Laetitia Lopez | CMF, Strategy and Branding Consultant
PROCESS HIGHLIGHT
RAL COLOURS | Where Creativity Meets Precision
For CMF designers, color is where every project begins to take shape. Before the first material is selected or the first prototype is built, color defines emotion, establishes brand identity and sets the tone for the entire user experience. Yet, behind every successful color story lies an often-overlooked challenge: ensuring that the designer’s vision can be reproduced consistently across materials, suppliers, manufacturing processes and global production.
Anyone who has worked in automotive CMF knows the excitement of opening a color fan, exploring endless combinations of hues, textures and finishes, and imagining how they will come together inside a vehicle. It is one of the most inspiring moments of the design process. But creativity alone is not enough. Today’s designers must also respond to increasingly diverse customer expectations, evolving lifestyle trends and regional preferences. Balancing global brand consistency with local cultural relevance has become one of the defining challenges of modern CMF design.
Translating a color concept into production therefore requires more than artistic vision: it demands a common language shared by designers, engineers, suppliers and manufacturing partners across continents. This is where organizations such as RAL play a critical role. Beyond providing internationally recognized color standards, RAL has become a valuable partner for designers, offering color intelligence, trend research and technical expertise that help bridge the gap between creative ambition and industrial reality.
To better understand how color standardization is evolving alongside automotive design, I spoke with Markus Frentrop, Global Head of RAL COLOURS. Our conversation explores the role of color systems in modern mobility, the growing complexity of Color, Material and Experience (CME), and why color is becoming an increasingly strategic element of sustainability, regional design strategies, digital experiences and future brand identity.
DVN: For readers who may know the RAL classic color fan but not the organization behind it, how would you describe RAL’s mission and purpose?
Markus Frentrop: RAL’s mission is to create clarity and to provide design inspiration through color. We support customers and partners in coming up with better color decisions offering the perfect tool for any color design task and providing inspiration for long-lasting and consistent color design concepts.
For one century, RAL has helped designers, manufacturers and architects communicate color with precision and confidence. Beyond standardization, we act as a bridge between creativity and industry, translating cultural changes, societal needs and emerging design values into sophisticated color palettes. Whether in architecture, mobility or product design, RAL enables color to become a shared language that connects ideas, materials and people across disciplines and regions. And, by the way, with a RAL universe of more than 2,500 different shades and a fine-tuned RAL DESIGN SYSTEM plus we perfectly match any modern color design requirements.
DVN: What are the different activities of RAL today beyond color standardization?
Markus Frentrop: Today, RAL is far more than a color standard provider. Alongside developing internationally recognized color palettes, RAL research future color trends, publishes the annual RAL COLOUR FEELING report, and supports designers with insights into materials and cultural change. RAL also contributes to discussions around accessibility, circular design and digital color communication. In this way, the RAL team operates at the intersection of design, technology and society, helping industries navigate both practical color management and future-oriented design challenges.
DVN: Why are color standards important in modern product development, particularly in industries with complex global supply chains like automotive?
Markus Frentrop: In global product development, color is only successful and efficient when it is reproducible across industries and regions. A color standard creates a common reference that aligns designers, suppliers and manufacturers all over the world. In automotive projects, where numerous materials and production partners interact, RAL color standards reduce ambiguity, accelerate decisions and improve quality consistency. They transform color from a subjective perception into a reliable specification, ensuring that a design vision can be realized faithfully from concept sketch to finished vehicle.
DVN: How does RAL ensure that a color specification remains consistent across different materials, production processes, and geographic regions?
Markus Frentrop: Absolute sameness is rarely possible because color perception interacts with material, texture, gloss and lighting. RAL’s role is to provide an objective reference that allows all stakeholders to work from the same color definition. Combined with color measurement technologies, controlled production processes and internationally recognized standards, this creates a reliable and cost-efficient framework for consistency. The goal is not merely color matching, but to help our customers and partners to come up with visual harmony across different surfaces, materials and manufacturing environments worldwide.
DVN: In practical terms, where does RAL already touch the automotive world, even if consumers may not realize it?
Markus Frentrop: Consumers may not see the RAL reference itself, but they encounter its significant influence on various levels. Historically, RAL always had a big impact on the automotive business, both directly and indirect. The first point is the direct impact: When it comes to automotive interior, OEM´s all around the world use RAL as a starting point for bringing different materials together and for translating RAL references into their own material.
Apart from that RAL colors are widely used in infrastructure, charging stations, industrial components, transportation environments and wayfinding systems. Within automotive supply chains, RAL serves as a trusted communication tool for color specification, prototypes and production-related applications. Beyond products, RAL contributes through trend research and color intelligence that helps shape future conversations around mobility, user experience and material aesthetics.
