Marshall Hamachi: Okay, so why don't we get started here Hello everyone, both live as well as those that are going to be viewing the recording.
Marshall Hamachi: My name is Marshall komaci and i'm the associate director of the color materials and trends exploration lab or some tell on hillside campus and.
Marshall Hamachi: As we have periodically our materiality is presentations today our special guest is JESSICA Dale genio who's been a longtime veteran in color material finishes design.
Marshall Hamachi: In a number of different industries, there are so many that I won't go into enumerating them, as you will probably make a reference to several throughout her presentation.
Marshall Hamachi: But as far as the format i'm going to turn it over to her in just a moment i'm going to ask if anybody has questions to please post them in a chat so, then we can address them in an orderly way afterwards okay okay so having said all of that, let me introduce JESSICA del genio.
Jessica Del Genio: Welcome, can you see Can you see.
Jessica Del Genio: Yes, can you say okay.
Marshall Hamachi: we're great.
Jessica Del Genio: Alright perfect alright so high art Center look everyone's well today coming from Boston right now and.
Jessica Del Genio: So I want to go through today and talk about my world of cms design, I know you guys have been spending a lot of time with suppliers.
Jessica Del Genio: think probably people that do sort of one thing I tend to do a lot of different industries, mainly I started in footwear.
Jessica Del Genio: I started actually started really an advertising and then I went to foot, where I worked at Reebok for 10 years and then after that I became a consultant and started working on luggage kids products automotive electronics anything you can think of, I get the strangest calls.
Jessica Del Genio: So So what do I do.
Jessica Del Genio: So the core things that I do normally do so.
Marshall Hamachi: You know.
Jessica Del Genio: Pre coven is the first thing big thing of my life is I travel and I go all over the world, I go to Asia, I go to Europe, I go all over the US, and I look for interesting things well look for things I look at a museum or go to a trade show i'll go.
Jessica Del Genio: sit on a bench and a park do everything I love my job I love, what I do and I miss traveling so much beyond belief so we'll talk a little bit about trade shows coming up i'm in the middle of that picture ambling along.
Jessica Del Genio: I have a picture of an arcade game that's from the New York.
Jessica Del Genio: arcade museum, also in San Francisco you have one the antique one and if anyone's been there it's awesome and then here's I have a picture of a color palette.
Jessica Del Genio: In progress and the last thing is a picture of material picture was actually an exhibit in London and they were dealing or showing you how you could make different leathers with different vegetables it's a very cool exhibit and that was with.
Jessica Del Genio: spirulina, I guess, so what I do so, as I.
Jessica Del Genio: brands will hire me to kind of create a map of what they want to get where they want and, at the end of the day, that means a professional successful product.
Jessica Del Genio: So I I take all the information I have, and sometimes people will come into my studio which is filled with materials and colors and whatnot we sit down and figure out what we need to do.
Jessica Del Genio: So just what we're going to do first i'll talk about sort of on the macro lens so, which is the big picture of things, so I shop observed I define the customer, and then it creates trends stories.
Jessica Del Genio: So this is a.
Jessica Del Genio: Three pictures of a trip to Milan, so I was shopping in one picture another picture i'm just hanging out observing.
Jessica Del Genio: Observing the older people on bicycles there so elegant and they still have beautiful clothes and they're biking to work or to get.
Jessica Del Genio: To go to the grocery store or you have groups of students it's very kind of an eclectic mix of people, and you can totally get so much.
Jessica Del Genio: So much information from just observing and then down in the bottom right hand that's a piece of enamel black.
Jessica Del Genio: knife silverware and it has an embossed on it so automatically i'm thinking about this is this is great, I could bring this back and work with the material manufacturer on a look like this.
Jessica Del Genio: So these are some other inspirations from shopping, we have some vintage patches on these jackets some elastic.
Jessica Del Genio: material on the bottom of a jacket, and it has a little bit of glitter in it so like from afar, you might see something when you get.
Jessica Del Genio: closer to a product and a story might see another thing, so the closer we get we got to this jacket we're like oh my God it's cool it has so much so many nuances in it.
Jessica Del Genio: And then there are things like you look at a pair of shoes and they've done some stuff after market to that you know once it comes off the line they're going to work on creating new effects, so this this.
Jessica Del Genio: premise data shoe has been dipped and a silicone rubber so it didn't have it doesn't really affect the function at all, it just makes it look really great.
Jessica Del Genio: So.
Jessica Del Genio: I want to define the customer, but I don't want to define the customer in terms of just a general customer, I want to get that.
Jessica Del Genio: That customer the consumer that's going to be inspiring for others to see and I can't travel everywhere.
Jessica Del Genio: But I with the Internet, you know you can get anything you want and there's lots of fashion photographers or you know bloggers or.
Jessica Del Genio: Whoever that post all this stuff online So if I want to see everything that's going on in Tokyo, I can I know the photographers website of where to get that information and some of these things will go through.
Jessica Del Genio: amazing detail, you know and i'll say you know, shoes, you know the person who is wearing will say their own you know the pants will say bought at vintage store and then they'll have maybe a shirt and they'll you know Max Mara.
Jessica Del Genio: bought it in 2010 the details that go into some of these sites is just amazing and so that's one great thing taken everything you can get out there.
Jessica Del Genio: So there's a certain amount of cultural demographic work that I have to do.
Jessica Del Genio: Because you always need to know your audience, you always to make need to know have someone's going to buy something if someone's going to interact with something.
