Channelling over two decades of experience in deciphering the colour, material and design industry, India’s leading paint company Asian Paints (and Asia’s second largest), through its initiative ColourNext, arrived at its 22nd edition of Colour and Material Intelligence forecast for this year. The company recently announced the design trends at the now-concluded India Design ID 2025, held from February 20 - 23 in New Delhi. Cardinal (8206) emerged as the Colour of the Year while Spring Tune was unveiled as the Wallpaper of the Year for 2025. Reflecting and capturing the “cultural and social pulse of the times,” the AP design forecasts Bad Taste?, Feel More, India Everywhere and Salt explore originality, rediscovery and self-expression.

"Since 2003, Asian Paints' ColourNext has set the benchmark for colour forecasting, driven by extensive research and collaboration with leading institutions and industry experts. Through competitions, interviews and workshops, ColourNext gathers insights that are both highly anticipated and industry-defining. Recognised as the subcontinent’s foremost authority on colour and material intelligence, ColourNext is grounded in rigorous research methodologies and colour psychology principles. Its insights are shaped by professionals across architecture, art, interior design, fashion, sociology, media and FMCG. Year after year, ColourNext continues to expand its impact, shaping the future of colour and design with unmatched depth and precision,” states the official press statement.

With Cardinal, ColourNext acknowledges the need to be grounded, humane and authentic. Drawing on one's longing for deeper, meaningful connections with oneself, one’s emotions and surroundings, Cardinal embodies the past, present and future by evoking nostalgia, encouraging mindfulness and challenging one to experiment boldly. It dares one to embrace and sit with one’s feelings and find beauty in the unfiltered, unapologetic self. The dusky mauve shade is a pensive, powerful statement that imbues richness, introspection and a mystical character to interior designs and a multitude of design disciplines including fashion.

"Cardinal urges us to embrace the spectrum of our feelings—from joy and vitality to stillness and contemplation. It is a reminder to feel everything without judgment, to sit with our emotions and to find beauty in raw, unfiltered authenticity,” shares Asian Paints.

The 2025 Wallpaper of the Year, Spring Tune, is reminiscent of a traditional Indian courtyard design, featuring delicate floral motifs emerging from bottles of attar (plant-based fragrant oil or perfume). Through a quiet elegance, stillness and serenity, it evokes the charm of a beautiful, lively cottage frozen in time. As Asian Paints puts it, “A celebration of unhurried elegance, Spring Tune transforms spaces into peaceful sanctuaries where design and nostalgia blend in perfect harmony.”

The Feel More forecast explores everyday experiences, lifestyle and social connections that do not fall under the norms of increasing ‘algorithmic-sameness’. It encourages embracing a range of powerful emotions, from joyfully breathtaking to offensive and triggering, through ‘visceral, tactile and immersive designs’. Showcasing an ‘individualistic absurdity’, the built environments convey the beauty of crafting an identity with all parts of one’s life, the grey and the colourful. “In 2025, we’re getting increasingly comfortable with acknowledging big feelings and dealing with them. This manifests as a courageous exploration of experiences, lifestyles and even family situations that don’t meet the norm. We’re not hiding the grey parts of our life but making it a part of our visible and invisible identity—with complex layers and colourful details,” explains Asian Paints.

Highlighting the potential of salt as an abundant, omnipresent and multipurpose natural resource, the Salt story addresses sustainability and explores the possibilities of the future of sustainable design. “With its crystalline beauty and delicate strength, salt carries a story forged over millennia. At a time when global sustainability goals are driving a shift towards abundant natural resources, salt emerges as an emblem of possibility, proving that the simplest materials can inspire awe and wonder,” as the Mumbai-based multinational company notes. The versatile mineral, being looked at as the ‘biomaterials of the future,' influences several industries with its antibacterial properties, carbon neutrality and ability to diffuse light. Depicting the shimmer of white salt crystals and the vibrant blue hues of the Iranian salt, the Salt forecast showcases the beauty of salt beyond its conventional usage.

India Everywhere presents a global design language for the country, informed by its cultural multitudes, reinterpreting the nation’s rich heritage with the clarity of contemporary design. Sophisticated environmental compositions come alive through a juxtaposition of refined colour palettes and high-contrast materials. Thoughtfully weaving tradition and modernity, the trend presents a new yet familiar environment that resonates with India’s booming design culture. “Once boxed into narratives of craft, exoticism and mass-manufacturing, India now presents itself with a global design language, where heritage is reimagined, not over-explained. As creative and design education flourishes, production and innovation accelerate, Indian genius is being celebrated globally,” Asian Paints comment.

“Luxury no longer whispers; it roars,” believes Asian Paints. “The aesthetic once dismissed as ‘bad taste’ has risen as a bold rebellion against the restrained elegance of traditional old money luxury. This movement celebrates flamboyance, audacity and unapologetic self-expression, rejecting muted palettes and understated designs that have long been hallmarks of the elite. Instead, it embraces a visual language dripping with glitz, glamour and deliberate excess — a joyous ode to the unapologetically nouveau riche,” they continue.

The Bad Taste? story hence, is an act of rebellion. Instead of neutrals and muted tones, it speaks with vivid colour gradients and bold materials and forms, attempting to redefine the concept of luxury designs. Over-the-top glitz and glamour take over, accentuated by animal prints and gold accents that defy the makings of ‘good taste’, bringing to mind the camp aesthetic of Indian art patron Shalini Passi or the unapologetic, exaggerated one of Indian actor Ranveer Singh. Hinting towards bringing a change in the traditional power structures in society, Bad Taste? embraces and thrives on criticism with a strong sense of individuality.

Speaking about ColourNext 2025, Amit Syngle, managing director and CEO of Asian Paints Ltd., commented, "For over two decades, ColourNext has been a pioneer in decoding India’s evolving design landscape, providing a definitive direction for colour and material innovations through rigorous research and analysis. The ColourNext forecast is a reflection of the cultural, emotional and aesthetic shifts shaping our world. The Colour of the Year, Cardinal, along with the four design directions for 2025, encapsulate these transformations, providing designers and creators with a spark of inspiration. At Asian Paints, we remain committed to leading industry conversations and pushing the boundaries of design, ensuring that colour not only enhances spaces but also shapes experiences, inspires innovation and influences creative expression.”