About My Research

This site serves as a reflection of my graduate thesis work in automotive textile design at North Carolina State University.  I began this site in January 2009 and plan to maintain it until my graduation in December 2009.  I have been in the graduate program at the College of Textiles for 1 year of a 2 year program.  During this first year, I have focused on the automotive industry, design, and sustainability.  Now at the half-way point, I have selected my thesis topic and made plans as to how to approach my research so that my work is complete by October 2009.  In the right column of this blog, I have posted my personal timeline to ensure that I am meeting my deadlines.  Please take time to look through all the information included in the right hand column, especially if this is your first time visiting this site.

The purpose of this site is 3-fold.
1) Most scholars are only given 1 chance to write a thesis, and 2 years to learn how to do so.  Sure there are books on research methods and databases of theses to form a background or starting place for your work, but no one really explains to us exactly what this process is like from start to finish.
2) Over the past year, I have learned beyond my expectations about the automotive industry, past, current, and future.  Throughout my next year of study, I have access to resources that would be coveted by any designer in this industry and plan to uncover valuable correlations between design and success.  I will post many images and articles which I find the most enriching.
and 3) Writing my thoughts and progress where it is publicly available will encourage me to meet deadlines and provide a clear platform to keep my committee informed.

My Topic
I will be examining the history of automotive bodycloth development and aligning this with outside factors such as the economy, increase in mass production, increase in technical standards and regulations, the importance of fashion and color, along with what at this time is an unpredictable number of additional variables.  The ultimate question I aim to answer is if there is a concrete way to measure and predict success in order to save time, money, and resources.

6.27.2009

Color Marketing Group

Wednesday, after presenting to the College of Textiles S.T.E.P. students, I took off for Washington DC to visit Color Marketing Group.  I spent a half day on Thursday at their executive office in Alexandria searching through their archival color trend forecasts.  

Color Marketing Group is a nonprofit organization whose goals are to connect color experts from a variety of industries in order to develop current and forecasted color directions.  CMG members are Color Designers involved in the use of color as it applies to the profitable marketing of goods and services.  CMG provides a forum for the exchange of non-competitive information relating to all phases of color marketing: color trends and combinations; design influences; merchandising and sales; and education and industry contacts.

CMG's major focus is to identify the direction of color and design trends.  CMG members then interpret that information into salable colors for manufactured products across all industries.  CMG's primary forecasting opportunities are in the form of Conferences held twice annually, during which CMG members forecast Color Directions(R) for all industries, manufactured products or services.  These Consumer and Contract products include: Action/Recreation, Consumer Goods, Technology, Home, Visual Communications, Transportation, Juvenile Products, Fashion, and environments for Office, Health Care, Retail, Hospitality/Entertainment and Institutional/Public Spaces.  Major presentations, panels and Workshops are held at these Conferences to exchange information on color, marketing and design issues.

This information and more can be found on the CMG Website!

Thanks to my wonderful hosts!
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