ERIC KLINE — love good color

I met Eric Kline in a LOVE GOOD COLOR Workshop that was hosted by Karen John of Heartwork. Karen described the Adobe Interiors Team as an insightful group, and she knew they would love to expand their knowledge about color. Eric is the Director of Global Workplace Experience at Adobe. His nature is unassuming, but his questions and observations reveal his capacity. Eric is astute, generous, deeply supportive of others' growth and his curiosity is voracious. From one 4.5 hour workshop, we have forged a deep friendship and working relationship based on long philosophical conversations and our love for color. His leadership is built on encouragement for his designers to dig deeper and to be guided by empathy and intuition, all of which is Eric personified.

Laura Guido-Clark: WHEN I SAY THE WORD COLOR, WHAT DO YOU THINK OF?

Eric Kline: I think of an opportunity. I think of opportunities to impact experience, inclusion, and energy. All key things.

LGC: CAN YOU SHARE A SIGNIFICANT COLOR MEMORY OR YOUR FIRST COLOR MEMORY?

EK: I think it is the ocean. It was probably the first time I was overwhelmed by color and understanding how big that blue truly was. I felt peaceful. Being a little kid and having something so vast and powerful and yet peaceful was memorable. It also brings up early memories of my grandfather who lived down the beach on the Huntington Beach Pier. We took bike rides to the beach regularly when I was younger.

pier_ocean_eric kline_ love good color.png

LGC: HOW DO YOU USE COLOR FOR SELF-EXPRESSION?

EK: So often I use color for self-expression because most of my time is spent with designers who often wear black. A lot of how I dress is strategic. I will find things that have a color or pattern that enhances whatever it is that I will impact that day. If I have a day of deeper one-on-one conversations, I wear blue and green to create a feeling of calm or shared growth. If I have a presentation to a broader audience, more orange, or more brightness to help infuse energy. Very conscious decisions. My wife and I pick my shirt the night before, discussing what the next day is about. It includes shoes too. My wife is like an energy consultant and thinks of everything even my socks. Likewise, I collaborate with her too!

LGC: WHICH ONE OF YOUR SENSES, ASIDE FROM SIGHT, DO YOU MOST ASSOCIATE WITH COLOR?

EK: Hard for someone like me who designs physical spaces to not think about touch. But another big component for me is smell. I also oversee the culinary experience at Adobe. I need to design food stations with the right color to feel the right way to associate the culture of the food. I think nostalgia is a very personal component of how someone may react to a design. Color, then smell, closely followed by touch are all elements that build to powerful connections to an individual. I like designing using senses as a filter. For example, I like the way orange tastes, but it could be an orange or tangerine or it could be a carrot. The differentiation in taste is just as significant as smell and is also a huge tactile difference. If you can create a diverse way of connecting people to color, you can connect at a more visceral level, regardless of your background or preferences.

LGC: YOU USE THE WORD NOSTALGIA IN YOUR DESCRIPTIONS, WHAT DOES COLOR THROUGH THE LENS OF NOSTALGIA MEAN TO YOU?

EK: Color is memories, it is emotion, what we all bring to our lens. When you see something that looks like tomato soup you are always thinking of what it could be, your nose inhales, then the color multiplies the experience. Sometimes, people get these color assessments about what looks good on them and what doesn’t, or a friend or family member has created this bias for them. This bias (color memories connecting to affirmation) can greatly impact what we connect with. Take the nostalgia of the red/yellow of McDonald’s, some people may not use these colors together so not be confused as fast food. The way color creates emotional reactions doesn’t follow an easy logic. Everyone is different, individual memories are highly influential to how your brain may respond. Everyone has a different permeable state of their cells, some of us are thick- or thin-skinned when it comes to color, some of us also have scar tissue. Color can represent so many things and is incredibly powerful with respect to embracing local cultures. In India, for example, their appreciation of color is so different, then in Utah. Understanding how to assess these cultural nuances will help better connect locally and create more of a feeling of ownership.

