CMF (Color, Materials, Finish) is an industrial design discipline that focuses on the chromatic, tactile, and decorative character of goods and settings

1. COLOUR,
MATERIAL, FINISH
(CMF)
DESIGN
PRINCIPLES
Source:
Strate Blog

3. WHAT IS CMF?
• CMF (Color, Materials, Finish) is an
industrial design discipline that focuses on
the chromatic, tactile, and decorative
character of goods and settings

4. • Whether a product is designed for consumers or industrial users, its appearance, feel, and behavior
will impact its functional and perceived value.
• Color, Material, and Finish (often abbreviated as CMF) are the three characteristics used to develop
products.

5. • CMF is about using a product’s aesthetics to elicit an emotional response, improving a user’s brand
experience. It is more than just a final production design.
• CMF inspires design from the start; it permeates every aspect of a project and is woven throughout the
whole development process.

6. COLOR
• Colour is probably the first thing that comes to mind when you think about a product.
• The Pantone Matching System and the RAL Color System are the most prevalent tools for achieving colour standards.
• The Pantone Matching System is popular among designers and engineers in the United States, but RAL is still widely
used in Europe.
• Manufacturers who work with international clients are likely to be familiar with both systems.

7. MATERIAL
• A product’s material specification significantly impacts its functionality and
its final cost.
• 3D printing is beneficial for manufacturing parts that feel like natural, final
production materials since photopolymer resins can be made to have a wide
range of mechanical qualities.

8. FINISH
• Industry standards, like color systems, have been evolved to assure consistency in
surface treatments.
• Surface finish standards are specific to manufacturing processes or classes of materials;
for example, a plastic part might use SPI (Society of Plastics Industry) standards,
whereas a metal part might use ASME (American Society of Mechanical Engineers) or ISO
(International Organization for Standardization) standards (International Standards
Organization).

9. DEFINING TEXTURE
• To improve ergonomics or cover visual defects from manufacturing, handling, or end-use, plastic
part designers frequently utilize textured finishes to simulate another substance (e.g., leather grain
textured interior panels for automobiles).
• Micro surface textures are also used by part designers to decrease glare and produce hydrophobic
material characteristics.
• Many firms offer their unique textures for plastic tooling, or an engineer might collaborate with a
tooling engraver to create new textures.

10. CMF design is a skin-deep mindset that has been carefully considered.
It’s neither a show nor a democracy.
It’s deeply embedded, from ideation alongside designers to trend research to storyboarding,
visualization, and hands-on customer interactions to Supplier Collaboration for Material
research, prototyping, and buck development.

11. •THANK YOU