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Creating
Harmonious Color schemes:
Residential and Commercial spaces alike, including
industrial, educational and medical environments
often are designed with a color scheme that that is
calm, comfortable, and harmonious. They are often
inspired by nature, that is to say, posses a gently
harmonious, natural and generally
neutral color palette. Look to nature for prime
examples, walking on the beach one can pick up
stones randomly. Carefully matching these colors to
a paint color chart, one is often left with sand
tones, light grays, beige and umbers. Pale greens,
reds and blues may be introduced, adding variety,
but the overall tone (chromatic value) of the
colors tend to remain consistent.
Picture a 10 step black and white color chart.
Black is on one end while white sits at the
opposite. 8 colors gradate from black to white,
creating a variety of light to dark grey tones.
Each tone represents a chromatic value, or color
tone. When comparing colors to the tonal chart, dark
red will have a tone corresponding to a dark grey,
while pale beige is equivalent to a light grey.
Choosing colors that have the same chromatic value
(staying within one or two ‘grey’ tones on the tonal
chart) will work harmoniously together, creating a
consistent color value throughout an environment,
even if you choose different colors to work with.
Let's return to the sandy beach where you may find a
variety of different colors when examining the
stones, pebbles and sand independently, but from a
distance, all the tones have approximately the same
color value (or tone). This harmonious color
approach works well in commercial and residential
environments, allowing a variety of colors to act
independently, but, viewed as a whole, impress a
consistent and harmonious approach to our
understanding of color, space and personal or
corporate identity.
Neutral
Colors Schemes – Plain and simple:
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Neutral colors primarily consist of a selection
grays, beiges, tans, creams and taupe. These colors
generally work with most other colors making them
excellent choices as background colors for walls and
ceilings. In this manner, more vibrant color choices
can be executed in the interior in the form of
fabrics, draperies and curtains, rugs and carpets,
objects, furniture and accessories like
throw-pillows, lamp shades and pictures or
paintings. |
Color
Effects on emotions mood and desires:
Color plays an integral role in defining our
perceptions, whether it is of us, our environment or
our perceived notions about space and design.
RED
Red is a warm color, exciting our perceptions and
warming our desires. Red is often associated with
hunger, anger, passion and vitality. This color is
particularly well suited for environments that serve
food, be it a restaurant, corporate dining facility
or domestic dining room. Often red can invoke
excitability so it is not typically well suited for
medical or educational environments. Red is a bold,
dominant color, overshadowing most other color tones
by its intensity, therefore, when considering red as
a part of your color palette, be creative. A room
all painted in red can be dark and very atmospheric,
even moody.
While this might be perfect for your intimate
dining room at home, of perfect for the hip new club
you are opening, a corporate dining place, with its
larger dining area, will most likely be oppressive
in all red. Consider painting one wall only in a
red, with the remaining walls white or off white. This will add a
lively, colorful and festive feel; generate interest
as a visual space, while staying approachable and
palatable. Consider further that this one wall is
where you, as the color consultant or designer, will
want the primary focus to be in the space. The food
service area, the corporate communications or
messaging area, etc.
BLUE
Blue is generally a calming color. Though an
intense, rich cobalt blue may be stimulating and
vibrant, the energy created is still one of calm,
happiness and comfort. Pale blues remind us of the
ocean and sky, expansive colors and relaxing. When
you think of your beach holiday, umbrella drinks
aside, blue sky, warm sun and clear waters often
jump to mind. The image alone is calming. Blue is
also a fresh, crisp color and is considered a ‘cool’
tone (just as red is a ‘warm’ tone). Variations of
blue values work well in institutions like
educational and medical environments, as well as
corporate spaces. Citibank uses a middle value blue
tone in its logo and hence, associates that blue
with its corporate identity. Viewing the logo and
its associated blue color implies strength, security
and calmness and is a very effect marketing tool of
that corporate entity. When using neutral blues
(blues that are almost grey in tone) one can utilize
the advantages of integrating color under the
Neutral Color Schemes approach mentioned previously.
YELLOW
Yellow is a warm, vibrant and clear color. In its
pure form it is intense, hot and generally
unpractical in use as an interior color tone. Though
this is not always the case, as can be seen in many
interior environments from Mexico to Provence to
Africa. Yellow can work extremely well when muted
with white to a paler tone like butter or cream. In
these instances yellow becomes a very useful
interior design element in both commercial and
residential environments.
A warmer yellow will be lively and can add
interest and vitality to a space, white a softer
yellow can inspire feelings of sun drenched walls,
antique linen and cool spring mornings.
GREEN
Green, a combination of blue and yellow in its
purest form, offers many characteristics of both
blue and yellow. Green can be vibrant, crisp and
lively as well as muted, soft and calming. Examples
of this are; Hunter Green, Grass Green for strong
colors (often found in northern crafts of
Scandinavia, and North America); Lime Green and
Kelly Green are vibrant and lively (found among warm
and island cultures like the Caribbean, Mexico and
regions in Asia); and Celadon Green and Sage Green,
calming and neutral colors evoking images of Italy’s
Venice, and the earthy palette of the Arts & Crafts
movement.
Earth Tones – Browns, Umbers,
Sienna’s and terracotta’s
Earth tones are just that, colors we see in
nature like browns, umbers, terracotta and brick
tones. These colors tend to be harmonious, rich in
color and depth and impart a feeling of solidity and
permanence. Used well, earth tones complement most
other color tonalities (except perhaps the vibrant,
pure primary colors of Red, Blue and Yellow – suited
more for open, uncluttered contemporary spaces). We
see earth tones all around us, wood flooring,
natural stone and tile surfaces, fabrics and wovens
such a sisal and Hessian grass cloths. Integrating
earth tones into your environment allow the viewer a
sense of approachability and connection. These tones
are part of our everyday existence, they are
familiar and comforting. In addition, incorporating
earth tones into your environment by using materials
other than paint (like stone, plasters, natural
fabrics, etc) not only introduces new color schemes,
but integrates alternate elements into your living
or working space. Diversity, however harmonious,
adds interest and uniqueness to any environment.
From the most minimalist contemporary interior to a
sumptuous, over stuffed and darken Victorian
setting, blending of materials from wood, fabric,
stone, metal and glass, results in a myriad of
solutions that create unique, impressionable
interior spaces.
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