“We put a lot of research into our paint color names, knowing they often sway consumers toward one shade or another,” Woelfel says. However, Woelfel and her team try to keep their paint names as universal as possible so they appeal to a wide audience Behr paints are available nationwide at Home Depot. “Colors like Surfboard Yellow and Beachside Drive reference a sunny, oceanside culture, while Vintner is a nod to the lush Napa Valley wine region,” Woelfel says. It’s a gorgeous gray with a magenta undertone, very beautiful in its own right, but its unusual name definitely helps its popularity.”Ĭalifornia-based paint company Behr frequently turns to its landscape to name colors, says Erika Woelfel, Behr’s vice president of color and creative services. “Elephant’s Breath is always a favorite among our fans. “Mizzle,” Cosby explains, “is the word we use in Dorset to describe the weather when it is both misty and drizzling.” Stored on a someday list, the name was eventually matched and attached to a hazy shade of gray green.Īlthough many of Farrow & Ball’s color names pay homage to the past, Cosby says, “We always opt for names that we hope will delight and intrigue the people who pick up our color cards.” In fact, Cosby says, the names become a huge part of the identity of the color and often help with a color’s popularity. An example of the latter is Farrow & Ball’s Mizzle. “Even when we are not working on new colors, if we encounter a great name, it gets filed away for when we are.” Sometimes, she says, the color comes before the name, and sometimes the name comes before the color. Farrow & Ball’s naming process is organic, Cosby says. Cosby travels extensively for work, so she gets lots of name (and color) ideas from the places she visits, but just as important is the inspiration she finds in the landscape and dialect of England’s Dorset County, where the company is based. So instead, that color might be called ‘Vivacious.’ ”Ĭharlotte Cosby, head of creative at Farrow & Ball, says inspiration for their color names comes from all over. Today, however, we want consumers to connect with colors. “In the past, all a name needed to do was describe a color - for example, bright pink. Sue Wadden, director of color marketing for Sherwin-Williams, said that in some cases a color name can be a tiebreaker. “While color descriptions such as ‘light blue’ are helpful to narrow down colors and are quite straightforward, we also look for names that evoke positive associations, experiences, and are inspiring,” Yeo says. Hannah Yeo, Benjamin Moore’s color and design expert, says names play an important role when people are making color selections. The name, though not entirely descriptive of the color, does conjure the image of a man impeccably dressed in a tailored three-piece suit - an image that aptly matches the richness of the hue. Even on Benjamin Moore’s website, the color is described as a “blackened blue” that “leans toward classic navy.” Why did the company choose a somewhat misleading name? When I answer, “Benjamin Moore’s Gentleman’s Gray,” the questioner inevitably looks perplexed and assumes I have conflated two colors, because there is nothing gray about the shade. Everyone who sees it asks for the color name. Several years ago, I painted a bathroom in my house a rich, smoky blue.
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