Transcripts
1. Introduction: Interior design is a
very complex domain. It extends way more
than decoration, whether you are a home owner trying to renovate
your home as part of your decoration efforts or your professional
interior designer. There are core skills that
you need to be equipped with that extend beyond
just simply decorating. In order to make a
certain space or a certain project stand
out as a masterpiece, you need to be equipped with
those skill set concepts, essential foundational
knowledge that you could apply to
transform any project. And this is what I'm
going to be teaching you and helping you with
in this current class, in which I'm going to
be sharing with you my expertise as an engineer
and product manager who has utilized
these concepts and practices as part of the
projects that I have worked on. In which we're going to
be learning about colors, color palettes as part
of the design process, and much more details
on that subject, as well as textures
and how they could elevate your design by
simple minor tweaks. They could take a design
which is quite basic and transform it to
something extraordinary, as well as color
psychology and how to utilize colors to
have spaces emit certain vibes and set
up certain themes and moods for your project
and much just that. I'll be sharing with
you some exclusive resources to help you apply these tactics and practices to your own
renovation projects, home improvement initiatives, your own interior
design projects, whatever the application is, you're able to use
these resources to take the stuff that
you're learning and apply it to the practice. All of these things,
we're going to be covering them
in the currents.
2. Your Project: Your project revolves around applying the concepts
that we have covered in this current class
such that you'll be sharing the before
and after footage, whether you're
working on a room, or you're working
on an apartment, regardless whether
as part of your own do it yourself project or a professional interior design
project, it's up to you. You're going to apply the
concepts that we have covered. You're going to be sharing
the before and after footage with the rest of
the community for feedback.
3. First Element of Interior Design: When it comes to successful
interior design applications, it's often related to the smart usage of the
design principles, along with the elements
of the design. When we're talking about
elements, literally, we mean there are
certain key aspects that we integrate within
the design process. That way, we're able to actually distinguish ourselves
from simply trying to decorate something or someone who's a professional
interior designer. One of the core elements
of interior design, we have what we call
as the actual lines, like the stroke of
a pen or a pencil. Lines they are considered to be the basic foundation
of design, literally. Think about it
this way. When you draw something,
what are you doing? It's a combination of
lines or forms of lines. You got various options, you got curved, horizontal,
vertical, or diagonal. What do they they create structure and
movement within the space. So how would you
actually visualize this? If you look at the following
representation over here, every single line just from a macro view should give you
some sort of an impression. Like if you take a look at
the straight line over here, the dotted line, it looks
organized and systematic. Take a look at the curve. It looks flowing. Now, to get things even better, let's distinguish them
and categorize them. We got the horizontal lines. We got the diagonal. We got the vertical, and we got the curved lines. Now, I'm going to use this image over
here as a reference. Take a second to actually visualize the effect
of the lines. Where do you spot the lines, right? They are
everywhere, right? You can find them on the wall. You get diagonal lines. You can take a look
at the images, you get diagonal lines, take a look at the pillows. You get straight lines, horizontal lines, and take
a look at the carpets. It's a combination of
shapes as well as lines. So even though you're using
a lot of linear elements, but it looks visually proper, cohesive, harmonious in nature. So how do we use lines properly? Use this guide to help you out. Horizontal lines, they
are used for stability. If you would like
to showcase that, a certain piece of accessory or artwork reflects a
sense of stability, clearly, it cannot be moved. Use the horizontal lines. Vertical lines for height. This is very powerful. If you use the image over here, instead of diagonal lines, if we use completely vertical
lines like this way, it will add a visual illusion
which indicates length. Use the door as an example. By the way, this is a
standard. Regular door. However, it looks
