Welcome to the 1st blog entry of our new website. We thought perhaps we’d go for something meaty to start off with. This is an extract from our recent paper for the AIC conference held last week in sunny Gateshead.
Colourists have long tried to understand the human relationship with colour. How and why do we use it? Does it impact on how we behave or it is a reflection of how we feel? Is it simply the hue itself or do external factors fuel our desires to buy one particular shade, tone or tint? Running a simple P.E.S.T analysis of recent global developments is there a correlation between the
prevalent colours?
Political: The Cuban Missile Crisis 16-28th October 1962
This is reportedly the closest that the USSR and US ever came to nuclear war. With missile launchers under construction by USSR in Cuba, US created a ‘quarantine’ flotilla resulted in 13 days of tension watched by the world.
After times of extreme pressure, one would assume there must be and equal and opposite action in response. Would one expect to see this is in the level of colour saturation or chromacity? From investigations, there does not appear to be a dramatic shift in the colours. Perhaps greens are less blue and have lightness but very little else. Ochre, poppy and amethyst all seem important colours - of more note is the changing silhouette and freedom within print. The move towards this futurism is difficult to pin on a feeling of relief from a crisis event and could related to the 1961 launch of man into space. New colour adoption
would be a slower process because of technological and
societal norms.
Economic: Global Financial Crisis 2007-2008
2008 sees the work crash since the Great Depression 1929-1930. Lehman Brothers closes; Goldman Sacks and Morgan Stanley get banking status to avoid bankruptcy and Merrill Lynch are taken over.
SS 2007 fashion shows just prior to the crash see vivid fun colours. Within the design industry, 2006 exhibitions like Salone del Mobile, 100% Design and New York Design Week show saturated lively hues, in particular it is noted blue-based lush greens, clean bright orange and light energetic red with ultramarine.
SS 2009, you see the same fashion designers considerably paring back level of colour shown. A large proportion shown was black, there is little other colour but what is shown appears more subdued, greyed off and less saturated. ‘Nude’ is the big driver of the season. Colour energy comes from highlights within print, applique and intarsia. The design industry showed an excess of white but green & orange were in evidence. Again it is noted that the hue becomes less saturated and greyed off. As with fashion, high value colours appear as accents or FMCGs.
Sociological: Aging Population
A 2002 UN report for the World on Aging described this as an unprecedented global phenomenon that would have enduring effects on daily life. This effect, at different stages around the world, sees the number of UK pensioners due to double by 2050. Research centres like RCA’s Helen Hamlyn look at the impact this is having on design and how to address problems with colour perception in the elderly and those with dementia. As pattern can confuse, solid well-defined colour takes the lead. Functionality on Dyson and Egle Ugintaite is defined by intuitive action colour against grey while food manufacturer Via Roma use black, white and greyscale to create high contrast to their buyers. Aging vision can appear to desaturate colour, colour forecasters can intensify product colour to adjust to this. For food contrast, Gregor Timlin & Nic Rysenbry believe navy blue crockery to have least ill affect on food perception.
Technological: Biomimetic, Nano & Colour Effects
Biomimetic research leads the development of lustre, pearlescent and colour flip pigments and technologies. Understanding how the natural world engineers colour effects helps to find more efficient, safer and sustainable solutions both in performance and aesthetics.
Beetle-like dichromic architectural cladding used by UN Studio captures the movement of the sun, bounces movement around the wearer of this Jonathan Saunders skirt and Merck emphasises the aerodynamic power with high colour intensity of its special effect pigments. Within composites like DuPont’s Corian, patented processes create visual texture with lustre effects. The exposure to multi-dimensional effects influences designers like Tom Dixon to blend this new visual language with traditional points of reference.
Image Credits
American Apparell Jacky Ad Campaign
Assunta Lanzavecchia Wai
Design For Dementia Gregor Timlin
DuPont Corian & Zodiaq 2013 Colour US Launch
Dyson DC50
Graphic design for Via Roma Pasta and Sauces by United* for A&P:
Jonathan Saunders SS2013
La Defense Offices Almere, Netherlands by Unstudio
Merck Pigments Cube & Aviation
Selection from online fashion sources including Galliano, Kane, Lacroix, McCartney, McQueen, Sander Ungaro, Interior design shows from Core77 & retro fashion from Pininterest
The Aid by Egle Ugintaite winner of FUJITSU grand prize
Together Lanzavecchia Wai
Tom Dixon Lustre Pendents