Case study

Aesthetic toolkits: Stay ahead of emerging industrial design trends

When it comes to industrial design, the use of textures, colors, and tactile materials turns functional applications into irresistible aesthetics. To help customers find the right material solution, our color, material, and finish (CMF) team has developed three industry-specific toolkits, responding to upcoming trends in electronics and electrics (EE), automotive, and healthcare.

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What does the future look and feel like? That’s what our CMF team is always asking – enabling our customers to anticipate the next big trends in their industries. With our CMF aesthetic toolkits, we help translate the freshest design trends from concept to material, so you can bring your vision to life.

Emily Shi

Business Development Manager Color & Aesthetics – Global Color & Design – Polycarbonates, Covestro

Task

Taking a design approach to industry-specific trends

The Covestro CMF team collaborated with academic and industry partners to research key trends in the main engineering plastics industries, to inspire CMF experts and industrial designers. Together with Tongji and Shanghai Jiao Tong universities and Good Matter Design Studio, we identified the most important emerging and long-lasting megatrends for EE, automotive, and healthcare. Each industry has its own target audience with specific functional, sustainability, and aesthetic material requirements and preferred colors and textures – so, we’ve created three inspirational toolkits, each giving a taste of what’s possible with our powerful CMF insights.

It was an honor to be involved in this CMF research project. Covestro has always remained true to its innovation principles in its work to overcome shifting industry challenges. I hope our collaboration will lead customers to new successes.

John Fu

Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Associate Professor and Head of the Design Trend Institute, School of Design

Challenge

Balancing beauty and performance

Thanks to the visual, tactile, and mechanical properties of polycarbonates, there’s a world of innovative CMF design to explore. Industrial designers need to develop products that stand out in the market, fulfil increased circularity requirements, and align with a company portfolio, all while tapping into upcoming consumer trends. From eye-catching colorways to appealing finishes, every element plays a role in evoking an emotional response in consumers – creating an aesthetic and functional design that truly elevates your product and brand.

By exploring global trends from a Chinese perspective, Covestro’s innovative aesthetic design has brought a fresh CMF vision to life in a new era.

Wenqing Yang

Tongji University,Professor at Shanghai International College of Design and Innovation

Solution

Putting CMF expertise at your fingertips

Guided by our CMF approach – focusing on functionality, aesthetics, and circularity – our aesthetic toolkits enable industrial designers to explore four trends in each of our key industries. For example, the EE industry is more interested than ever in how devices coexist with people and the environment, making life easier through smart homes, IoT, and 5G connectivity. Automotive developments are moving from purely industrial to design led, enabling precise interaction between user and vehicle, with a primary focus on interior applications. And in healthcare, inclusive design considerations for an increasingly diverse population meet a growing desire for more individuality and empowering patient treatments that enable better mental and physical well-being.

Our toolkits in the edition 2022/2023 inspire industrial designers to translate industry-specific trends into material solutions and enable a better understanding of the properties of polycarbonates. By capturing the structural and visual effects of different material combinations, they effectively and efficiently bring more sustainable designs to life.

Discover how these trends can be reflected in circular, aesthetic, and functional design.

Covestro is far more than a materials manufacturer: we’re an inspirational and collaborative partner for designers and CMF experts, helping them realize their vision with our high-quality polycarbonates – on an industrial scale. By enabling functional, aesthetic, and circular design, we add value for customers, consumers, and the environment.

Dr. Christopher Stillings

Global Head of Color & Design (CMF) – Engineering Plastics, Covestro

Solution

Leading the way on inspiration

The Covestro 2022/2023 CMF aesthetics toolkits edition won a German Design Award from the German Design Council in the category ‘Excellent Product Design – Material and Surfaces’. The toolkits inspire designers to explore the many aesthetic and functional possibilities of polycarbonates in the CMF field.

Developed in collaboration with renowned designer Chris Lefteri, the toolkits pave the way for inspiring dialogue and creative collaboration between the Covestro CMF team, industrial designers, and brands’ CMF experts.

Key Benefits

Consumer focused: Colors, textures, and patterns evoke an emotional response and elevate brand perception.
Targeted: Industry-specific toolkits for designers and CMF experts in EE, automotive, and healthcare.
Inspirational: Research, toolkits, and chip samples spark creativity and innovation.
Global: Universal megatrends are reflected in solutions for today’s globalized industries.
Award winning: Aesthetic toolkits won the German Design Award 2022, offering inspiration to designers.

Download the Aesthetic toolkits for your industry

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