Are your dreams in color or grey scale? Mine are crazy colorful, and I am glad for it. Do you dress in bold colors or subtle ones? I can’t speak for men, but many women use color to communicate each day by what they chose to put on – makeup, clothes, accessories, even hair color. Even if you choose subtle colors, it is still communicating something. You could call this your personal color voice. Think of it as those tones and values that speak for your personality, emotion and skin tone.
Our color voice speaks through our purchases for fashion, home and business. The choices in color, texture, and the combinations of those are one part in a collective aggregate that makes up our community. Simply put, this is accomplished by the individual’s contribution adding up to the whole. For example, regional culture creates regional color trends and nationally we create an overall national color spectrum each at a particular time. This is not anything new, but I don’t think we look at the individual influences or the many areas our American and global lives inspire how the masses use and apply color.
At a recent event, I heard more about the color spectrum presented by Benjamin Moore (BM) paints. They presented a discussion for the current color trends for 2011. Fran Mooney presented on behalf of BM discussing the color pulse, movements, forecasts, and color selection for 2011.
BM describes the color pulse of 2011 in one word, BALANCE. Their website expands on this as follows
“BALANCE is an attribute that we all strive to live. Sorting the Real from the Surreal defines priorities that drive the direction for 2011, as it gives us a chance to dream of the future. From the rural influences to urban application, BALANCE is supported by 4 themes for 2011: The Farm, Order, Escape, and Tribe.”
The presentation did not go into depth about the four themes. Rather, we looked at the current conditions of the nation and the effects they have on color choices.
The economic and political environments are influencing how we see ourselves, and our place. We all want economic stability, so people are choosing stable colors to surround themselves with. Trends are showing that people don’t want sudden change, in spite of the slogan ‘Change we need’ and ‘Change we can believe in’; people want to be comforted that stability will stay until balance is maintained. This means that color movements will not change very much over the next few years. Color trends changes will be slight. If your spaces are in need of an update, now is the time to do it! Get the most bang for your buck by updating your color schemes now which will last for years to come.
–Lisa G., Landscape Designer
