Apr 9, 2013

Color predictions for the long term.

If you said that color had the ability to affect your mood, arouse your self-expression, and define your sense of being you'd be right. From the time you're born, you're given identifiers that rely on color - like "blue is for boys and pink is for girls" - that define your expectations over time.   Marketing experts know that consumers often judge an environment or object, based on its color.  Product packaging, clothing, cars, and ....well...everything, is selected based on color. While trends are often predicted years in advance, it takes time to show. 

The last few years, with booming technology and the information superhighway, we're exposed to new ideas, products and images every day. The choice of colors in your home, and even your wardrobe, can ground and inspire you. Bold, bright colors have been popular since 2010. In fashion and home decor, brights provide excitement, anticipation, and help quench our desire for 'newness'.  Toning them down, have been dusty versions of earthy colors of brick, yellow, brown and even gray. 

So what's in store for 2013 and beyond?  Richness and lightness of value.   I'm using Benjamin Moore colors (any brand in a similar hue will do) to demonstrate.

Instead of "Salsa" red, the tone will be rich, yet soft, like "Rhubarb"


The depth of "Seaside Blue" will replace the boldness of "Utah Sky"



For yellow, the purity of "Sunburst" will become the duskiness of "Mellow Yellow"

 


Of course, these are the primary colors that combine to create purple, green and orange so my picks for those colors are "Hazy Lilac", "Dill Pickle" and "August Morning".