Colorfull Events
Color is such an unobtrusive, simplistic, and ambivalent word yet its power has such impact creating fear, uncertainty, anxiety and excitement.
In the 60’s, color created psychedelic prisms and tie-dye, during the early 70’s, it was race riots and a divide between black and white. The 80’s brought us Color Blocking, and in the 90’s it was the same color balanced by different weights - kelly green, avocado, sage and lime, and in the new millennium it created a homeland security threat level system.
For me, color can make me feel cheerful (canary yellow) or angry (ruby red), it grabs my attention (hot Pink and lime), or calms me down (Pastel blue) makes a room appear larger (mother of pearl) or cozy (mocha cappuccino), rejuvenates my spirit (aquamarine) or keeps me feeling safe (mossy green). Color creates an ambiance of royalty or a youthful celebration.
Within special events, color should be used with deliberation and precision; bright to catch the eye, red to express love, pink to express sweetness. Don’t be afraid to experiment; trial and error is the key to success. To master color is to master the color-wheel, in the design world there are a plethora of schemes; however, the three most commonly used schemes are Complementary, (colors that are opposite each other on the color wheel), Analogous, (colors that are next to each other on the color wheel) and Triadic, (colors that are evenly spaced around the color wheel). The images below clarify each of the schemes.
If for some reason you are intimidated or confused by the color wheel… go to nature. Mother Nature, that is. She has designed the most amazing palettes. Look closely at your spring flowers, often each individual flower has a multitude of color combinations. A pansy, for example, could have a golden rod center with brilliant rings of violet to aromatically become a complimentary scheme. This caterpillar and surroundings, with shades of green and accent of yellow, is a crawling example of Analogous. The image of a lone scuba diver framed against a beep ocean blue background, with contrasting radiant shades of mauve and luminous persimmon in the foreground, breathes life into a triadic scheme.
Now that you’re familiar with color, and with constructing fundamental color palettes, how do you bring that knowledge into Events? Yes, it is scary, but don’t be alarmed. Simply find a connection that works for your event. Some color discoveries can be simple ones - such as red for a strawberry festival. Or you can jazz up this same simple idea by playing off of an Analogous scheme by adding adjacent colors on the color wheel so the final color scheme becomes garnet red, fuchsia, and blushful pink, much more tangy and potentially exciting than plain red.
What’s Intriguing to me is the formation of International societies forecasting (or maybe setting) color trends for years to come. The premise behind these groups in my opinion is to coordinate and forecast annual color pallets for textiles, art, design and fashion to name a few; By doing so, industries at large have a fairer market presence. For example, if the International Color Marketing Group (CMG) forecasts deep cranberry and camel as the HOT color chemistry for 2010, and every auto maker used this pallet in their autos except for Chrysler who choose pomegranate spice and dessert wheat. Chrysler has the potential to be the trend setter and completely cash in when they corner the market, but more realistically will become the pariah and be on the fashion don’t list. It becomes safer and more marketable to align with the safe forecasted color pallet.
Coordinating pallets across all industries allow carpets to harmonize with drapes to synchronize with glass tiles to complement wall paints which encouraged the purchase of a Haute Couture garment that inspired a theme for a special event. Whatever your event passion may be, choose to embrace the power of color(full) events. You will never be disappointed and will always find something interesting that will make the occasion extra ‘Special’ for your clientele.
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