Here is the image of a traditional color wheel. It shows how colors are organized and how colors change by combining them, for example if you combine blue and green you get blue-green. Every year the major paint companies announce a ‘Color of the Year’ they’ve selected as a trend color and you can count on seeing it pop up in a myriad of places encouraging you to use it. The two paint companies I deal with the most are Benjamin Moore and Sherwin Williams, last year Benjamin Moore’s Color of the Year was 2117-30 Shadow (a very dark gray with a purple blush) and Sherwin Williams’ Color of the Year was SW6039 Poised Taupe (a fairly dark shade between brown and gray.) Both colors are neutral and understated so can be used in a range of applications.
Before I go on let me tell you I don’t design to color trends. I believe the color forecasters and promoters do it at least in part to keep us dissatisfied with what we have so we always want something different. The foundation of my work is color psychology, using the understanding of how we respond to color at an innate level to create environments that please us and feel good to be in (and for a long time!) Enter now the newly announced ‘2018 Color of the Year’ for Benjamin Moore and Sherwin Williams. Benjamin Moore has selected AF-290 Caliente , a very bright and intense warm red (made from red-orange on the color wheel) and Sherwin Williams has selected SW6496 Oceanside, a deep and vivid blue-green. If you look at the positions of red-orange and blue-green as they sit on the color wheel you’ll see they are exact opposites (in color world this can also be called ‘complementary’ or ‘high contrast’ colors.) I find this intriguing that two of the largest paint companies have chosen colors that couldn’t be more opposite and bright to boot! Be prepared to hear the virtues of both of them, but before you run out and buy the paint be aware that we tend to tire of vivid colors sooner, they don’t always harmonize with other colors well and trend colors can look dated quickly. I don’t mean to dissuade you if they are just the colors you’ve been looking for but don’t jump on the band wagon just because they want you to.
If you’d like to take a peak at the new colors follow these links:
Benjamin Moore: https://www.benjaminmoore.com/en-us/color-overview/color-collections/color-trends-2018
Sherwin Williams: https://www.sherwin-williams.com/homeowners/color-forecast/color-of-the-year
Posted in color consulting, Color trends, Kitsap County Color Consultant, Wenberg Color Design
Tags: color consulting, color trends, Kitsap County Color Consultant, Professional color consulting
Wenberg Color Design 