Creative CMF Designer
Shelby Trueax works for Boa Technology as the Color, Material and Finish (CMF) Designer. Boa provides fit solutions for snowboard boots, cycling shoes, helmets, and medical devices, among many other things.
I have been working at Boa for almost 5 years, and during that time, I have been involved in all things color. I’ve worked on a large range of color-related projects, from the more technical aspect of color (injection molding, pigmented plastics, color manufacturing processes, color quality control, etc.), to creative color design. I am the person who makes sure Boa has a comprehensive, up-to-date color palette that is both achievable from a production standpoint and appealing to our customers for their design needs. I was recently tasked with determining a seasonal color palette that will apply to our wide variety of customers, and Color Marketing Group® has given me the connections, inspiration, and motivation to understand how to best execute this.
“It’s so important for me to be able to connect with other CMG members because color is such a unique industry!”
— Shelby Trueax
Shelby Trueax, Boa Technology, CMF Designer
Growing in Color
I hope to gain more knowledge about how other companies and people work through the challenges that color presents for everyone. I also hope to understand the color trend world – in all its mystery – and how to successfully and consistently predict color trends.
Achieving Color Solutions
The exchange of information that CMG provides is extremely useful for my work. I have learned so much from my new connections at CMG in an astonishingly short amount of time. I’ve only been a CMG member for a year, but I already feel like I have a vast network of people who can help me solve technical problems and get through creative challenges.
“It’s my goal to show people that color is an incredible value add to every project, rather than a nuisance or an added complexity, and CMG has so far helped make that goal more achievable.”
— Shelby Trueax
The Power of a Color Palette
Boa recently went through a huge change in the way we offer color. We used to offer just about any color under the sun as a custom option for our products, but as we’ve grown, we now understand how burdensome and complicated that can be. So, I was tasked with establishing a color palette that our customers can choose from for all of our products. All of the 221 colors had to be “right”, otherwise our customers would not be able to find colors on our palette that integrated well into their products. The color palette has made a difference for our company and our customers, and although we don’t offer as much variety as we did in the past, I believe that we now offer the right variety that suits both our business processes and our customers’ product designs.
“I have way more Pantone numbers memorized than I would like to admit.
It seems I’ve become a full-blown color nerd over the past 5 years.”
— Shelby Trueax
