Sunday, February 24, 2013


More color - the secondary colors

 
Today’s blog will discuss the meaning of purple (violet), green, and orange.  These are called secondary colors.  Remember from elementary school how you made these colors from the primary colors? 
Red + yellow = orange
Blue + red = purple (violet)
Yellow + blue = green
Did you know that green
·         is a peaceful color
·         symbolizes nature
·         confers a sense of relaxation and comfort
·         represents health and prosperity
·         is the most well-liked color and the easiest color for the eye to see
·         suggests balance, harmony, growth, birth, wealth, compassion and security.
Did you know that purple
·         contains elements of surprise and magic
·         represents royalty
·         suggests romance, imagination, passion
·         suppresses appetite
·         is a feminine color; most little girls (and some big ones) love purple
·         is an artistic color
·         is a good choice for children’s rooms
Did you know that orange
·         shares qualities of reds
·         is friendly, cheerful, happy
·         acts as an antidepressant
·         is energetic
·         Share qualities of reds
Until next time...



 

Saturday, February 23, 2013

The Meaning of Color


Today’s blog will discuss the meaning of red, blue, and yellow, otherwise known as the primary colors.

RED

Did you know that red…
·         stimulates the appetite
·         raises blood pressure
·         stimulates a faster heartbeat and breathing 
·         attract attention, creates excitement, takes control
·         is forceful, bold, extreme, aggressive
·         is a good accent color
Red is a good choice for dining rooms.  Use it sparingly in decorating  or you may not be able to relax!

BLUE

Did you know that blue…
·         is associated with fashion trends
·         is a symbol of trust and longevity
·         is refreshing, soothing, calm, dependable
·         causes the body to produce calming chemicals
·         slows metabolism, lowers blood pressure
·         decreases heartburn and indigestion
·         is the most popular color in the U.S.
·         can be perceived as depressing and gloomy if overused
  
Blue is a good choice for the bedroom but not so good for dining rooms unless you want to lose weight!

YELLOW

Did you know that yellow…
·         is an attention getter
·         stimulates the memory
·         is optimistic and cheerful
·         speeds metabolism
·         aids digestion, stimulates circulation, frustration, and caution
·         people lose their temper more often in yellow rooms; babies cry more
Use yellow sparingly in children’s rooms unless you want to hear them cry!
Tomorrow I’ll talk about the meaning of the secondary colors.
Until then…

 

 



Friday, February 22, 2013

More color...




     Since we cannot talk about fashion without using color, here is a window display project based on the color wheel. This was a project that my visual merchandising students loved doing it.  They had to pick one color scheme based on the color wheel and set up a window display.
     A popular choice was the triad, which is made out of three hues equidistant form each other on the color wheel. The triad is popular because is more playful than complimentary color schemes and more exciting than monochromatic ones. In our case: orange, purple and green, three powerful secondary colors. Here is the picture:


The monochromatic display is still playful, and the one below has the focus on tints and shades of yellow.


      Next time when you pass a window display, see if you can guess the theme behind it. Can you guess the pattern? Can you see the color relationships?