At Sherwin-Williams Coil Coatings, we are obsessed with color. This passion stems from years of expertise and innovation that our color experts bring to the table. We take this knowledge and apply it to inspirational and informational color collections, which are shared with our building design and construction customers. Architects, builders, specifiers and designers can use these resources to create impactful aesthetics for their residential, commercial and monumental projects.
Extensive Color Expertise
Across the entire Sherwin-Williams business, there is an internal ecosystem of color experts who lead teams on developing colors and color spaces for different markets and products, including wall, flooring, wood and metal coatings that can be specified for architectural projects. There are color leaders who specifically work on colors for Coil Coatings, which is part of the Performance Coatings Group that delivers highly engineered industrial solutions to architects, engineers, refinishers, original equipment manufacturers and tier suppliers across more than 30 industries. The color design and development team for coil and extrusion coatings is led by Kiki Redhead, Global CMF & Trend Manager and includes Brynn Wildenauer, Architectural Color Designer, as well as go-to lab technicians and chemists in Minneapolis, Bowling Green, KY, and Garland, TX.
Together they create the coil and extrusion color collections for architectural exterior metal building products. This team is part of the DesignHouse for Performance Coatings, a facility for the industrial market where teams can collaborate, find inspiration and receive assistance with increasing speed to market for new colors and products. This is the first design center for manufacturers, developers, builders and architects with sizable projects to use as a resource, and the first design center where color collections are curated for coil and extrusion coatings.
Photography credit: Jim Dobie Photography
Creating a Color Collection
The color design and development team consistently creates new color collections or refreshes existing ones for the architectural space and Sherwin-Williams customers. Ideas for new color collections emerge from market and trend research, customer needs, architectural sales account manager feedback on end-users, new additives and effect pigments from suppliers and technological innovations from R&D. The team takes that insight and works on the best ways to help customers differentiate their buildings or product lines through color.
Every color collection is built by starting off with the team’s expertise and knowledge on the architectural market, customers within the industry and the specific materials that will be coated. Redhead brings a unique perspective to this space with 20+ years of experience and a master’s degree in trend forecasting, and Wildenauer applies her experience in palette analysis and collection curation. They combine their expertise with sales data and analytics, as well as trend information on specific markets, customers and products.
Together, this information provides insight on collections of colors that resonate with current customer needs and will also meet market expectations 2-10 years down the road. Once the color space is decided, the next step is to gather physical color samples. There are thousands of existing color options available between the DesignHouse and the coil coatings lab in Garland, TX, and colors are scoped specifically to help narrow down which hues to include. For colors that aren’t already formulated, the labs develop new colors that are needed in coil and extrusion coating product lines.
Color collections can take anywhere from a few months to a few years to create and launch, but each one is put together to inspire architects, builders, project managers, specifiers, etc. and make their jobs easier.
Photography credit: Courtesy of Metal Sales
Using Collections to Specify Color on Projects
Architects and other customers within the building design and construction markets can use these color collections for inspiration, to specify colors for projects and get ideas for custom colors. Each collection includes foundational colors, colors that are on-trend now and colors that will emerge as trends in the near future – creating a good representation of color spaces applicable to residential, commercial and monumental structures. The longevity of coil and extrusion color collections can give architects and designers confidence that the color they choose will be visually and aesthetically pleasing for years to come.
These collections serve as resources to spark inspiration and bring project visions to life. Customers looking for a color that delivers the classic aesthetic of natural or anodized metal with exceptional corrosion resistance and color consistency can find a wide range of finishes in the Fluropon® Metal Trends Collection. Or those looking for a metallic coating without the need for a clearcoat can turn to the new Fluropon® Continuum collection and explore that color spectrum.
Fluropon Metal Trends
Textured Bronze Gold Rush Weathered Zinc
Fluropon Continuum
Projected Crimson Rainforest Canopy Cosmic Dust
Customers can specify colors directly from these collections, but for any color not included, the coil and extrusion coatings lab can custom match the specific hue they’re looking for. With Sherwin-Williams Coil Coatings, the color opportunities are nearly endless.
The color design and development team for coil and extrusion coatings is dedicated to investing in innovation and initiating creative opportunities for customers. To learn more about color collections available through Sherwin-Williams Coil Coatings, visit coil.sherwin.com.