DVN: Do automotive companies typically engage with RAL primarily as a color reference system, or are they increasingly interested in RAL’s expertise in trends and future color directions?
Markus Frentrop: Historically, companies approached RAL primarily as a color reference system. Today, the picture has changed in the same way as we did. Companies have become increasingly interested in learning more from us beyond standardization. Just to give you an example: We are quite proud that we have been invited as speakers to share our RAL COLOUR FEELING trend report for the third time this year at the E-Motor Automotive Industry Conference and Expo (EAC) in China, one of the most dynamic and innovative automotive markets around the world.
Additionally, automotive brands recognize that color is becoming a strategic element of brand identity, sustainability and user experience. As a result, trend intelligence, cultural insights and future-oriented color research are taking on greater importance. Many organizations are looking for guidance not only on what color is, but why a color resonates with changing societal values and future customer expectations.
DVN: What unique challenges does the automotive industry present compared with other industries that RAL serves, such as architecture or consumer products?
Markus Frentrop: Automotive design combines extraordinary technical complexity with strong emotional expectations. Designers must create CMF experiences that perform consistently across metals, polymers, textiles, leather alternatives, digital displays and illuminated surfaces. When we take a closer look at the application of colors, it becomes even more challenging as they have to create emotional experiences under vastly different lighting conditions—from daylight to urban nightscapes.
Furthermore, vehicle development cycles are long, while cultural preferences evolve rapidly. This makes automotive CMF one of the most demanding disciplines, requiring a balance between technological feasibility, brand identity and future relevance.
In architecture, colors concepts have to be developed to meet long-term requirements, maybe decades. When we talk about exterior color concepts the focus is often more on functionality instead of creating emotional and appealing exterior color concepts. In this way that automotive business tends to be significantly more emotional compared to architecture.
DVN: Automotive OEMs today manage color across exterior paint, interior materials, HMI, lighting, and digital interfaces. how can color systems better support this growing complexity?
Markus Frentrop: Future orientated color systems must move beyond isolated color definitions and embracing holistic design ecosystems. Physical materials illuminated elements and digital interfaces should be connected through shared color frameworks and perceptual models.
Designers increasingly need tools that account for context, interaction and changing viewing conditions. Rather than specifying color in isolation, the focus significantly shifts towards managing cohesive color experiences across physical and digital touchpoints, ensuring consistency throughout the entire user journey. This is, btw. one of the reasons why we at RAL do not talk anymore about CMF but we see a clear tendency that moves into a direction which we call Color-Material-Experiences (CME).
DVN: The latest RAL color feeling report is built around themes such as “Know + Improve”, adaptability, and continuity. which of these themes do you believe will have the greatest impact on automotive CMF over the next five years?
Markus Frentrop: “Know + Improve” is likely to have the strongest influence. It reflects a shift from constant novelty towards conscious optimization of existing solutions.
In automotive business, we see so many things that will sharply change the structure of the business, such as E-Mobility, maybe foremost autonomous driving. Especially the last point will have a huge impact on the way we look at cars and the way they will be used in future. Know + Improve means to continuously better understand the interaction of material, surfaces, new technical developments and keep improving the user experience. It means melting materials, colors and finishes into concepts that create added value for the customer at the same time being highly flexible to quickly adjust to changing customer needs.
Such an ever curious and striving mindset aligns closely with the industry’s growing focus on sustainability, circularity and responsible innovation.
DVN: Sustainability has become central to automotive development. how should designers think differently about color when products are increasingly designed for circularity and material recovery?
Markus Frentrop: This is something that touches both the emotional, but also the technical character of color work. Colors can no longer be considered independent from material. Designers must understand how pigments, coatings and surface treatments affect recyclability, material separation and recovery processes. In addition to that, they have to bear in mind that new, sustainable materials bring in new color effects, structures and options that may open a completely new box of options for designers. There is a tendency that in future, colors may increasingly come from the material itself, such as undyed flax, natural wood surfaces or pigmented natural fibers.
At the same time, color can wonderfully support communicating authenticity, revealing rather than concealing the nature of a material. The future of sustainable CMF may therefore be less about perfect visual uniformity and more about embracing material honesty, resource awareness and aesthetic approaches that celebrate circular design principles.
DVN: How can color standards contribute to extending product life cycles and reducing waste in the automotive industry?
Markus Frentrop: Color standards support longevity by ensuring reproducibility over extended periods. For example, RAL´s CLASSIC palette started 100 years ago and for us, it seems that its relevance is still increasing today. We guarantee our partners that colors will be part of this palette for at least 20 years. This enables consistent repairs, replacement parts and refurbishment processes long after a vehicle has entered service.