Jessica Del Genio: How what people think of brands, you need this information, but I don't have all this time to get all this information.
Jessica Del Genio: But there are lots of companies that do this and it's on the Internet it's in magazines and you can just access this for free now, this information is from McKinsey, which is an investment consulting firm.
Jessica Del Genio: And they have people that go around and they get everything so you're going to find out that Gleneagles 80% of their purchase or purchases are influenced by instagram we can find out how to meet this.
Jessica Del Genio: Demographic you know don't forget about you know in Internet feedback, you should have be able to have immediate response on a website, I was you know, make sure this.
Jessica Del Genio: generation is taken care of, then you go to generation X, so a little bit older 65% of their purchase are going to be influenced by social media, they have a keen eye for bullshit they might be spending millennials tend to be.
Jessica Del Genio: tend to be more frugal with their money which is kind of not what you would think generation X spends more money they they look at things like.
Jessica Del Genio: they're going to spend more money on health products because they're getting closer to retirement and starting to think of the end game.
Jessica Del Genio: millennials tend to make a lot of purchases based based on experience like they want to have an amazing experience they'll spend money.
Jessica Del Genio: On traveling they'll look at a trip that's going to take two weeks, where generation X might just be a week, we can go into all the different groups and talk for days on it, but we'll just stop there.
Jessica Del Genio: So macro trends.
Jessica Del Genio: The more right now the that you cannot get into the marketplace, a lot of people have to go elsewhere and look at a bigger picture.
Jessica Del Genio: So.
Jessica Del Genio: For instance, I was hired by Johnson and Murphy Johnson and Murphy make pretty much brown shoes for a lot of inner professional workers and very much a more formal.
Jessica Del Genio: product and they're hurting right now, they need to know how can they adapt to what's going on, so they want to know where and how we're going to work, so they asked me to do this last April, so pretty much still everything's.
Jessica Del Genio: You know in check, but we constantly are having tweaked changes so there's going to be a new type of office place.
Jessica Del Genio: lot of the employers want their employees to come back to work full time there's a whole you know mentality about a company, they want.
Jessica Del Genio: They want to develop a corporate culture, they want to have someone out of college being able to get to work with a senior employee and learn how to do things and.
Jessica Del Genio: develop brand you know, a loyalty to the to the company you don't get that sitting on a zoom they would very much like you to do that, but.
Jessica Del Genio: we're also we have you know the big quit we had a lot of people just leave the workplace, so we need to be able to keep those employees, so they want to work from home.
Jessica Del Genio: And they don't want you to work from home, so we have the you know the middle ground where we're at right now, so the hybrid model.
Jessica Del Genio: So there's a lot of like work design magazines and textual firms and things looking at how can we make this new theory work in the office place.
Jessica Del Genio: So kind of developing a new design when you walk in the company, where you go every day, so this is interesting this picture, they call a dawning and doffing room.
Jessica Del Genio: So the idea is that you want to get rid of anything that is basically contaminated so you know, like your shoes might have a lot of germs on him they don't want you walking through.
Jessica Del Genio: The hallways and them so they might want you to take off that pair of shoes, so you get a locker when you walk in and then you also you've probably had to sign up for a desk.
Jessica Del Genio: So you need a place that you're going to have be able to take a portable tray or portable cart over to a desk for the day so it's almost you know it's almost like going to high school, you have all these lockers and things.
Jessica Del Genio: Here we got a lounge you're waiting for you know, a buddy to show up.
Jessica Del Genio: So I here's an example of women style in this for this in this equation so for women, you have the Home Office.
Jessica Del Genio: You know kind of being a little stereotypical here, so a lot of the women might be going from school or they might be going to do errands more so than a male so their.
Jessica Del Genio: apparel tends to be a little bit different, they want to have something that looks Nice, especially when you're you know, Jim call you know it's paying attention from the waist up.
Jessica Del Genio: You look a little bit more professional and then down below you want to have things that are just ease to put on again looking good when you go out in public.
Jessica Del Genio: For footwear looking at things that you can slide on to your feet, so if you're walking around the House that you go on or off also I didn't put this in here but working people are working at different locations so someone might work in.
Jessica Del Genio: say the Caribbean, for the winter and all of a sudden their whole wardrobe changes and it creates more of a seasonality.
Jessica Del Genio: To what you're going to buy so at say any given time, you have to have a summer mix and you have to have a winter mix, so this is a picture of kind of like a little bit more elegant feel to a home work style.
Jessica Del Genio: So alright, so now you the day that you're going to go to the office you could be you know at this point you're getting sick of wearing this very loungy comfortable stuff almost going to work becomes an event.
Jessica Del Genio: You know before you might not have worn a dress or skirt whatnot so you're kind of bringing some of these elements in and we're thinking about product here tends to be more exciting music more color or prints more textures.
Jessica Del Genio: And it's just you're going someplace it's some levels, you know go into a cocktail party in a way.
Jessica Del Genio: So we did some research have some examples of what this might look at look like, so a wide pants wide work pants so it's again it's very flowing you've gotten away from wearing Pitre things but it looks professional maybe a rap skirt again it's taking that same kind of.
Jessica Del Genio: model there and then say when you have that donning and doffing room that you had at that company you're going to want to go to work.
Jessica Del Genio: and have some sort of like a jacket, and then be able to take it off and hand almost you know, have a modular wardrobe and then for a younger consumer have something really what the other older looks are doing, but you know raise up the hands make you know even more a more fun materials.
