sons in the
bloodshed, but came together to find
understanding and reconciliation in
each other. They, along with many
others, are hoping to change hearts
and minds so a resolution can one day
be found - starting at a local level to
create wider impact.
The Dulux expert panel married
art with science to decide on the
annual colour, which is versatile and
contemporary and complements a
wide variety of interior styles with its
optimistic range of four supporting
palettes.
To download a pdf of the
ColourFutures Specifier brochure
visit www.duluxtradepaintexpert.
co.uk/colours/collections/colour-
futures-2019