Wunderman Thompson: Sherwin-Williams Coil Coatings’ Speaking in Colour

The human eye can detect over one million colours, and yet colour is more than what we see. Colour is informed by our unique experiences and means something different to everyone.

So how do you find that one colour that’s as unique as you are, that you and only you can see?

To answer this question, Wunderman Thompson designed Speaking in Colour – the first-ever AI voice-controlled tool that produces colours based on human inspiration. Users say a word or phrase and Speaking in Colour instantly analyses millions of images through a search algorithm and optical recognition to create a personalised colour palette.

For example, you can describe ‘crystal clear Caribbean ocean’, and fine-tune it to your custom colour palette by inputting ‘more turquoise’ or ‘dappled sun’ to find the hue that fits your vision.

The campaign is providing insights into the cultural and geographical influences of individual hues to create the largest data set of colour attribution in the world.