Published: January 4, 2016
by Erin Nolan
Over the past few years, we’ve had the pleasure of designing client office and retail spaces. It is a great process which flows from interview to planning to final installation. After speaking with the client, we have an idea of what direction they want to go. Have you ever had an idea of how you would like your environment decorated but didn’t have a clue how to make that idea a finished product?
We’ll let you in on a little secret: There isn’t something magical about designers or artists. Yes, some work more intuitively than others, but the ground work, the structure – however hidden – is the same: a strong art composition.
Working with Color
Color has been scientifically shown to affect our mood and emotion, so how we decide to decorate our spaces tells others a great deal about us.
Before we’re able to dive in to talking about color choices, we have to define some terms. Hues are the purest and brightest colors, like those on a color wheel: red, violet, blue, green, yellow, and orange. Tints are hues to which white has been added, making the original color lighter. Shades are hues which have black added to them. Tones are created by adding gray to a hue.
Color Ratio
Traditionally, when designing an interior there is a dominant hue. This helps to make the entire room cohesive. It is the knot that ties everything together. Sixty percent of the room should be this color. Normally the walls are this color, and it becomes the neutral backdrop for the rest of the room. A secondary color is used for the trim. It will be thirty percent of the color scheme. The final ten percent will be the accent color. An accent will create focal points. Your eye will gently go from focal point to focal point and then rest. This is called the 60-30-10 rule. It is more of a suggestion than a rule (in case you’re a rebel).
In addition to proportion of color, there are also palettes based on the color wheel which offer further color suggestions. Take some time to explore these free online color palette tools, and see what you can come up with!
http://www.degraeve.com/color-palette/
http://colorschemedesigner.com/
Relationships Between Color and Emotion: A Study of College Students. Source: College Student Journal. Sept., 2004, Vol. 38 Issue 3, p396-405. Authors: Kaya, Naz; Epps, Helen H.