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Volume
Volume 6
6
Delivering
a
Message Through Color
The Story of Nissan’s Color Designers
and
Material
Henry Ford once famously said that customers could have his cars in any color they wanted,
“so long as it’s black.” Automotive colors have come a long way since then, from the Hot
Pinks of the Elvis-influenced ‘50s to the ‘70s American muscle cars’ “Plum Crazy” (purple)
and “Anti-Establish Mint” (green) and back to the more subtle color palettes of today. But
whether wild or mild, automotive paint colors don’t just happen. They are the work of a
specialized group of people within a design department known as “Color Designers.”
While color designers do what most people think they do, decide a car’s body colors, they
also do much, much more – including the selection of interior colors and materials. They are,
in essence, the “coordinators of colors and materials,” expressing various views of the world
through the combination of hues and textures.
“Thinking
Outside the
Box”
Begins Inside
the “Boxes”
Color Design at Nissan starts here – with what the company’s Color Designers call “Design
Taste Boxes.”
Design Taste Box
Once a vehicle’s product concept has been fixed, the design concept is considered. Color
Designers look at every aspect of the target customers’ lives – age, sex, taste, hobbies,
activities and values – creating a snapshot of the customers’ world-view by displaying small
goods in wooden “Design Taste Boxes.”
NISSAN DESIGN NEWS LETTER Vol. 6
Next, they make computer graphics of the new model based on the image of the Taste Box
in order to study and discuss the design concept with the exterior and interior designers.
Only then do they start considering the colors themselves.
Cube：Computer Graphics of the Interior
Color Tone,
Texture,
Character
Kei Yoshitomi
Akiko Kitagawa
As the exterior designers start creating the shape of a car, color designers meet with them
to discuss how colors will be seen and how light will reflect on the body. “For example, it is
difficult for darker colors to be perceivable on a subtle surface. So, we work on the surface
with the exterior designers, bouncing ideas off each other to better express the shape of a
car, such as through character lines,” says Kei Yoshitomi, Associate Chief Designer.
“Body color plays an important
role in conveying the intent of
the car to customers. For this
reason, each car’s
characteristics need to be
carefully considered and
expressed by body color,” adds
Keiko Kitagawa, Color
Designer.
For luxury cars, highquality colors with a
richness and high
gloss are used. For
compact cars, a wide
variation of colors
emphasizing specific
characteristics of a
car is utilized.
NISSAN DESIGN NEWS LETTER Vol. 6
370Z：Premium Lemans Blue
Color designers also have to consider how different colors are seen and perceived in
different regions and cultures. For instance, the quality of natural light in Japan differs from
that in the United States’ West Coast – which affects how colors are seen. Samples of
colors are sometimes sent to overseas sites to check how they are viewed there.
There are also differences in how various cultures perceive colors. For a color “blue,”
people in the North America like primary colors like Premium Lemans Blue of the Z.
“In China, the
popularity of black
sedans remains
deep-rooted
because people like
‘car-like’ colors and
shapes, though
some younger
buyers are moving
to SUVs and more
colorful exteriors. In
t h e M i ddle East,
customers prefer
glittering body colors
and interiors and
rich decorations,”
explains Yoshitomi.
“Taking the regional
influences of taste
and culture must
always be part of
our consideration in
choosing exterior
and interior colors.”
Teana：Sapphire Black
GT-R：VVIP (for GCC)
NISSAN DESIGN NEWS LETTER Vol. 6
Interior Design:
Not Just Color,
Touch
“Body color is where we can embody our image. We can picture our dream easily there.
But, interior designing is a more realistic work,” says Ayaka Go, Color Designer. “Unlike
body color, we select not only colors but also materials in interior color design.”
There are various parts that are covered by Materials, such as the seats and glove box, and
many parts that customers touch or operate, such as the steering wheel and controls.
These pieces have to be practical and, at the same time, meet various design requirements,
including durability, luminosity (reflection), productivity (expansion and contraction),
discoloration and flame resistance. This is why Go calls it “realistic work.” Though
challenged by these various restrictions, Nissan color designers keep pushing the envelope,
proposing new designs and new ideas.
Ayaka Go
The seat cloth used in the new Nissan Cube is a great example. Naturally wrinkled crushed
velour is used to express a feeling of sophisticated and sense of relaxation. It used to be
difficult to make wrinkles with the existing technology, but that was overcome by repeatedly
“putting the fabric into a metal tube, compressing it, and pushing it out from the tube.” After
repeated trial and error, this process achieved the desired results, satisfying the various
durability requirements while delivering the desired texture and characteristics of a raised
fabric
Cube：Lounge Brown
Fairlady Z ：Orange
NISSAN DESIGN NEWS LETTER Vol. 6
For the new Z, Nissan’s newly developed material called “Sofilez” is applied on the center
cluster individually by hand. This new material was created to provide a sense of “human
touch,” derived from the analysis of “softness” which people prefer. Balancing soft touch
with durability, “Sofilez” provides added comfort in the cabin and an improved interior
texture.
The Colors of
Nissan:
Why They
Attract Attention
Exhibition: Color session 2008
“At Nissan, we are challenged to propose unconventional colors that have not been seen
before. Within Nissan, color is recognized as one of the values of a car and that’s why we
can create new colors where a car’s characteristics are brought out, without sticking to
stereotypes,” says Yoshitomi.
When deciding a color variation, it is important to
draw up a strategy considering the role of each
color. For instance, the compact Nissan
Micra/March has a variation of 12 colors* and
each color has a different role. Since almost
every car has a standard range of white, gray,
black or red, if a car has no color variations,
customers may exclude the car from their options.
Comparing this to a soccer formation, white, gray,
black and red are the equivalent of the defenders
or goalkeepers. On the other hand, “character
colors” play the role of a midfielder or a forward –
strongly promoting a car’s unique design
characteristics or personality. For March, each
character color has a theme, such as fruit,
dessert, cocktail or the four seasons in Japan.
Associating those themes with the car, Nissan
has been able to promote the March in new ways,
which have been highly appreciated. March has
received a number of awards in the Auto Color
Awards hosted by Japan Fashion Color Authority
(JAFCA).
* Variation in Japan
NAA
E41
B41
L60
B51
KH3
C41
QX1
NAB
KY0
AY4
QM1
NISSAN DESIGN NEWS LETTER Vol. 6
And, while in the world of fashion color trends are traditionally dictated years in advance,
Nissan now goes its own way. “Color trends are not generated naturally. Fashion colors are
announced by “INTERCOLOR” (International Study Commission for Color) generally two or
three year in advance. We used to follow it, but as fashion transition nowadays is very quick
and diverse, Nissan studies and develops colors which are suitable to each specific car –
not by commission,” says Yoshitomi.
“The color is now one of the major factors in choosing a car. Ultimately, we wish our
customers choose a Nissan because of its color”
Kei Yoshitomi
Associate Chief Designer, Color Design Department
Joined Nissan in 1992. His father is a car designer.
He has been interested in design since he was little and
wanted to be a car designer when he was in junior high.
Studied Industrial Design.
Akiko Kitagawa
Color Design Department
Joined Nissan in 2002. Majored in Graphic Design.
She wanted to be a Color Designer where she could
utilize her sense of color.
Ayaka Go
Color Design Department
Joined Nissan in 2005. Studied Information
Design. She once wanted to be a Web designer,
but became interested in Color Design
NISSAN DESIGN NEWS LETTER Vol. 6