pG
31
INTERIOR DESIGNER pROFILE
DESIGNER:
PHARES OKARA
SCHEMING
101
There are six base colours: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue and
Indigo/Violet(purple),famously known by the rhyme- “
Richard Of
Yolk Gain Battle in Vain”
(ROYGBV),though it ought be noted that
apart from the six, there are four other neutral colours and they are
White, Black, Brown(s) and Grey(s).
Colours have different properties, our concern today is The Value
property. The value of a colour can be split into four spheres. There is
the tint, tone, shade and the colour itself. A tint has white added to it.
The tone has grey added to it while a shade has black added to it. Thus
a tint of red will be pink and a shade of red will be maroon.
Having grasped the above aspect of colour, colour scheming will thus
be easy!
There are “four” main types of colour schemes. Monochromatic
colour scheme, analogous, complimentary and a tertiary. Mono
means one, thus you work with one Colour in its varying shades,
tones and tints. Analogous means working with colours next to
each other on The Colour Triangle. Complimentary Colour scheme
involves working with direct opposites. The other option is working
with if its orange you blend it with purple and/or green.
The tertiary colour scheme involves working with the neutral shades
(black, brown(s), white and grey(s)) either in their purity-that is tints
or shades of the greys and browns or combining two of them as with
black and white or combining themwith the rest of the six in accented
tones.
It also ought to be noted that there are other wild colour combinations
that still do work like chocolate brown with purples or chocolate
brown with hot pink or turquoise with browns.
The inspirations for colour schemes can be sought from: nature
(flowers, insects, wild and domestic animals, soils) favourite cafés,
adverts or products, magazines, internet, fashion trends, movie clips
and colour experts.
Colour being at the core of interior or exterior design, it thus needs to
be accorded its rightful share when designing and as a rule of thumb,
one should work with a maximum of three colours and be guided by
the design theme or style. It’s also vital to note that there are warm
(red, orange, yellow) and cool colours (green, blue, purple). Surface
colour(s) of other materials should be considered too and lastly, the
big question is what do you want to stand out? That will aid in colour
scheming.
