Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Colour your World

Look around your room. Ever notice the thousands of different shades, hues and tints in it? It’s something that people take for granted. Colour can have a powerful effect on us. It can affect one’s mood, bring up old memories, whet our appetite and even heat us without us realising. Colour theory involves a multitude of definitions, concepts and design applications that would fill several encyclopedias. However there is a very simple way of understanding and using colour in your home interior design. With some simple guidance you will be able to use colours harmoniously, resulting in spectacular results in your home, and even in your fashion sense too.

The colour wheel, designed by Issac Newton, is one of the first things you learn about when studying interior design. However, for most it feels too calculated to go over the diagram again and again, in fact one could say that it is pre-programmed in most designers’ heads. It’s a great tool to teach us how hues relate to each other, but these days with so much pattern out there don’t feel you have to limit yourself to one scheme.

The basic science of colour states that primary colours are red, yellow and blue. They cannot be mixed from any other colours and all colours are derived from these three colours. Secondary colours are when two primary colours are combined together resulting in orange, green and violet. Another six tertiary colours are created by mixing primary and secondary colours.

The colour wheel is divided into ‘warm’ colours and ‘cool’ colours. Reds, oranges and yellows are known to be ‘aggressive’ or warm colours. These are the colours that get your pulse racing. They are energetic, sensual and tend to advance in space. Greens, blues and violets are known to be ‘receding’ or cool colours. They give an impression of calm and create a soothing relaxing environment. That’s why a lot of hospitals are painted in a cool green shade to create a calm, peaceful atmosphere.

Tints, Shades and Tones
Using these terms correctly can be tricky, but remember they’re based on quite basic colour concepts. Hues are the purest and boldest colours. They form the full spectrum of colours around the wheel. If a colour is made lighter by adding white the result is a tint. A tint is sometimes called a pastel. If grey is added a different tone is created, referring to the colour intensity. When black is added the darker version is called a shade.

The most basic colour technique, one you’ve probably used without even realising, is the complementary colour scheme. This scheme uses colours from the opposite side of the colour wheel, for example purple and yellow-green, or blue and orange. Complementary schemes create maximum contrast and maximum stability using a mix of warm and cool colours. The cool colour calms the influence of the strong colour, balancing out the scheme. A variation on this is the split complementary scheme where you choose one colour and then use the colour on each side of its complement on the colour wheel.

Another popular colour scheme is the analogous scheme, this scheme uses one primary colour and its two tertiary colours (the colour on either side of the primary colour on the wheel). Examples are yellow-green, yellow, and yellow-orange. Imagine an Indian themed room where a mix of strong jewel like colours are used such as red-violet, red and red orange.

A diad colour scheme is when only two colours are used and they are two colours apart on the colour wheel e.g. red and orange. A triad scheme is one which involves three colours that are equally spaced from each other. A good triad example is green, orange and violet. A tetrad scheme is a contrast of four or more colours on the wheel arranged into two complementary pairs eg. blue, red, green and orange. Balancing the colours is key with these schemes as they tend to be quite vibrant, feel free to let one colour dominate and use the other two for accents. This is a great scheme for commercial use in restaurants and shops.

Don’t let all the technical terms deter you, it’s actually all very basic. A good interior designer has a colour wheel built into his/her brain. Now that you understand the basic colour wheel you can start mixing and matching colours like a pro in your own home!