What's the secret to creating a perfect material palette for commercial design?

1 Know your client

The first step to creating a perfect material palette is to understand your client's needs, goals, and preferences. What kind of business are they running? What are their values and vision? What are their target audience and competitors? How do they want to communicate their brand identity and personality? These questions will help you define the purpose and tone of the space, and guide your material selection.

2 Use a color scheme

A color scheme is a set of colors that work well together and create a certain mood and atmosphere. It can also help you create contrast, balance, and harmony in your material palette. You can use a color wheel to find complementary, analogous, triadic, or tetradic color schemes, or use online tools and apps to generate color palettes based on images or keywords. You can also use color psychology to choose colors that evoke the desired emotions and associations in your audience.

3 Mix textures and patterns

Textures and patterns are another way to add interest and variety to your material palette. They can create visual and tactile effects, such as depth, movement, rhythm, or contrast. You can mix different textures and patterns to create contrast, such as smooth and rough, matte and glossy, or organic and geometric. You can also use textures and patterns to emphasize or highlight certain areas or elements in the space, such as focal points, accents, or transitions.

4 Consider scale and proportion

Scale and proportion are important aspects of commercial design, as they affect the perception of space and the relationship between the elements. You have to consider the size and shape of the space, the furniture, the fixtures, and the accessories, and how they fit together. You also have to consider the human scale, and how the materials affect the comfort and functionality of the space. You can use scale and proportion to create balance, hierarchy, or drama in your material palette, such as using large or small patterns, or contrasting or matching proportions.

5 Think about sustainability

Sustainability is a key factor in commercial design, as it reflects the environmental and social responsibility of the business and the designer. You have to think about the impact of the materials on the environment, the health, and the well-being of the users and the community. You have to choose materials that are durable, recyclable, renewable, biodegradable, or low-impact, and avoid materials that are toxic, wasteful, or harmful. You can also use materials that have a story, a meaning, or a connection to the place, the culture, or the history of the space.

6 Test and refine

The final secret to creating a perfect material palette is to test and refine your choices. You have to see how the materials look and feel in the real space, under different lighting conditions, and from different angles and perspectives. You have to check how the materials work together, and if they create the desired effect and impression. You have to ask for feedback from your client, your colleagues, and your potential users, and make adjustments if needed. You have to be flexible, creative, and open-minded, and keep in mind the overall vision and goal of the space.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?