Jessica Del Genio: So when you're a brand you need to look at your you need to look at your competitors it's a pretty big thing.
Jessica Del Genio: And sometimes when i'm talking to when we're teaching all about color and materials and finishes we might forget about this aspect, and this is very important.
Jessica Del Genio: So this is some golf work that I did for a brand so they need to know who they're competing.
Jessica Del Genio: You know, companies are going to be with them, so the kind of usually I try to break it down into a couple different things, their color color identity that's going on here.
Jessica Del Genio: Signature style of this brand and their color current position in the market, so are they.
Jessica Del Genio: Selling where are they selling it so for these guys are selling at golf clubs specialty stores and online you're not going to see them at any of the major kind of bigger golf balls kind of I would call big box stores.
Jessica Del Genio: birds a con door, this is, excuse me.
Jessica Del Genio: married so condo or, this is a really interesting golf company they're based out of.
Jessica Del Genio: Australia it's this guy he is a surf enthusiast and that's pretty much where he's spent his entire careers working in the surfing and it's great.
Jessica Del Genio: But then he developed this love of golf so you wanted to bring surfing and golf together so it's a new consumer in this market it's definitely a lot of.
Jessica Del Genio: Good go into many billion things on golf but.
Jessica Del Genio: it's really kind of blending the styles into another sport that's going to come up through it it's very interesting thing, but you can see the colors are definitely a different story altogether the materials very casual so.
Jessica Del Genio: So we have these products we've been we've looked now at who are consumer is we're lacking, looking at the macro trends.
Jessica Del Genio: But where and what are we going to make and where is it going to be sold, because you want that sale and you want it to be important.
Jessica Del Genio: So when you walk into a store, what do you experience first it's always color you're always going to see color you're going to see it from afar you're going to see it close up and you're going to look at generally a bright color.
Jessica Del Genio: So the next thing so say if you go up to a wall or a rack of clothes you're going to see that.
Jessica Del Genio: prod in a product that you like a certain color you're going to look it up and kind of evaluate the feel you know the touch the weight.
Jessica Del Genio: That texture everything to do deal with that and then you're kind of at the same time figuring out, if you like, that look or not going to hold it up, you know.
Jessica Del Genio: Put it from afar and you'll be like me all those three things at this point aren't doing it for me.
Jessica Del Genio: And then last and designers don't like to hear this is function is the last thing in this process it's extremely important once you buy it but and when you're making this decision to buy.
Jessica Del Genio: color material and finish is much more important.
Jessica Del Genio: So we walk into the store so for looking at this wall, what are we going to see first and the first thing I see is, I see that yellow handle all the way on the left so i'm going to.
Jessica Del Genio: kind of look at things in a walk in i'm going to pick that up and i'll look at the materials, and I might be like man i'm not sure if I, like it or not, so sometimes you'll have.
Jessica Del Genio: A salesperson walk over to you and they're like isn't that great, but you know it's a little bit bright, for me, sometimes people really like it, but we just got some black ones in so there's a way to kind of like subtly get take that yellow into becoming another sale.
Jessica Del Genio: And right now, where we have the big box retailers going away the shopping malls might not you want shopping as an experience, so I know you guys just got a bodega la I don't I haven't been there, so I don't.
Jessica Del Genio: know much about it but but but degas in Boston is it looks like a decrepit bottega bodega.
Jessica Del Genio: convenience store it's just you looks like a store you would never walk into, and if you don't know that that's there.
Jessica Del Genio: it's you will just walk on by so you walk in that door and it still looks like crappy products everywhere, you have.
Jessica Del Genio: You have like a Teller sale, you know at till and it's got bulletproof glass in front of it and you're like this place is like bad news, and then you walk over to where they are, and all of a sudden, a shopping door.
Jessica Del Genio: automatically opens and then you walk inside and you can see, on your right beautiful wood floors curated products, all the best, you know who is brand.
Jessica Del Genio: You know musics plan it's just like you know you love it.
Jessica Del Genio: Other people in the store dissolve everyone's laid back you don't have anyone come over and go, you know, can I help you kind of in your face it's just more of an experience almost like going to a bar.
Jessica Del Genio: And a lot of times you want to buy something here, because you it's almost like you want to have a little takeaway so bodega has a little magazines they make, and some people just go in and they just gonna buy the magazine.
Jessica Del Genio: So hedge bodega la so it kind of, although the problem with this and I don't know if it's they're just showing like the whole thing perspective wise, but it looks like the right hand side, it looks like this product and shoe boxes down below.
Jessica Del Genio: So what we want to do with all this information is, we want to.
Jessica Del Genio: figure out how that information what they're doing is going to affect future trends designs and decisions.
Jessica Del Genio: going to look at that color mix what's it retail right now was designed say if it's appropriate athletic footwear, it was designed 18 to 24 months ago.
Jessica Del Genio: So that was a long time ago and a lot of people's minds that color mix.
Jessica Del Genio: is important for going to 18 to 24 months in the future it'll be this cycle that goes around because people will like it.
Jessica Del Genio: And they won't like it, you know and i'll kind of sit in their closet for a while, but then, all of a sudden they're going to want it again so looking at as a, you know as as EMF designer you're going to always want to keep.
Jessica Del Genio: That in mind that you're looking at a cyclical trend you're also want to see where that that product is being positioned say on a wall on a Rack.
Jessica Del Genio: Is that shirt I like is that on a prominent rack when I walk in the door, where is that piece of luggage, did they stick it in the back, is the one up front.
