Clementburga emailed me, “Dear Kim, Does your colour analysis system follow the Colour Me Beautiful technique or is it something that you have devised.”
Dear Clementburga,
I teach both seasonal and tonal, as the two are mutually inclusive.
Seasonal and tonal are not different. They’re the same thing, and it doesn’t matter whether you start with tonal or start with seasonal, you will always end up knowing both when you use my simple method of analysing colour.
With my training, you can then choose to work:
- with the seasons only – Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter
- using the tones only – Cool, Warm, Bright, Soft-muted, Deep, and Light
- or combine them together, e.g. Cool Winter, Bright Spring, Light Summer, Deep Autumn, and all the other permutations
and your decision will be based on your dominant learning style, what resonates with you personally, and what your ideal clients want.
For instance, my dominant learning style is auditory so the tonal system makes more logical sense to me. However, that system didn’t exist when I first learned colour analysis 40+ years ago, so I had to fathom out how to understand the only system available – the 4 seasons – which works much better for visual learners.
Even when the tonal system became available, it was obvious that most women are visual learners and, as most of my clients are women, even though I might personally prefer the tonal approach, THEY prefer a seasonal analysis.
Women want to tell their friends which season they are
… because everyone across the globe instantly understands the concept of the 4 seasons.
Not everyone ‘gets’ the 6 tones.
You have to remember that we image consultants use these terms on a daily basis but those outside the colour industry don’t! They’ve probably never even heard of them before you introduce the subject!
A client may need a short discussion to explain her Cool or Warm or Light or Deep analysis to her friends.
The big problem comes when you try to explain Bright and Muted!
- If you tell a friend that you’re Bright, she might think you’re bragging about the size of your brain
- Most people do not immediately associate the word ‘bright’ with colour…
- If you live in the North of England and tell your friend that you’re Soft, she’ll probably think you’ve lost your marbles because she may interpret the word ‘soft’ as meaning weak, daft, foolish, etc.
- Living in the North of England myself, this is why I choose to use Soft-muted for this tonal description instead of just Soft or Muted
The tonal words on their own often fail without the poor client having to explain in detail to her mystified friends.
But when a client tells her friends that she is one of the seasons, they immediately ‘get’ it because they can relate those four words to the 4 physical seasons that they have personally experienced every year they’ve been on the planet.
And if you and your client find value in the tones as well, then you can add one of the 6 tones as a descriptor in front of the season, e.g., Cool Winter, Bright Winter, Deep Winter, etc.
So, when I was creating my training courses, I made sure ALL learning styles were included, and how to work with the 4 seasons, the 6 tones, and every combination available.
Learning colour analysis this way means, of course, that you can’t simply follow a script.
You are going to have to use your little grey cells and deliver the final analysis in a way that each individual client needs, so you have to take time time to understand:
- who she is (i.e., her personality)
- what she wants and/or who she would prefer to be
- and how she needs that explaining (i.e., her learning style)
Most of the big image companies stick pretty much to a script, as it’s much easier to teach. They focus on draping as THE method of diagnosis, because it’s easier to teach one method, especially with a script.
To answer your question, Clementburga, “No, I don’t follow or teach any one specific technique at all!”
What I have devised over the years is how to:
- do colour analysis quickly
- use hair and eye colour only
- diagnose with the drapes
- diagnose without the drapes, in the back of your head
- use 20+ other methods to colour analyse including skin texture, hair texture, personality type
- always focus on the client and NOT the chuffing process
In a 1-1 consultation, if I’m spending more than 20 – 30 minutes draping my client, I am wasting valuable time because the consultation:
- should never be about the dratted drapes
- should be about presenting the analysis in a way so that the client easily understands, has a fun experience, and learns more about who she really is (or could be!)
- should definitely be about what the client is going to do with the results/information/advice that the draping session (and any other method) produces
In fact, my mantra is,
Stuff the system. Put the client first
So if the Brightest Spring on the planet walks in and she wants to wear Soft-muted Summer colours today, I need to get out of the way and show her how to look fabulous right now, where she is, wearing Soft-muted Summer colours that make her feel safe and comfortable right now.
After all, this lovely lady WILL be coming back to me for more so we can discuss later how she could move into wearing Bright Spring colours – but only when she’s good and ready.
And you can’t do that with a chuffing script!
