Colour Coding
By on Oct 18, 2007
Incorporating colour is one way to express your
personality in your home. The palette you choose
not only says a lot about your character, but italso creates a mood and ambience that can produce an
isle of tranquility or its polar opposite. So it's worthtaking the time to choose your colours carefully. Part
of that process is to learn about the meanings ofcolours and how they can impact your psyche.
Colours can specifically affect us in important
ways. For example:
Blue arouses feelings of freshness, coolness, and
relaxation. In lighter hues, blue is airy and open,while dark blues represent wealth, strength, and
respect, evoking feelings of reassurance.
Red attracts attention, causes excitement, and even
raises blood pressure. Intense red is stimulating;
however, it can also be distracting in large amounts.Red is associated with wealth and sophistication,
while high-value reds (pinks) can make people feelgood about the way they look.
Green is the ultimate pacifier.
Often associated withnature, it is both relaxing
and reassuring. Pale yellow-greens conjure images
of growth, while deepgreens are associated with
status and wealth.
Yellow is the colour that the
eye sees the fastest. Soft yellows can
be cheery and make us feel sunny. Bright yellowused as an accent attracts attention and helps to
brighten a room, but in large amounts yellow canbe overstimulating.
Orange stimulates in a pumpkin hue or warms in a
terra cotta or peach version. As with other intensecolours, orange can be distracting, but it is ideal for
attracting attention to details.
Purple is a noble colour in its deepest tones, yet it
can be flowery and refreshing in a pale violet. Deep
purple is rarely used in large amounts, but has a greateffect as an accent.
Black evokes feelings of fright, but also transcends
the feelings of elegance, excitement, and wealth. Likewhite, black is a colour of contradictions that relies
largely on the effect of the other colours used with it.Black can make large spaces seem smaller and more
intimate.
White is sterile, airy, or refreshing, depending on
what other colours it is combined with. It makes
smaller spaces feel larger.
The Color Marketing Group, consisting of over
600 professional colour designers, predicts that the
following 12 shades will comprise colour trends forthe next decade:
Innocent Blush: a sheer pink that envelops the
viewer in softness and comfort. Feminine andnurturing, it has slight peach undertones.
Biscotti: a new neutral that is softer than the
traditional caramel.
Wasabi: inspired by Asia, where foliage is more
yellow than in North America and Europe. This
sophisticated hue is a sheer wash of celadon, faintlyyellowed with a whisper of grey.
White Veil: spoken of as nature's white because its
coolness and lack of purity are natural.
Aluminum Foil: the coldest and most urban
interpretation of silver yet.
Colorado Mist: whether metallic or pearlized, it
bridges beige and grey. It's described as a warm silver
that is both Zen and urban.
Spaqua: the green side of water imagery, this hue is
similar to the edge of a thick sheet of plate glass.
Aero Blue: a timeless and spiritual colour.
Represented as the sky approaching dusk.
Atlantis Blue: a universal blue for all cultures.
Atlantis is intense and iridescent. The slight greeninfluence adds a unique spark that gently stirs the
psyche.Royal Plum: expands the purple palette with
colouring that is acceptable for all markets. In itsdeep hue, royal plum can serve as a neutral, a bridge
to other colours, or it can stand alone.
Wild Berry: a pure, nearly true bright red.
Red Rock: an Australian-influenced metallic that
will generate a reintroduction of iron ore hues.
The following list describes colour meanings-what
colours represent and how they affect us by
triggering various moods and thoughts.
Blue
Sky
Sea
Water
Religious
Red
Green
Money
Brown
Yellow
Orange
Purple
