Münster

Color and Design

Social and technological developments are constantly changing the way our world looks. Our living conditions and habits change and along with them, the products that surround us. Every change is reflected in materials and surfaces, as well as in the colors used for products. In order for a product such as a car to be perceived as current, attractive and true to its brand, OEM colors need to reflect the zeitgeist, even though they already have to be designed and determined several years in advance.

Our designers in the United States, Japan, China and Germany tackle these changes very early on and translate them into colors. Based on their research, a new color collection for the automotive industry is published each year with global and regional color trends. For BASF's annual Automotive Color Trends, our design team in Münster develops colors for the European market.

Automotive Color Trends 2020-2021

BASF has released its 2020-2021 Automotive Color Trends collection with a variety of shades and effects that show the way of modern automotive coatings. Designers of BASF’s Coatings division around the globe created the collection, called CODE-X, with everything from new, reimagined whites, to the darkest of jet blacks, and a variety of vibrant color spaces in-between. The colors serve as inspiration to automotive designers for vehicles that will be on the road in three to five years. Many have effects or textures, making them truly a tactile experience as well as a visual and emotional experience.

Our Design Team in Münster

Katja Pauli, Florina Trost, Mark Gutjahr

Michaela Finkenzeller, Astrid van der Auwera