Jessica Del Genio: And then one thing you can do and people forget people a lot of times salesmen are kind of bored as somewhat selling as someone's not selling they love to talk, you know they want to do things, and then the last thing that kind of.
Jessica Del Genio: Is the least important it's a brag point after you get something is the price, because sometimes you want to buy something that's not on sale, because you know that that's.
Jessica Del Genio: More important that's something that is but also another thing to take into consideration is you'll notice sometimes there's people walking in store, looking at something at the same time they're on their phone.
Jessica Del Genio: And they're looking up that item and they might buy it on their phone rather than in the store.
Jessica Del Genio: So another thing that I might do is I might go in and start taking notes of what a brand has been color.
Jessica Del Genio: So generally you always have your general like colors their blues grades sometimes they kind of tend to go towards a Turk.
Jessica Del Genio: So you can see the way that this color is laying out so birds Condor that's an Australian brand.
Jessica Del Genio: You can see the colors on the right tending to get into those browns and more kind of matching their environment jalen de burgh that Swedish So you can see, they have starting to have those bright.
Jessica Del Genio: The Swedes tend to have almost a Japanese kind of perception of color where things are very bright because they live in such a dark environment, you want to make things happier.
Jessica Del Genio: So they're Swedish So you can see that, on the right tori sport very preppy you know that's women's that's kind of feeling in that.
Jessica Del Genio: That J crew space.
Jessica Del Genio: I can never say it, but choose is a very luxury high end Vol friend that's like say on the highest level of Ski wear and they will have like $1,000 jackets.
Jessica Del Genio: Some thing really, really expensive so they will have interesting touches of color it may not be the overall.
Jessica Del Genio: You won't have a red jacket, but you will have functional details that tend to be in a bright color low cost, we all know, look cost you look at those colors that's classic will cost.
Jessica Del Genio: And Peter Miller that's an older consumer and you can see where they would be dealing with a lot of content and they tend to be in a more of a summer environment.
Jessica Del Genio: So we just talked about shopping online, so this is different color is still the most important.
Jessica Del Genio: The look is second and then the price is third because you could be sorting and you like, I only want to spend between 100 and $130 so you can set your parameters online and only look.
Jessica Del Genio: At that price you won't even go I don't want to look at anything cheaper I don't want to look at anything more expensive.
Jessica Del Genio: Unless you're having a real hard time finding something within that range so price is important, so you hit by and then you receive the goods.
Jessica Del Genio: And then you're going to look at again your feel the feel is so important, the look is a little bit less but it's almost I probably should put function little higher here but it's different shopping experience and what you do in a retail store.
Jessica Del Genio: So you can see here, this is bodega online so again you're looking at it and you're noticing the green jackets and then, if you pop on to.
Jessica Del Genio: The stone island sweatshirt there There probably is a black option, you know, a safer blue option but they're going to show you right on there, the best mix.
Jessica Del Genio: So we keep on talking about color and color again but, obviously, as we all know, color is the most important thing it's your essential building block of any product and it's, the first thing people see and having this right look is going to be it's going to set you apart from others.
Jessica Del Genio: So you have your design, but colors essential in designs follow materials I can't I can't choose any material.
Jessica Del Genio: Until I actually know what you know if I want that color it's you know the die is going to be able to be saturated in a leather without bleeding I can't.
Jessica Del Genio: I can't choose that leather, so you have to take that into consideration first also for construction.
Jessica Del Genio: details and then color is intensely personal so everyone has likes and dislikes so, but what you have to get around is, you have to take.
Jessica Del Genio: Take your your thoughts out of that I hate purple and I have a hard time with it to like put it in any palette i'm working on, but there's so many people that love it and i'll have clients going anything that's purple how by so but I have to objectively look at color.
Jessica Del Genio: So understanding it a little better in terms of product, so it can be the reason to buy or not to buy so you have apples flat.
Jessica Del Genio: Black magic mouse that tends to be your more techie consumer they're going to want something very much on an industrial level more of a function and something that's going to make them.
Jessica Del Genio: feel like an alpha consumer so where you look at API, which is a nail Polish they have all these crazy names, so this, I think, was like diner blue.
Jessica Del Genio: And there'll be cults built around these shades these.
Jessica Del Genio: These nail Polish shades and someone will be like Oh, I only like this color that's all i'm only going to buy, but then you go in and there's 1000 other colors that are so similar to this and then.
Jessica Del Genio: i've graduated from diner blue to mode motel carpet or something is their crazy names, it feels fun.
Jessica Del Genio: it's just it's really interesting the way that they're so different and then you have brand silly are identified by their colors so you and there's also brands that are identified by their materials, but those colors must be tuned to the season.
Jessica Del Genio: One thing people forget is colors actually technology, so the first colors that were.
Jessica Del Genio: were made were made from ochre.
Jessica Del Genio: Everyone might know these things, so it could be repeating things that you've learned in the past, so.
Jessica Del Genio: You learn about pigments and how to keep them stable different shades level saturation dimension, so you have a cave drawing here so probably what they did is.
Jessica Del Genio: When they wanted to emphasize a line they use, you know more of the pigment these less of the pigment to show a softer moment, so you think about colors and you're.
Jessica Del Genio: Like they're already all designed they're already done it they're already there, but now, people are finding new colors and so that, at the last color that was.
Jessica Del Genio: Designed was made by accident in the laboratory by some PhD students looking at novel materials for electronic applications it's called y ln MN and the interesting thing about this pigment is it's non toxic.
