RAL Colour Feeling 2028+ — READ + RESPOND
RAL has presented the new RAL COLOUR FEELING 2028+ trend report under the motto READ + RESPOND. RAL describes the edition as a mediator between colour and place: between global colour tendencies and design that answers to its context.
That motto is a working method. "Read" stands for reading a situation — taking in place, material, light and context attentively, and looking for threads already there. "Respond" is the answer to what has been read: not overwriting what exists, but building on it, honouring its traces and continuing them. RAL ties this explicitly to the rise of artificial intelligence: now that machines handle the legwork with ease, the question is what the human core of design work actually is.
The palette follows the principle of continuity: five colours carry over from the previous edition, ten are new. Pinkish brown, antique pink, pepper white, light teal and kiwi sorbet green therefore stay. That is a deliberate choice — it keeps a palette usable beyond a single season, makes combining easier and extends the half-life of a colour decision.
The fifteen colours are arranged along five design directions distilled from the research: situated, relational, cooperative, deliberate and resonant. The report also links colour profiles to atmospheres — from functional and readable to lively and experimental.
All colours come from the RAL Design System plus. Every colour therefore has an exact, reproducible code, and a palette can always be extended with that system’s 1,825 nuances. That makes the report usable as a specification tool and not only as a source of inspiration.
The report comes with the RAL Trendbox 2028+, holding 75 material samples: fifteen RAL D6 colour sheets, and fifteen samples each in powder-coated metal, plastic, carpet and textile. In the interplay of those materials it becomes clear how differently the same colour turns out on each surface. The box was made with Covestro, Gabriel Fabrics, Object Carpet, Tiger Coatings and the German Design Council. Anyone who only needs the colours can choose the trend colour set in A4 or A6.
