Ch18. Unwrapping CMF Design on the Little White Lie

I started the restoration of a mid-century house in May, including rust-removal and new painting to restore its white window gratings. The house was once a home to a family half a century ago. Its white walls and tiles are tinted in a warm tone, hinting the trace of time. (中文版)

This Monday, less than 24 hours from my previous visit, the painter had gone through 60% of the windows. The new white did not blend in. To be more specific, imagine the white color of a commercial freezer, cold and pulse-less, incompatible with the historical sentiment of the old house.

What bothers me more is that the painter had confirmed with me using color cards for vendor A, and ended using paint of the same color name from vendor B. When I took the color cards to point out the difference, he threw out his famous quote: “There is only one kind of white!” .

He wouldn’t dare to say so if he’d knew my expertise in colors 👿

CMF is a specific discipline within industrial design that focuses on the development of a product’s color, material, and finish. Unwrap CMF shares bite-sized stories of CMF Design to inform and inspire those interested in this niche yet fascinating field, with digestible contents for anyone and everyone.

Many people mistakenly believe that black and white are the easiest colors to control. On the contrary, because of the hueless characteristic of white, any slight aberration becomes particularly visible. For black and white, any difference becomes dramatic even for a tiny adjustment in tonality, material, or gloss.

And of course, colors of the same name at different vendors are indeed different colors! Therefore, when communicating with suppliers, be sure to use physical color chips as the standard. If that is not available, after agreeing to a benchmark (Pantone color code, reference picture, etc.), be sure to personally confirm the color sample after its adjustment.

In case if you are curious about what happened with the windows: we finally agreed to a new paint of a balanced tonality, but there were so many other CMF issues! Let’s wrap up here before it turns into another chapter of CMF lesson 🤓

As simple as white plastic substrate can come in diverse range of darkness and tonality.

Due to the hueless characteristic of white, any difference becomes dramatic even for a tiny adjustment in tonality, material, or gloss.

Very tiny bit of iridescent content can already cause white to appear “not as white”.

The colors of the same name at different vendors are indeed different colors!

Enjoy learning? Use the CMF terminologies mentioned above and continue on with your own research journey on the web. Comments and inspirations are welcome!
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