I’m the first to admire clever marketing but this garbage has to be called out for what it is…
Utter balderdash!
![](https://hub.kimbolsover.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/73435-seasons-400x400.jpg)
There are so many ‘systems’ of colour analysis being marketed out there – 12 seasons, 6 tones, 12 tones, 16 wotsits, 24 seasons, 48 doobie-dabs, 697 tones, 73,435 seasons…
Yes, I might have exaggerated – but only slightly!
I can see why you might be confused.
So let me make this easy to understand using the most fundamental example:
The 12 seasons are simply the 4 seasons (Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter)
with different tonal descriptors (Cool, Warm, Deep, Light, Bright, and Soft-muted):
- Cool Winter
- Deep Winter
- Bright Winter
- Cool Summer
- Light Summer
- Soft-muted Summer
- Warm Autumn
- Deep Autumn
- Soft-muted Autumn
- Warm Spring
- Light Spring
- Bright Spring
Some call this the 12 Seasons.
Some refer to this as the 12 Tones.
In the olden days, when I were a lass, this was known as the Expanded or Flow system.
It doesn’t matter what anyone calls it – they’re all the same thing.
It’s really funny how it’s only ever colour consultants and trainers who get their knickers in a twist about what to call the system they learn/teach/use/sell…
Your client couldn’t care less what YOU call it
All she wants to know is:
- what to wear
- what not to wear
- and how to look and feel absolutely fabulous on every occasion!
Stuff the system! Put the client first!
Seasonal and tonal are the same thing
And if this statement upsets you… Well, that’s just tough!
All my colour training covers seasonal AND tonal colour analysis because, at the end of the day, they’re the same thing.
Want to know why and how?
Read Why can’t a Summer season wear khaki? and Are seasonal and tonal the same thing?
For diagnosing tonal to seasonal, and seasonal to tonal
- Use the easy-to-follow tables starting on Page 13 in my Colour Analysis Training Manual
- which is included with all my professional-level colour analysis training courses
- Then use your colour analysis drapes to confirm your diagnosis AND to show your client what you have already ‘seen’
- Simples!
Drapes and swatches for whichever ‘system’ you’re using
Regardless of which colour analysis ‘system’ you’ve learned, if you’ve done your training elsewhere and they don’t provide access to drapes and swatch wallets so that you are having to create your own set of drapes, then this article might help get you started:
![](https://hub.kimbolsover.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/drapeFanSetB1001.jpg)
Feel free to come back to me with any questions. I’d love to help you.