Jessica Del Genio: it's an immigrant or in organic but environmentally safe pigment and the big function about it, is it reflects infrared radiation which can make things cooler so you can say if you're an automotive, you can use this white ln.
Jessica Del Genio: color and make something cooler that would be warmer without in a different shade of blue so it's fascinating so you can go in and out and look at different colors.
Jessica Del Genio: Through the periods of time and green at a certain point was you know was basically made with lead he died of cancer from using it if you ever want to learn more about color in their pigments Harvard has a color museum.
Jessica Del Genio: So.
Jessica Del Genio: colored changes over time so we're going to look at this, you can see the process like boxes, some of the color is.
Jessica Del Genio: is affected by the different types of paper that were being able to be made at that time, the different inks.
Jessica Del Genio: Some of these definitely are affected by the fact that they're aged, but you can see the saturation levels, the way you know people have learned how to.
Jessica Del Genio: You know use with different tonal variations so it's cool so you can do lots of research on different brands and the way the colors have evolved.
Jessica Del Genio: So it has there's a design philosophy, some people are want to use nuance color they know they know the benefit of spending time.
Jessica Del Genio: Developing color creating people to want to go back and make a repeated purchase because they like that light Brown.
Jessica Del Genio: And then you have more of a first cost business that they're just going to make a black shoe that's it and that model cells can sell but they tend those brands tend to burn out faster there's no not a lot of longevity to them, you know they can look generic and dated pretty quickly.
Jessica Del Genio: So it's you can stress this when you're dealing with brands you're working with you can be like you can show them the benefit of the color is going to be more sales with an A may not be in that bright yellow shoe that we made but that bright yellow shoe sold in all those black.
Jessica Del Genio: So it's crucial to get this color right, and when you do that, you succeed.
Jessica Del Genio: So just kind of looking at you know people say red is so hot right now oh it's really trendy and i'm sure, a lot of us when we hear these things were like uh huh.
Jessica Del Genio: But what red or what silver is big so I actually worked with the West Coast designer and we do a small color book.
Jessica Del Genio: That people buy it's a lot of smaller brands by it, because they can't afford to have a color to paint department, they can't afford to have wgs and they can't.
Jessica Del Genio: You know, afford to travel so to have a book for them that shows them a range of the oranges and we give them images.
Jessica Del Genio: per the story, so they can look at the images and the colors and see if it might work for them, but these are the six shades of Orange that we see that will be most important 18 to 24 months from now.
Jessica Del Genio: going on to materials.
Jessica Del Genio: materials it's actually my favorite thing I do I love chickens, so I do a lot of travel and I work with a lot of suppliers individually and I work for a lot of suppliers and coming up with new ideas.
Jessica Del Genio: So here's some examples of interesting things I found say two years ago on a trip.
Jessica Del Genio: interested in woven details on leather, we have perps you have cotton's over leather and paper just really interesting things and then.
Jessica Del Genio: At the time I might have had some pictures of the return of white or white details, so a lot of these materials came from trade shows so i'll be.
Jessica Del Genio: Up take pictures of exactly what the name is so I won't forget that I saw this and then and that I, you know I want to be able to spec it try to remember details.
Jessica Del Genio: Very standard pictures here but i'm asked to do a lot of this and you can see, these are plump incredible grains and.
Jessica Del Genio: leathers are so complicated, you can have a completely smooth.
Jessica Del Genio: leather and it has no grain, you can have something that's embossed and then has or something that's perfect, but I will, at times, be asked by a brand say, can you find us a bunch of plush leathers so that we can put them in a certain mood.
Jessica Del Genio: And it could be a huge project, they want me to look at every single crushed.
Jessica Del Genio: Mother out there.
Jessica Del Genio: A lot of also what I show people is how to how to mix materials so things that could be inspiring that they don't think of like a boiled wool.
Jessica Del Genio: over whether canvas and we're going to use a polished leather strap on that or it may something that you can't even see what's happening, you can so on that blue it's a that's a polo golf shirt but it's that clear plastic.
Jessica Del Genio: detail, where the you can see the buttons and from afar, you can't even see any of that so it's very interesting, the way that was done and then looking at more of a rough and the upper right kind of a more.
Jessica Del Genio: Interesting take on an outdoor shoe where that top island is red and the bottom outsold you have little flecks of red in that until.
Jessica Del Genio: You have perfect materials that are layered over more of a kevlar type material so there's a lot of things that you can actually show the application.
Jessica Del Genio: And here's another thing, looking around, and I saw for this is probably like 10 years old slide.
Jessica Del Genio: I saw a lot of plaids and I want to show my the people i'm working for, I want to show them the importance of this and how they can take it into their product.
Jessica Del Genio: So here's Another thing I do and supplier work and do a lot of colors and make the color direction, so this is for suede manufacturer, so we come up with four different trends for these guys and each one tells a story.
Jessica Del Genio: And a lot of brands require this work if you're a Nike you require a brand a supplier to come in with trend development material development, they want you to see that you've been doing work and that you don't show them.
Jessica Del Genio: Like a for a little piece of paper size of leather and just expect expect an order you need to give you need to you know show them that you can do something and that you're going to be able to keep on the same wavelength, that they are.
Jessica Del Genio: This is another example of company that I worked for a long time with I worked her vt release papers I don't know if.
Jessica Del Genio: People know what release papers are, but when you have a synthetic material.
Jessica Del Genio: it's just like a plastic, you know piece of plastic, but you got to put pattern on that you got to put a coating you got to put a paper, so we I worked with these guys on coming up say with the different grain when we're looking at.