LGC: HOW DOES COLOR HELP YOU EXPRESS GLOBAL SETTINGS?

EK: Color is the beginning of that expression. Thinking of ways to help people resonate and create connective tissue around the world, which is specifically important to that locale, city center, history, art, materiality, color or something specific that we can hold on to. When we think of what can translate globally, we need to begin thinking of something specific to the work you do, feeling of growth, community, calm? How do we approach those moments that transcend locale, then you think about where they spend time and how do we make them feel more included in the environment. We want to say that this space is for you, you are at Adobe but we are thinking of you specifically. In community spaces, we look for a good energy level, what feels good materially that may connect with the local landscape, and how do we bring people together with the right energy. Depending on the situation, we might also collaborate on a local artist installation that connects outside into the community but pushes forward our mission of Creativity for All. Other opportunities abound in the conference rooms, while it is about productivity and problem solving, how can we name or decorate, like home? How might the way that we include our employees in the naming of the rooms, or select local pieces to help create more connections provide a different level of pride? For example in London offices may prefer pop culture references like Sherlock Holmes or Harry Potter, whereas in Seattle they may prefer references to local bodies of water. These simple references allow insight into how we might design something that resonates with them, which is more familiar. Individual space is more appropriately local, so for example in India, the challenge was how many colors could we use? How can we organize them in a helpful logic? We ended up with 28 archetypes and an explosion of color. All the colors were represented and told a way-finding story that reduced cognitive load.

LGC: WHAT IS SOMETHING YOU SAW LATELY THAT WAS COLOR CAPTIVATING?

EK: I think of possibility, constantly looking at images provides inspiration. Nature, when I see things in nature I think of prisms.

LGC: WHO HAS HAD THE BIGGEST COLOR INFLUENCE ON YOU?

EK: I need to constantly be inspired, my sources of inspiration include people, museums, nature… it could be digital, old school. Every time I visit the MOMA, there are important things for me to see that help keep me inspired and full of ideas. When I need inspiration, I always look to people, how I see people reacting in space, constantly assessing or leaning towards spaces, a lot of ethnography, how do people and space interact with color. Nature is one of the best inspirations for me, biomimicry, things that are deeply rooted in time and change, places that inspire my brain. For example, glaciers, space, and forests are all things that are alive and constantly changing but powerful and humble. I am also intrigued by the absence of light, there is a show called Night on Earth, shoots the earth at night, the color and depth is so different and the absence of color-rich imagery to take things over. I’m inspired by the Color factory concept, Leah Rosenberg, Laura Guido-Clark. Film provides a lot of inspiration for me, I think of Her or Blade Runner 2049 and I think of food, but at my best, I am constantly inspired by people. The idea of being able to create magic in the synapses of others that help them connect with places or other people or even themselves. Increasing casual collisions, reducing cognitive load, creating a sense of belonging are all of the things that bring true joy to my work.

LGC: WHAT COLOR CHALLENGES DO YOU FACE?

EK: Fighting through bias about color can be difficult. Designing with unconscious bias. I ask people to not have a bias when they are reviewing design. If they bring anything to the table about color it should be inclusiveness, we should be asking, can we be more inclusive? Can decisions be timeless and purposeful? Purposeful or thoughtful design starts with human experience, if you don’t begin there, then you have a problem. We need to make sure we are designing for all. People are different and have different constraints, we should try and be taking as much of this information as we can so that we can accommodate with inclusive design.

LGC: DO YOU HAVE A PHILOSOPHY YOU WORK BY?

EK: Color is a critical design component to creating any kind of impact, as it has a direct connection to the emotional center of humans. If we are designing for humans, color can have a direct impact on how they are feeling, a mood they are in. How can we create environments that support people and their energy? If we can be purposeful about design with color, the impact is immense. I use color as a vehicle to think about not how it looks but how it feels. It is an emotional foundation. How color can create or support that foundation is a huge focus of how I approach design. We want to understand the intentions of what we are trying to do, be thoughtful and inclusive, and to really be effective, color is not optional.