too long, right? Why? Because of the
vertical lines, the dimensions of the door, the size of the door, in contrast with the wall,
the diagonal lines. So the diagonal lines they help you add some sense
of energy to it. Like it's not typical. Curved used for softness. If you'd like to take an
edge and smoothen it out, you're going to be using curved lines and take a look at the carpet as the best example. You have the combination
of half of the sphere. As well as the arcs
of the spheres. Making the carpet look smoother
compared to, let's say, the stable, energetic walls, pieces of furniture,
and pillows. This is a very powerful
use of elements. Now, when it comes to design, you have to be quite
conservative with the approach in terms of
how you are injecting them. This is the whole point
of learning about the elements of design,
how to use them. Some of the designers
they take it for granted, simply take whatever carpet, take whatever pillow,
whatever texture, whatever architectural
alignment, and just simply throw them and as long
as the colors are fine, things within interior design, they extend beyond colors. Even lines, they have a meaning. So as you stack up
your knowledge base, you have the ability now to
not just simply decorate, but actually apply
interior design, professional practices. That way, you're taking
any regular project, your own renovation
or home improvement, and actually transform it
to something professional. So the take from
this current lecture is horizontal lines, they help you dictate stability. You can use them as
part of the paint, the um carpets, pillows, wall art, whatever it is. When something indicates a horizontal line, it
indicates stability. Keep that ao of
your. Vertical lines used to dictate heights, especially if you
have small rooms or apartments or low ceilings. If you walk into certain
countries, for example, in European regions,
you might notice that some countries they have
really long ceilings, very long heights or
really high ceilings from the floor or other countries,
they're quite too low. So if you are in a country
or in a jurisdiction where you have really high
ceilings as part of the construction, you
don't need vertical lines. That will add extra visual
height appeal to it. However, if you have an
apartment, for example, and the ceiling is quite too
short compared to the floor, and that will give you
a sense of suffocation, especially for
users of the place. Why? It seems like too compact, too constraining,
you cannot move. So to counteract this effect, vertical lines as
wall art, paint, whatever fixture which
is vertical and push it towards the wall will help
you extend the visual length, especially curtains.
This is very powerful. Like, if you go curtains
from ceiling to the floor, it adds that visual
illusion that you have a really long wall,
very high ceiling. And finally, you got before
we take a look at the curve, let's take a look
at the diagonal, which is a bit of
a pro application. Usually, when you're
designing spaces, you go for horizontal vertical
curved, but diagonal, you have to be
careful with try to maintain it within
some basic canvases, for example, a wall art
or some accessories. Avoid using it as paint
in this current image because if you're trying
to redesign the space, it might get quite difficult
to try to overcome the visual appeal
of a diagonal line. And finally, you get the
curved lines for softness. This applies not just simply to actual graphical
representations, pillows, sofas, any angular
ornament, wall art, paint. If you take a look at the sofa itself over here,
what do you notice? You got the pillows over here. These are curved circles.
Take a look at the carpet. You've got curvature,
which helps soften the fixtures, soften
the accessories, soften the furniture pieces, how they are trying
to let's say, trying to establish a sense of harmony with regards
to each other. If you go all horizontal, all diagonal, all vertical, it's too stable, too energetic, which might be overwhelming
for the users. To soften things up, try to incorporate curved lines. If you'd like to dim out
the horizontal lines, the vertical lines, diagonal
lines, focus on curvatures. Basically, this will
help you incorporate the elements of softness for a low energy
column ambience. These are some pro tips
simply by manipulating lines. So as you go about building up your knowledge base on
the elements of design, you will notice that many things that you have been
doing as part of decoration where it looks nice there is some
logical reasoning, scientific and psychological interpretation which happens. And once you get
the grasp of that, now you have the ability, actually, to tailor your designs to achieve those
goals with ease.
