sherwin williams

Wadden began her career as a color expert at Sherwin-Williams in 1998, as an interior designer and color marketing specialist.  Today, as director of color marketing, Wadden is the face and voice of color for Sherwin-Williams, responsible for the company’s overall vision and philosophy of color leadership. 

With over 20 years of color marketing experience, Sue is an expert in color development, palette strategy, consumer, specifier and commercial color insights, color styling and trend forecasting.  Wadden serves as editorial advisor to 

STIR® magazine for design professionals and takes an active role in interfacing with consumer and trade media on topics surrounding color.

JOIN SUE WADDEN AND CRAIG BUNDREN AS THEY DISCUSS:

00:46 - The role of Director of Color Marketing - responsible for strategy of color for Sherwin Williams

01:31 - Getting to name colors 

01:51 - No, it’s not like naming nail polish colors 

02:05 - The color names are permanent 

03:00 - There are 30,000 colors in the database and they each have to be unique 

04:40 - Getting an internship at Sherwin Williams 

06:32 - People don’t realize how many paint brands Sherwin Williams is responsible for 

07:37 - How do all the different people look at color? The paradox of choice 

09:20 - As a paint contractor you’re an applyer of color, the client chooses 

11:26 - They don’t want people to be angry they can’t find the right color 

12:45 - Sending free color chips directly to the consumer 

12:53 - We keep learning, but we’re not sure where it’s going to go 

14:28 - 157 Shades of white paint 

17:40 - Sue uses her own house as a canvas to test out the colors 

19:06 - Sue sees complexity in color - a combination of thousands of pigments 

22:00 - Sponge painting and crazy color combinations of the 90s

23:00 - Craig’s dad’s office was Hunter Green 

23:30 - The one thing you can count on in design is that you’re going to see it again 

25:24 - The importance of grey and white 

26:24 - We’re seeing more color come in 

29:29 - Commercial and residential are on the same color cycle 

30:30 - The colors are based on a ton of research 

31:50 - Being held accountable to metrics and tracking 

32:48 - The greatest influence on the direction of color

34:30 - Moving toward comfort colors 

36:00 - Technology has an impact on our color choices because of the blue light from the screens

42:00 - Some colors range from popularity of 5 to 10 years

44:10 - People are starting to have a deeper emotional connection to color 

46:15 - Relying on fan favorites but still try to keep it fresh 

CONNECT WITH SUE WADDEN:

SHERWINWILLIAMS.COM

SWCOLORFORECAST.COM

SUBSCRIBE TO THE CHROMATIC PODCAST:

iTunes

Spotify

LEARN MORE ABOUT CRAIG BUNDREN AND THE CRAIG BUNDREN ART FOUNDATION:

Chromatic Podcast Site: www.Bundren.fm

Chroma Magazine: www.ChromaMag.com

Bundren Building Arts Foundation: www.Bundren.org

Bundren Painting: www.Bundren.com

Host: www.CraigBundren.com

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Lead based paint was banned for residential use more than 40 years ago, but those who live in older homes could still be paying the price.

But the impact doesn’t stop there. 

We learned this week that three paint manufacturers are still not off the hook, as they’ve finally settled a decades-long lawsuit with the state of California, after being accused of marketing the paint despite knowing of its toxic dangers.

According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, lead that is absorbed into the body can cause a range of physical problems, including damage to the brain and vital organs, along with developmental or learning disabilities in children.

10 jurisdictions participated in the lawsuit, including heavily populated Los Angeles and San Francisco counties, and they hoped to make Sherwin Williams, Conagra and NL Industries responsible for remediation of the lead paint that remained in the older homes in those areas. The plaintiffs pushed for a much larger settlement – one that could cover hundreds of thousands of homes – but will, instead, settle for $305 million to be paid out over four years.

According to Reuters, “the settlement represents a rare success for plaintiffs suing paint companies under the so-called public nuisance doctrine, which allows public entities to sue parties whose activities negatively impact broad communities by infringing upon a public right.” Since these types of public nuisance claims against paint companies have failed in other states, California is viewing it as win.

For their part, Sherwin Williams, Conagra and NL admit no wrongdoing, and contend that they ceased marketing the lead-based paints once the dangers were made clear.

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