Bye, Bye Blue

Twenty years ago, you used to say to your customers, ‘You can choose whatever color you want as long as it’s white or blue.’ Stick around the industry long enough, and you’ll hear some variation of this.

Though there was a time where those were the only two colors available, most pools still seem to be blue or white. Are builders and customers stuck in a color rut?

Changing Consumer Needs

Feras Irikat, director of design and marketing at California-based Lunada Bay Tile, and a Genesis instructor, has a bachelor’s degree in interior design and master’s in family and consumer sciences from San Francisco State University. He also completed advanced graduate work and research in color theory and color psychology.

“There was a time where the design approach was basically templates and people followed those templates from color, to shape, style and even function,” Irikat says. “That was how design was carried out for many years, specifically in the pool industry. But we have seen that shift dramatically about 10 years ago.”

Irikat says design is now focused on the desires of the homeowner and their lifestyle — instead of essentially clip art dragged and dropped into a space as the designer saw fit. The home is now seen as a personal sanctuary.

“Our customers have developed their own style that they are very emotionally attached to,” Irikat says. “In the past, designers or the pool builders were fully in control. Now, the homeowner has an emotional investment: They want to be involved in the design process and the color selection process, and they’re very vocal about it.”

Design personalization stretched from the interior of the home to the exterior as open-concept design began to make its way outdoors.

“Instead of a French door or a sliding door, a lot of homes now are being built with fully sliding walls,” Irikat says. “So the whole interior becomes a part of the exterior. We have blurred the lines of our living space. And once you do that, the outdoor space becomes part of that daily usage.”

Since the backyard has become an everyday living space, people now expect the same customization and personal style expression outdoors as they do indoors. This has allowed the industry to push many of the design boundaries.

What Do They Actually Want?

Since you can no longer show up with a few magazine pictures and say, “Which one do you want?” pool professionals have to develop strategies to tap into the evasive desires of their clients. How do you get the foggy images of their dreams out of the ether and into their backyard?

Irikat says a successful pool design will blend the architecture of the home, the style of the customer and the function of the pool.

“Understand what architecture style you’re working with,” Irikat says. “You want to carry some of the aesthetic or some of the essential elements from the existing home to make that connection, to make that bridge happen.”

There are a few ways Irikat tries to hone in on the customer’s style. “I call that the programming session,” he says. You start with looking at the interior of their home for clues. Irikat asks people to show him pictures of art they love as well, which he says helps him understand their aesthetic direction. “They like contemporary, they like impressionist, they like traditional,” he says. Not really up on your Matisse? That’s fine. “I [get] a sense of color combinations they like. Ultimately, this is their home. It’s not about the trends; this is about making sure their heart is connected with their environment.”

But come back to function: What is the customer’s purpose for this space? How will they ultimately use their pool and how often? Design and color choices should point to this.

The Function of Color

It’s easy to see color simply as an aesthetic element of the design, but Irikat says that is a mistake. For example, “[Red] might not serve the relaxation this consumer is looking for,” he says. “Now if it’s a rich bachelor who is all about the party lifestyle outside, a Ferrari-red pool would be the perfect installation for them because that’s the kind of excitement they want to create in their own living space. But it wouldn’t be the palette for someone with a crazy job for whom home is their escape.”

Irikat understands that the color red acts as a stimulant, and that it wouldn’t be the right color to surround yourself with if you wanted to relax. He doesn’t expect pool builders to become pros in physiological human responses to various colors, but he encourages a quick Google to learn the basics. “It could come in very handy when you are talking to a client, trying to persuade them of the function of color, not just the aesthetic of color,” he says.

Bring Out the Color Wheel

When form and function come together seamlessly, the effect is dramatic. The biggest mistake Irikat says he sees the pool industry make is simply going back to the color comfort zone.

“You think water, you think ocean, you think blue,” he says. “But believe it or not, blue is not part of many of the visibly outstanding jobs we’re seeing today. Instead, the builder followed the aesthetics of the environment, the house and the client.”

Avoid color errors with a mock-up. “Color is only seen and judged in relationship to other colors, period,” Irikat says. “This is a very important rule.” To determine how a color will be viewed in the outdoor environment, bring it into that environment — along with everything else that will be there.

A proper mock-up will include a square foot or more of the material, set. So not just a handful of tiles sitting on the ground, but an external board with everything from the tile, coping and decking.

“I’ve seen mock-ups as big as 2-by-3-foot boards that people brought with tile,” Irikat says. “Then you see how that actually interacts with the environment.” He had one builder create a box that he tiled, with the coping. He’s also submerged the products in water on-site so you can see the effect.

“Your clients see the effort,” Irikat says. “You have brought their loyalty in and connected them on an emotional level, which is what you want.”

More to Come

Maybe your specialty isn’t tile, you install vinyl or fiberglass pools. You’re not off the hook. There are all kinds of color options in these mediums as well, but Irikat says many don’t realize they exist.

“The No. 1 thing that would help this industry and individual businesses is to keep an open mind about the possibilities,” Irikat says. “Design has evolved so much when it comes to materials. But they are unfortunately not explored.”

Blue is what’s known. It’s what’s comfortable; it’s what’s expected. But it’s not always the right option. For those who want to expand their knowledge of color, there are many places to look from industry education like Genesis, to books and college courses.

“A lot of the stale aesthetics happen,” Irikat says, “because either the consumer or pool builder didn’t understand the education that goes along with this.”