Jessica Del Genio: there's different types of cows that have different types of grains so for this was bovine was a.
Jessica Del Genio: say in a more mature cow a bovine pattern, the left on the left, we have more of an industrial wavy type Carol sometimes you can take these papers and they can be in Boston to the surface, sometimes they're just rolled right on.
Jessica Del Genio: And here's like a trend board that we did that we're looking at square dimensions.
Jessica Del Genio: And then, a lot of things that you can do and on surfaces are prints and prints are great because prints don't really follow any rules.
Jessica Del Genio: They can just be something that you like the bottom right hand picture is just a stock photo and that's a chain link fence, with some snow that's over it, so it gives this really kind of technical but organic print the.
Jessica Del Genio: upper upper right is actually cover of a children's magazine, I think, was highlights from the 50s so it's got almost got like the gold foil over a muted blue background that was you know very juvenile these kind of sketchy mayans.
Jessica Del Genio: So again, this is more.
Jessica Del Genio: Examples of prints that you can do on the left hand side that's a print that's gone on a velvet any surface can take a print.
Jessica Del Genio: So.
Jessica Del Genio: i'm going to just show you basically how we put this, all together, so this is for Atlanta, which is a Chinese footwear brand.
Jessica Del Genio: So this story is pretty simple because sometimes you're dealing with a client that might.
Jessica Del Genio: not want a lot of bells and whistles they need to get things straight to the point, they don't want anything complicated, so I just want to tell them give them straight for images.
Jessica Del Genio: That we're looking exploring the culture of the Inuits the Indians of the Northern Canada a lot, it could be, Iceland, Greenland to you want we're looking at these bright colors or the white colors and the those really interesting graphics.
Jessica Del Genio: So we looked for this, we want to show them where we were looking at to get a color inspiration so some neon E type lights, because that would be northern lights type stuff.
Jessica Del Genio: or so we're translating that into some cues on leather so just kind of drying out all these different things.
Jessica Del Genio: again trying to keep these images simple for them and then right examples warm materials, things are in granted glow glisten you know they look folky whoa felts for embroidery very simple.
Jessica Del Genio: And then show some material shows some things that you're looking at and then that people can make the connection to that.
Jessica Del Genio: prints and patterns so looking at things that you're going to touch and feel, and it can be just a real small details or you can take say the top right hand and boss that could be, and you know, on all over piece of luggage.
Jessica Del Genio: And then, looking at some graphics so this could be good for logo development.
Jessica Del Genio: So here's the color palette that we did for North so when you think about.
Jessica Del Genio: Earlier I showed you a picture of like Scandinavian brand This is very much the color palette that would work in the Scandinavian countries and then the very northern tip so Canada those brights with those browns and that that kind of for white.
Jessica Del Genio: And then taking all that together boiling it down and showing them how they could make a collection based on those colors in that color palette and based on the direction that you just given them for materials.
Jessica Del Genio: Also, showing some blocking some ways that you might be able to think about different different combinations or just like maybe something's a color that's been put on a piece of material that there's not a sketch line on maybe it's just something that's printed over.
Jessica Del Genio: A lot of people love co labs these days they're so incredibly important, so I just wanted to kind of go through quickly through like how a Co lab might be.
Jessica Del Genio: Developed So this was with wells Bonner she's a men's wear designer in London and she takes a lot of different kind of contrasting make cultures are together and creates different.
Jessica Del Genio: prints and patterns and colors sometimes it might be different periods, so it might be vintage motorcycle combined with the lives of ethan age very interesting combinations so they she looked developed with Adidas looking at their archives this kind of this Brown and yellow look.
Jessica Del Genio: I the shoe is this, so what I did in my studio is I kind of put together material so so the wealth Bonner group might have looked at.
Jessica Del Genio: One of the shoes from their archive and had to re make it, they have to find that level of nylon they're going to have to find a suede they're going to have to find a pea coat.
Jessica Del Genio: So here I kind of labeled all the items that they have to identify you know what they're going to do that GM capsule what what was.
Jessica Del Genio: What was the hue of GM GM is a very complicated material on outsells you can have wide variety, but you have to get to that.
Jessica Del Genio: shade of the GM to make the fit perfectly into the Adidas archival shoe so there's like cool things like hand stitched details.
Jessica Del Genio: thinking on the on the edges of that I stay, so you can see it's fun, though, you could kind of re kind of tweak things and kind of make it a little bit more modern but that's the stuff that's going to end up in a bodega.
Jessica Del Genio: So here was the shoes in there, look book for the season.
Jessica Del Genio: So everything's matching.
Jessica Del Genio: And i'll end up on a project that I worked on and I think a lot of people know what this shoe is it's the pump fury done by Reebok.
Jessica Del Genio: And I guess Kevin I don't know if he's on this call or not, but Steve Smith is he's probably floated in and out of your studio at some point.
Jessica Del Genio: In time and Steve Smith and a couple of others were the they were the design innovation group at Reebok they got to work in their own little bubble and develop things that were just like I think this started off with a ski book ski boot type.
Jessica Del Genio: function, where they looked at making a bladder for the shoe so that you can be able when like a ski boot you put it in things are kind of form around your shoe So how can you do that on an.
Jessica Del Genio: athletic shoe so they had they worked with an a medical company on creating these bladders.
Jessica Del Genio: And when you put Aaron to them, they would you know very much hug your shoe nowadays, you know they do that technology all the time, if you break your leg or something but.
