tones: Think sapphires, emeralds, rubies, and the jewel of all fruit, eggplants
Naturals: Greens and the less saturated and bright shades of more subdued flowers
Metallics: Shiny copper and brass colors
If looking at particular colors brings an intense association to mind, use that color only when that mental message is desirable within the intended context. You may link a particular shade of yellow with marvelous times your family had on your grandmother’s front porch because yellow vines grew along the walls there. That yellow should be in your living room. Do you have pleasant memories related to the distinctive blue on the inside walls of the church where you were married? Make sure to use that color somewhere in your home. If you have intense negative associations to a color, don’t use it in your home or office even if it’s trendy, or even if something that you’re shopping for is less expensive in that color. Color-memory links are made in a primordial part of our brain, and you will never be able to ignore or change negative associations.
If you’re color-blind, you should ask a friend what color something is in important situations, such as when you’re putting together an office that others will visit, so you don’t inadvertently signal something undesirable. If you are color-blind, you can still judge the saturation and brightness of various colors. Choose colors that are brighter and less saturated when the goal is relaxation and ones that aren’t as bright and are more saturated when you want to get a boost of energy from the world around you.
Colors Together and Patterns
Plenty of walls are painted a single color, and lots of sofas are covered in plain upholstery in only one shade, but not all of them. Scientists have also researched how the color combinations and patterns we see on our walls, sofas, floors, duvet covers, and more influence what’s going on in our heads.
Some color combinations seem more pleasant to our eyes than others. If you plan to use colors together in a space, assemble samples of all of them and attach them to a piece of board or heavy paper. Look at the planned combinations in a variety of lights to make sure they blend as well in practice as they do in theory.
Using slightly different tints of one color in a space can be relaxing, except if that one color is white/beige, as noted above. Non-white/beige monochrome environments can be good choices for in-home spas or meditation areas, for example.
When used together, colors across the color wheel from each other make us feel more energized (don’t forget the effects of saturation and brightness), and this effect is intensified if the colors used are very different in saturation and brightness. Reds and greens are across the color wheel from each other, and so are blues and oranges as well as yellows and purples. Pairs of colors beside each other on the color wheel (for example, purples and blues, blues and greens, greens and yellows, yellows and oranges, oranges and reds, and reds and purples) have the opposite effect on us when we use them together. It’s more pleasant when colors used together have approximately equal saturation levels but have a range of different brightness levels.
But what about the patterns we see on rugs, upholstery, wallpapers, and elsewhere? What’s best to choose when?
•Sometimes lines are curvier, other times they’re straighter. Paisleys feature lots and lots of curving lines and teardrop-like shapes, for example, while plaids are heavy on straight lines arrayed at pointy angles to each other, along with squares and rectangles of color. Paisleys are more curvilinear, while plaids are more rectilinear. We generally are more relaxed by patterns and objects with more curves and more energized by those that are straighter and “pointier.” We have the same response to curved and straight lines whether they’re in patterns on surfaces or if they determine the shapes of furniture or other objects.
•Curvier lines and forms are associated with women, femininity, friendliness, and comfort, while more angular ones are linked to men, masculinity, action, strength, and efficiency. Rectilinear patterns and shapes in furniture, moldings, and elsewhere are good for exercise zones and laundry rooms; curvy ones are best for nurseries. A pattern that’s a mix of curvy and straight elements will be more or less relaxing, depending on which elements are more plentiful.
•Small size patterns on wallpapers, etc., are the ones most of us like best. These patterns will repeat more times in a space than larger patterns. A small size pattern on wallpaper might feature daisies that are two inches across or smaller; a large size pattern could include daisies larger than that, for example.
•Moderately complicated patterns are preferred to more complex ones and are also those that are most pleasant to look at. These patterns use just a few shapes, although those two or three shapes might be of several sizes and a similar number of hues. A pattern of moderate visual complexity might use circles and squares of a few different sizes and colors on a neutral color background, with about half of the background visible. One alternative with moderate visual complexity would be a pattern that uses several different flower shapes in several darker shades of pink on a light violet background. A few more examples: a Navaho rug has moderate visual complexity, and a Persian rug has high visual complexity.
•Rug patterns can be used to make hallways seem shorter. If two different patterns or textures are used in a corridor, or one asymmetrical pattern is used and that pattern sometimes seems more to the left and at other times seems to be more to the right along the length of a hallway, the hall will seem shorter. If distances are perceived as shorter, people are more likely to move forward, so this information can be used to encourage trips down hallways, for example.
•Visual symmetry, which is often linked with formality, has several forms: reflected and rotated, for example. With reflected symmetry, the shapes are found on either side of a straight line, but their position is reversed. If the image is duplicated on either side of a vertical line, for example, whatever is on the left side of the image on the left side of that vertical line is mirrored on the right side of the image when it’s on the right side of that same vertical line. With rotated symmetry, items are repeated around a central hub, the way spokes repeat around the center of a wheel. Humans generally prefer symmetrical patterns, graphics, and artwork compared to asymmetrical options and find them more beautiful. They also prefer symmetrical architecture to asymmetrical spaces. Seeing something that’s symmetrical is also likely to improve our mood.
•We’d rather look at horizontal and vertical lines than diagonal ones. Also, diagonal lines that start on the lower left and move to the upper right (ascending lines, ones like this /) are linked in our minds with relatively higher activity levels than diagonals that are higher on the left and lower on the right (ones like this \); these descending diagonals are linked in our minds to relaxation. Ascending lines are better for exercise areas and descending ones for meditation spaces, for example.
•A common color or shape can coordinate various patterns and design elements (such as wallpapers and carpets).
Light
How a space is lit has a major effect on our mood. Natural light is as welcome to a human as it is to a begonia. The light that flows through windows helps us keep our circadian rhythms in sync with the world around us. When they’re out of sync, we feel like we’re jet-lagged, we grow tense, and our level of well-being plummets.
When we’re in a space at least partially lit with natural light, we think more broadly—so we are more apt to be creative, better at solving problems, and better at getting along with others.
