HOW TO SELECT COLOURS FOR YOUR NEW SPACE

Have you ever wondered why Restaurants are painted red and yellow or why Hospitals are painted neutral colours like white or light blue? Colours play an important part in our lives you may not even know but it affects the way you think the way you select the way you perceive things and your psychology in total. Colour is a tool that marketers,Advertisers, Interior Designers and so many other people use to make you do things or make you buy things. you see an advert on TV and you are excited about it you're not sure if it's the colour or what is  in the ad that appeals to you, advertisers are strategic about these things even to as little as a buy now button or a call to action text in an advertisment.

Yeah I know you're thinking that you've never really observe these things right? yeah you really don't get the Observe because it happens passively without you knowing what exactly is going on  and that's what colours do.

So hey lets get to why we are here...

Have you noticed that Sweet Sensation , Tantalizers , The place is redish orange  and yellow? Most restaurants and food vendors have red as their major colour, why ? because it makes you feel hungry and when you feel hunger you will buy food… so for restaurants colour is kinda a strategy for sales ,you would hardly go to a hotel and see painted red or black not because they can't but because you won't achieve the desired purpose of making their guests comfortable.

So when you understand how colours work it will help you select colours especially for your home or for your office? Colour selection is something that a lot people still don't understand. The fact that you love pink or that you wear a lot of pink doesn't mean you should paint your house pink or you're office pink. The first thing to do before you select a colour is to understand the purpose of the space how do you want to feel when you're in that space, if  you understand the kind of emotion that you want to feel it will help you select the exact colour that will create and achieve that emotion you desire. Do you know some colours will make you feel uneasy, some colours will make you feel at ease and peaceful.

Let's briefly look at the meaning of some popular colors.

RED: Red is an attention grabbing colour,it is an  exciting and compelling colour it is danger it is love and it also stimulates hunger as I said earlier that is why most restaurants use red. In some climes red is evil and dangerous thats why it should be used sparinly in spaces that are not restaurants. thats one place it can hardly go wrong.

YELLOW: This is a happy colour it represents the Sun ,represents positivity and cheerfulness? it represents summer gives a carefree felling. Most of the time you see red and yellow for restaurants and food vendors .

BLUE: This color depicts the sky and sea, it's peaceful and calming and sometimes too  cold depressing if you don’t use it right . just imagine using blue for a restaurant ...blue is not a vibrant colour it should therefore be used wisely. it also represents trust, reliability and safety thats why a lot of online stores use it especially during checkout.

PINK: This is mostly related to girly things it is an immature playful colour, it represents feminity that's why you hardly see men wear pink  although these days fashion is fluid so men wear different things even though originally pink is a woman's colour that's why Barbie is pink and young girly things are pink.

GREY: Grey is kind of a neutral colour because it falls in the middle of black and white and the thing about Gary is that it has a way of encouraging depression because of its grayness, when using grey colour  as your major colour at home you need good accent colours to make it stand out and make your space pop.

GREEN In colour psychology without thinking too much  green represents nature,fertility, vegetation and growth generosity and money.it also has some negativity associated with envy when not properly represented. green will be perfect for spars, fitness and health niche because they promote body wellbeing.

PURPLE: Purple represents royalty luxury and plenty, and power .however,you should avoid using a lot of purple can because it can increase frustration and percieved as arrogant.

ORANGE: This is also an exciting colour that ignites your enthusiasm and creativity orange can sometimes be used in place of red although they do not serve the same purpose,it is a strong colour but not as commanding as red,it can replace red in most instances.Because orange is associated with fun and vibrancy is well suited to youthful, energetic spaces and best avoided for luxury, traditional or serious purposes.

There are lots of other colours that you can use but these are the basics that you would use one way or  another. Find out more about colours here.

When you have figured the emotion or feel you want to achieve go ahead and select the major colour you want to use ,you can also add 2 accent colours to make it more interesting but you can as well stick to a single colour and create a monochromatic colour scheme. This simply means using different shades of a particular colour to design your space.To effectively do this, you can use a colour wheel to select a tint or shade of whatever colour you have decided to use. I’ll always say make your space unique to you because it has to represent your personality your style and your taste, make sure you're happy in your space.