Jessica Del Genio: So they had a sea of two canister and it would pump up the shoe and it was pretty cool the whole thing was really cool.
Jessica Del Genio: But there was two things that were difficult with the shoe and one is he wanted a Citroen color and we couldn't get it spect exactly, and so what we had to do.
Jessica Del Genio: Is we had to take tennis balls and yeah i'm a young designer at this point i'm ripping the tennis ball material and i'm spraying mounting it on cardboard and cutting it up and sending it to all the.
Jessica Del Genio: Suppliers that we're making materials for the show, so this is basically you don't have to work with the pantone book, you could be making your own color are using some you know homepage and making something you don't have to be you know pigeonholed into what's in our book.
Jessica Del Genio: So I was a young designer i'm in Korea and they're working furiously on the instrument fury on getting it done, and they need someone to get CO2 cartridges.
Jessica Del Genio: into back into the States as soon as possible, and a lot of times you're working at a factory, you will be asked to hand carry something back to corporate because it's cheaper and faster.
Jessica Del Genio: So they're like oh let's give you know the 20 something year old kid a box of CO2 cartridges and we'll we'll just let her walk through security and get these onto a plane, so I had a box of 50 CO2 cartridges I could have blown up the plane, first of all because.
Jessica Del Genio: No one even knew people looked at the paperwork were so confused as to what what was in this box, this is, you know well pre 911 so there's no thought on anything so I brought CO2 cartridges.
Jessica Del Genio: onto a plane.
Jessica Del Genio: So interesting thing with going back to the kind of selling in the shoes and this bright color was Paul fireman, who is a CEO and and.
Jessica Del Genio: And part owner of the company had all the employees were the pump series at the Boston marathon when they debuted so that we would be walking on walking around with these.
Jessica Del Genio: Day Globe bright insane shoes to create you know sweep us so that's another important thing to remember, and you will always see an any season, you will see, like the coolest people having.
Jessica Del Genio: You know, wearing these and some application, I did after the initial launch there's another designer and I we've been on to.
Jessica Del Genio: Do the colors on I probably hundreds of these different color combinations or material so when it was a lot of fun, so a fun moment of my career, so that is it I probably went a really long time.
Jessica Del Genio: But if you have any questions feel free to email me and i'm always happy to send you what I know that's it.
Marshall Hamachi: Wonderful Thank you Jessica and no worries on on on the time because we have this recorded and it's going to be terrific to share with the rest of the students i'm.
Marshall Hamachi: Given the people that I can see here in attendance i'm just going to go ahead and open it up, I preface this by asking to put questions in the chat but instead of that if you have any questions, please go ahead and unmute.
Marshall Hamachi: And and ask JESSICA, while we still have her here for a short amount of time.
Marshall Hamachi: um, I think, actually, I want to lead off on the questioning specific to the trends research, because I know this comes up a lot for students.
Marshall Hamachi: They typically ask like So how do you even make sense, where do you start when you're doing the trends research and one thing that seems pretty clear is that it needs to be cross industry.
Marshall Hamachi: And as a means of cross pollinating and getting a variety of perspectives when you are doing your trends research Does it depend on what.
Marshall Hamachi: Market or product category that your client is in in terms of the different niches you look at or do you have go to kind of combinations that you consistently look at.
Jessica Del Genio: Now I will look at anything I mean i'll go into home depot and look and see what you know different shades of silver it's just you wanted you want to get the best and most.
Jessica Del Genio: inspiring information, so I don't care where where that comes from.
there.
Marshall Hamachi: Okay.
Marshall Hamachi: Hello audio just came up on video do you have a question.
Adhi Pritish: yeah.
Jessica Del Genio: i've seen you before right.
Adhi Pritish: Yes, I see.
Jessica Del Genio: Very good.
Adhi Pritish: Are you Okay, I want to get straight into it um so.
Adhi Pritish: If I were if I work to work with a brand that has.
Adhi Pritish: That they have their own.
Adhi Pritish: color scheme, and they have.
Adhi Pritish: You know, a set of colors that they were tape right but i'm trying to.
Adhi Pritish: introduce something new right, so how how much do I break away from their cms.
Adhi Pritish: And how where do I start, how do I tell that story as like hey I got this yellow that you probably will never make, but I think you should wait just cut away sorry.
Jessica Del Genio: The easiest thing to do is this thing to do is make them feel comfortable with you, first of all, and make them show them that you're going to give them.
Jessica Del Genio: A commercial version of what you do so, I have clients they had their core consumer they don't want to see me go off on some tangent because they're like I don't want to you know pay for this girl to do.
Jessica Del Genio: pie and sky stuff, but you can do it in different ways, so you can be like I saw this, I just want to let you know that it's in the marketplace I just figured i'd give you something just you know just you know.
Jessica Del Genio: You know, you can subtly get something in there don't do it overtly don't you know them for them to think that you're spending.
Jessica Del Genio: Their time doing something that they're never going to use just you know kind of bring it even take a picture whatnot but you also if it's save your independent contractor, or if you're trying to get into a company.
Jessica Del Genio: make them make yourself valuable, but then also adaptable I think that's a big thing to to learn to do you want them comfortable with you, they want them, you know, to really like you and to be like.
Jessica Del Genio: He gets it he'll do it for me really quickly, and you know what he's done is he's got his finger on what's going on, so just a little bit of subtlety.
got it.
Thank you.
