The present paper analyses the properties of decorative, protective multi-component coatings on the basis of TI-Al-N, which are obtained by vacuum ion-plasma sputtering. A series of experiments have been carried out aimed at obtaining single-layer coatings according to a certain pattern of sputtering modes in argon and nitrogen environment. The obtained coatings exhibit a wide variety of colours. Different properties of the created coatings including spectral characteristics, reflection coefficient at different angles of incidence of light as well as the chemical composition have been investigated. The energy-dispersive microroentgen-spectral analysis revealed the dependence of coatings reflection coefficient and spectral characteristics upon their chemical composition. The results of the research can be used in practice for manufacturing and repair of vehicles, sea-going vesels in particular.