Reliable color communication also reduces production errors and material waste throughout the supply chain. Beyond manufacturing efficiency, standardization helps preserve design intent over time, supporting maintenance and reuse strategies that ultimately contribute to longer product life cycles and more sustainable resource management.
DVN: Are there specific material trends that you believe will fundamentally redefine automotive color and finish design?
Markus Frentrop: Bio-based materials, recycled content and next-generation technical surfaces are likely to transform the interior design approaches in the automotive business profoundly. We see visible natural fibers and material-based imperfections that move away from the ever-perfect surface we saw in previous eras. These materials often possess unique textures, natural color variations and visual characteristics that differ from conventional finishes. As a result, designers may increasingly embrace depth, tactility and material expression rather than striving for complete uniformity.
Keeping all these new options, materials and finish opportunities in mind, we nonetheless must face the fact that all of these fascinating developments support the ever growing safety and legal requirements in the automotive business. Therefore, we see a clear tendency that the conversation is gradually shifting from applying color onto materials to designing color through materials themselves.
DVN: RAL has recently highlighted the importance of stronger contrasts and accessibility. How do you see inclusive design principles influencing automotive CMF decisions?
Markus Frentrop: Inclusive design is becoming a defining quality benchmark. Stronger contrasts, clearer visual hierarchies and intuitive color coding improve usability for a wide range of users, regardless of age or physical ability. Especially in many core markets, we see that demographic factors become increasingly important in design. Thanks to social progress, people get older and remain longer mobile, which is a wonderful gift, but it also affects the way designers have to think and create.
In vehicles, accessibility influences everything from controls and interfaces to ambient lighting and material differentiation. Well-designed accessibility solutions often enhance the experience for all users, proving that inclusive design is not a constraint but a driver of better design outcomes and therefore finally a driver of improving business results.Vehicles now exist simultaneously as physical products and digital experiences. How should color systems bridge the gap between real materials and digital representations?
Markus Frentrop: The challenge is ensuring that color remains recognizable as users move between digital and physical environments. Future color systems must support accurate digital visualization while respecting the sensory qualities of real materials. This requires closer integration of color data, material information and perception-based design methods. The objective is not identical appearance, but a coherent experience that feels authentic whether encountered on a screen, in a configurator or inside the vehicle itself. The designer of the future has to regard any appearance of his work, regardless of its physical status as a holistic ecosystem that requires consistent designs and, for sure, color plays an important role in these design concepts.
The key point in this matter is recognition. No matter where the user interacts either with the car of the automobile company, the color concept of his car must be visualized across any touch point. This is completely independent from whether this touch point is physically or digitally.
DVN: If you had to identify one major color and material shift that automotive designers may be underestimating today, what would it be?
Markus Frentrop: At RAL we think that such a shift is not related to a certain color or material, but to a shift of mindset and the way we think of car interior design in future. From our point of view, it is the shift from decorative surfaces to meaningful materials.
For decades, CMF often focused on aesthetic differentiation. Going forward, materials will increasingly communicate values such as sustainability, transparency and responsibility. Consumers are becoming more interested in a material’s origin, lifecycle and environmental impact. Designers who understand how color and material can tell this story authentically will create experiences that feel both contemporary and enduring.
The most powerful luxury may soon be credibility and authenticity rather than visual complexity.
This conversation highlights that color is far more than an aesthetic decision. It is a strategic design tool that connects creativity, technology, manufacturing and customer expectations. As vehicles become increasingly defined by sustainable materials, digital interfaces and multisensory experiences, the need for a common color language has never been greater. At the same time, automotive brands must create products that resonate with customers across different regions, cultures and lifestyles without losing the coherence of their global design identity.
Collaboration with partners such as RAL enables designers to move beyond solving technical challenges and instead focus on creating coherent, emotionally engaging experiences that can be successfully translated across materials, suppliers and global markets.
One of the most compelling ideas shared by Markus Frentrop is the industry’s evolution from thinking solely about Color, Material and Finish toward Color, Material and Experience. This shift reflects the changing role of CMF designers, who are no longer defining isolated surfaces but orchestrating holistic experiences that span physical materials, lighting, digital interfaces and user interaction—all while adapting to the expectations of increasingly diverse customer groups around the world.
Ultimately, the joy of working with color will always remain at the heart of CMF design. The freedom to explore palettes, challenge conventions and create new emotional expressions is what attracts many of us to this discipline. Yet the true success of a color concept depends not only on inspiration but also on precision, collaboration and a deep understanding of the people it is designed for. The ability to create colors that are technically achievable, culturally meaningful and emotionally engaging across different regions is becoming one of the defining skills of the next generation of CMF designers.