Marshall Hamachi: looks like there is a question in the chat so a question from Casey what are some products and or companies that you are doing exciting things in cms at the moment and i'll add, probably in parentheses, that you can talk about.
Marshall Hamachi: Okay.
Jessica Del Genio: um.
Jessica Del Genio: I right now, I have a big sustainability prod product projects going on, and this is interesting right now is we're now entering a crisis with in the gas industry so.
Jessica Del Genio: How is this going to affect things it's just going to put things into a stall, or is this going to you know provide.
Jessica Del Genio: You know momentum, you know, to look at things like you know what I knew I was going to buy an electric car, you know, a couple years from now.
Jessica Del Genio: But maybe I should think about next year, maybe I should make that purpose, you know that purchase them and then, I have two kids and i've probably talked about them before, so I have two boys and they're 17 and 15.
Jessica Del Genio: One goes to a private school, so he deals with a more privileged set and one goes to public school, so he deals with a different mindset.
Jessica Del Genio: And I was talking to my younger son last night, and I was we were talking about you know what's going on in Ukraine and how much money i'm spending at the gas pump now and I said well dad and I were thinking we both we want to reveal, and so we have to wait a while for that.
Jessica Del Genio: So you know we're thinking about getting an electric car and and he's like.
Jessica Del Genio: I don't I don't like electric cars and i'm like why, because only rich people have them.
Jessica Del Genio: So it's pretty funny the views on some of this stuff that are going on and that are going to change, right now, and how people are going to be.
Jessica Del Genio: perceiving things because of this, you know gas prices, so it could bring sustainability along faster, but in some regards to could slow it down because we may not we may you know kind of either.
Jessica Del Genio: I can't work on this any further it's not conceivable right now, because gas prices are too high, sustained a bill materials are higher than.
Jessica Del Genio: Non sustainable non sustainable so where Am I at with this so kind of all of a sudden through everything on its head of what i'm doing so there's that and then i'm doing.
Jessica Del Genio: always a lot of color.
Jessica Del Genio: and doing right now.
Jessica Del Genio: it's the season, where all the tanneries start their color development and finished finishes so I provide them the jump off point for looking at the new finishes and also looking at color stories, so I think that's a lot of what i'm doing right now it's something else but anyway.
Marshall Hamachi: Great Thank you um.
Marshall Hamachi: let's see another question in here.
Marshall Hamachi: Okay, yes i'm Kimberly has a question historically cms designers are only in a few studios do you feel the cms profession is growing in a way that we will see more and more studios looking to hire a designer that is focused in cms.
Marshall Hamachi: And then now understand the benefit of a cms designer on the team.
Jessica Del Genio: it's kind of a tricky question, because when I started answer Kimberly we talked about this in previous times they weren't color and cms designers in.
Jessica Del Genio: In bigger brands now they have massive you know they have like 12 color designers they have you know 2020 material designers they have lots of people doing all of this stuff.
Jessica Del Genio: And then you have really small brands and they aspire to be doing what the bigger brands are doing so they are interested in getting bringing on and a lot of the times it's a consultant a consultant tms designer.
Jessica Del Genio: Some people say for someone you know that's doing hip.
Jessica Del Genio: trendy on point.
Jessica Del Genio: Smaller say a prebiotic out of Italy or golden goose some really off brands, but really cool stuff they might.
Jessica Del Genio: They might want to bring someone internal because they can see the benefit because they are dealing with that person.
Jessica Del Genio: You know, every day, that person that wants to interesting color wants to interesting material once it interesting vintage and they can see the benefit.
Jessica Del Genio: You know, on their bottom line they know they're getting more sales than you know they're a small brand than having their marketing team picking the colors they know that.
Jessica Del Genio: To succeed, they have to have that person so it's interesting, so I think as a cms designer, especially if you're young, you are going to the best place to start is to try to go after those.
Jessica Del Genio: companies that do have the materials and the color departments that's a great place to start, and as you get older to look to becoming a consultant, at a certain point you begin to age out of bigger brands so.
Jessica Del Genio: I tend to work as I get older more and more smaller companies that do see my immediate benefit that I bring in.
Marshall Hamachi: yeah.
Jessica Del Genio: That makes that answer that question yeah.
Marshall Hamachi: I think so awesome Okay, well, it looks like we're coming to the end of our time.
Marshall Hamachi: And I would just like to say on behalf of the students and faculty at art Center Thank you so much for your time and sharing your experiences and background.
Marshall Hamachi: And again, I it's going to be terrific to have the recording so that other students in fact of you who could not be here will be able to hear your stories.
Marshall Hamachi: So thank you so so very much.
Marshall Hamachi: And I hope this is the others that we can do with you.
Jessica Del Genio: Yes, it's fun it's definitely fun, I was like seeing new blood I learned so much that young designers don't even know how valuable they are to me.
Marshall Hamachi: For all students here, please take that to heart.
Jessica Del Genio: Okay, thanks.
Marshall Hamachi: Thank you so much.
Jessica Del Genio: Okay, have a great week everyone.
Marshall Hamachi: Okay, thanks you too JESSICA take care bye bye.
bye.
Marshall Hamachi: Oh yeah sure no problem.
Marshall Hamachi: There you go.
Adhi Pritish: Okay Thank you so much, my show.
Marshall Hamachi: you're very welcome I check it often so.
Marshall Hamachi: All right.
Marshall Hamachi: Take care, thank you.
Adhi Pritish: hope to see you soon.
Marshall Hamachi: All righty bye bye.