PITTSBURGH, April 1, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- PPG PITTSBURGH® Paints today set the GUINNESS WORLD RECORD for the Largest Paint Swatch. Measuring 68 square feet or 24 times larger than a typical swatch, it was unveiled in Two PPG Place in downtown Pittsburgh. An official GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS™ Adjudicator presented the company with a certificate to declare the swatch as the largest in the world. The event kicks off a month-long effort by THE VOICE OF COLOR® program to draw consumers' attention to the power that a fresh coat of paint can add to a home, and the many tools available to homeowners that simplify the process for choosing the right color.

(Photo:  http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110401/NE75974 )

"As homeowners begin their spring renovation and redecorating projects, they are often overwhelmed by the thousands of color choices that are available," said Dee Schlotter, national color brand manager, PPG Pittsburgh Paints. "The record setting swatch is a symbol of the many tools that our program offers homeowners to make it easier to choose the perfect color. Our online color materials and paint color samples provide homeowners with tools to simplify color choice for home renovations."

The first to attempt this record, PPG Pittsburgh Paints found through their research that homeowners often have difficulties visualizing what the color present on a paint swatch would look like when applied to the walls of their room. The solution was to create a large swatch allowing homeowners to conceptualize new wall colors.

The Voice of Color is the color platform for PPG Pittsburgh Paints, developed on the premise that every color has an emotional association, provides elements that help homeowners visualize and choose colors. Hands-on tools offered through the program include large-sized color swatches measuring 8.5" x 12", unique decorating color chips and wet paint samples.  

The program's Color Sense Game™, available for free at www.voiceofcolor.com, helps homeowners narrow down the process of choosing a color to a personal, meaningful collection of colors based on the user's responses.  The color program then provides unique five-color combinations that offer color opportunities for walls, trim, accent areas and home decor (furniture, pillows, window treatments, flooring). It provides homeowners with a starting point for designing around a personality and style, based on users' five senses and interests.

The Voice of Color program also provides exclusive color families and color palettes, such as Hacienda Style, a timeless palette capturing the rustic elegance of Mexico's traditional haciendas; Atmospheric, a collection of 100 complex neutrals; and Fallingwater® inspired colors. Every year The Voice of Color produces color trend forecasts and four new palettes setting the stage for color in the year ahead. This year bold, bodacious color is back with the "Wow Color Now" palettes for 2011-2012.

PPG Color Leadership

PPG employs more than 20 color stylists around the world, each specializing in different markets, who collaborate to determine styles and color trends for the home, electronics, and automobiles. PPG's unique position as a color leader in multiple markets allows it to observe and translate emerging global color trends for its customers' applications -- from consumer goods to automotive color, from residential to commercial to industrial design.

About The Voice of Color

PPG Pittsburgh Paints and PPG PORTER® Paints developed The Voice of Color program on the premise that every color has an emotional association and that individuals are drawn to different colors for reasons inherently tied to their personalities. With more than 2,000 colors in all, the program provides signature five-color decorating color chips to assist homeowners in choosing colors for all the decor elements in their spaces. The Voice of Color program is an integrated, comprehensive design system that offers tools and materials to redefine the world of color. Through an engaging online experience, homeowners can identify their color personalities and find the colors that best suit their styles and senses. Among the elements of The Voice of Color program are the Color Sense Game tool, yearly color trend reports, exclusive color families and color palettes such as Hacienda Style and FALLINGWATER® inspired colors, unique decorating color chips, a wet paint sample program, and website at www.voiceofcolor.com.

About PPG

PPG Industries' vision is to continue to be the world's leading coatings and specialty products company. Founded in 1883, the company serves customers in industrial, transportation, consumer products, and construction markets and aftermarkets. With headquarters in Pittsburgh, PPG operates in more than 60 countries around the globe. Sales in 2010 were $13.4 billion. PPG shares are traded on the New York Stock Exchange (symbol: PPG). For more information, visit www.ppg.com.

Color Sense Game is a trademark, and Pittsburgh, Porter and The Voice of Color are registered trademarks of PPG Architectural Finishes, Inc.

Fallingwater is a registered trademark of The Western Pennsylvania Conservancy.

The featured record has been supplied courtesy of Guinness World Records Unlimited.

SOURCE PPG PITTSBURGH Paints