Color, material and finish (CMF) design
Chooses, designs and specifies a product's colors, materials, textures and finishes so it looks, feels to the touch and ages as intended, and can be mass-produced.
What problem it addresses
Two products with the same shape can look cheap or valuable depending on their color, material and finish. A surface that convinces as a sample may scratch, fade or make manufacturing more expensive.
Principles
Three decisions together
Color, material and finish are decided at the same time, because each one changes how the others are perceived.
Seen and touched
A material conveys warmth, quality or toughness before anyone uses the product.
From sample to production
Each finish is tested with real samples and specified so it comes out the same across the whole run.
Applications in design
Use it like this
Decide color, material and finish together and compare them with physical samples under different lights.
Avoid
Choosing a finish only by how it looks on screen or by the trend of the moment.
Don’t fall for it
Check how the surface ages with use, cleaning and sunlight before manufacturing it.
Connections
Builds on
Authors and works
- 2002
Mike Ashby and Kara Johnson
In their book on choosing materials for product design, with a third edition in 2014, they treat materials by their technical properties and also by how they are perceived through the senses and the personality they give an object.
- 2014
Elvin Karana, Owain Pedgley and Valentina Rognoli
They edited a book on how materials shape the way people appreciate and experience products, and what designers need to know to guide that response.
- 2016
Liliana Becerra
She published a handbook that presents CMF design as a young discipline and explains its process step by step, including how color is perceived across cultures and a selection of materials and finishes.
Sources
Original sources
- Becerra, L. (2016). CMF design: The fundamental principles of colour, material and finish design. Frame Publishers. View source: Becerra, L. (2016)
- Karana, E., Pedgley, O., y Rognoli, V. (Eds.). (2014). Materials experience: Fundamentals of materials and design. Butterworth-Heinemann. View source: Karana, E., Pedgley, O., y Rognoli, V. (Eds.)
- Ashby, M. F., y Johnson, K. (2014). Materials and design: The art and science of material selection in product design (3rd ed.). Butterworth-Heinemann. (Obra original publicada en 2002). View source: Ashby, M. F., y Johnson, K. (2014)
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