4. Second Element of Interior Design: And welcome back. And another
very powerful element, which is often
taken for granted, which is a she Shapes in
general, they are around us. Our eyes have by default, been tailored in a way
to pick up these shapes. And how do we define shapes? If you take up any line and
you close it from end to end, you have the ability to create the container of a
space, which is a shape. So shapes are defined by
lines and could be geometric. We have a basic geometric
shapes such as quadrilaterals, including squares
and rectangles. We got circles, including spheres as
well. We got triangles. Regardless of the type, we got
the whole polygon, family, octagon, pentagon, hexagon, depending on
the number of the sides, or you have an organic, which is a free form, something that you
scribble on a space, a piece of paper, and just simply connect the
points from end to end. It could be anything, and that's considered to be
an organic shape. What is the point of shapes? They help us define the
objects and spaces. How do they do this by
grabbing attention? So if you take a look at
both of these projects, let's start off by this one. What is the first thing
that gets your attention? Obviously, the tiles, right? They are using shapes from
the whole polygonm family. That way, they are
able to direct your attention to
this centerpiece, which is a table using a
circular shape as well. So notice the layering
of the shapes, how they create contrasts
between the shapes. When you take a
look at the image, the first thing that grabs
your attention, the tiles. And as you take a look at this through the same
line of the tiles, what's the first
thing that you spot the centerpiece, the table. And the same thing over here. But here you need
to focus a bit. Sometimes you embed
shapes within shapes, for example, the walls. Again, they're using shapes from the whole polygon family, but if you look closely, you find triangles embedded in them specifically
over here, right? You get three triangles being placed as part
of the whole polygon. By the way, polygon, I'm using the word the generic term for the geometric shapes
because you have hexagons, pentagons,
octagons, heptagons. So these are basically within the polygon family depending on the number of sides
that you have. So you have to be quite careful with how you
integrate shapes. They are often taken for
granted in the design process. But the whole purpose of using them is to direct attention. So if you have,
let's say, a wall, and you would like to split the wall to two different parts. Visually, you could paint
one part, let's say, with white color
including circles, and the other one
including triangle. By default, this will
create a visual separation. And this applies
to the flooring, applies to zones
within your space. That way you have the ability by simply adding certain shapes to direct attention and to split the zone that
you're dealing with, the space that
you're dealing with, whether through
changing the tiles, changing the paint or even
adding pieces of furniture. For example, you
have square pillows, and you got circular pillows. If you have a huge living room, you have the ability to
allocate certain shapes, let's say, the square pillows on the left side and the circular
pillows on the right side. That way, this creates some
sort of visual distinction. So this is how you use shapes to manipulate the attention
of the individuals interacting with the
space and directing it in a way to create the
focal point in a sense. Like I've said, the
focal point is basically the part of the room or the space that you would
like to grab the attention, and you could
allocate a piece by itself like a fireplace,
a piece of art, and to emphasize
the focal point, you could incorporate
shapes as well to help you grab the attention and direct it toward that specific element.
5. Third Element of Interior Design: Welcome back. Now
let's examine one of the most important
elements of design, which many are oblivious about, which is the actual space. So if we take a look at the technical
definition of a space, space involves the arrangement
of elements within a room, including the room itself. So you have an empty room
that's part of the space. And once you add stuff
to it, those elements, shapes, pieces of furniture, ornaments, architectural
drawings, wherever it is. These are part of the space. Hence, they are inclusive
in the definition. Now, a space has
different criteria, and you'll be surprised
right now to learn that every single design process studies how to utilize the space in the
best way possible. Now, we have what we call
as a positive space, which is occupied by objects, negative or empty space, and it plays a crucial
role in defining the room's functionality
and visual balance. So what does that mean? Well, take a look at
this. A positive space is basically where
you have more stuff, less empty. Think
about it this way. So a positive space,
it includes furniture. It includes accessories,
doors, tables, fireplaces, all of them which incorporate all of the
elements of design. However, if you take a look
at the negative space, which is the empty space,
take a look over here. Most of the zone or the space
has been occupied, right? Now, if we take a look at the
other end of the spectrum, this is what we call
as the negative space. A negative space is more empty, less congested, less
objects, more empty. So if you do have the
following representation, we got a dining table, just simply a small
seating area, and that's mainly it, and you
have a lot of empty space, a lot of negative space
in the area that we have. So this is the basic
distinction between what we call as a positive space
and a negative space. Now, a positive
space has a reason behind try to guess what it is. A positive space is more
about functionality, trying to bring individuals together to engage
with the space, to socialize, to utilize it, to eat, to sit, to have some sort of movement. It's dynamic. It
emphasizes a warmth. It emphasizes energy
in that sense, because you have a
lot of stuff in it which could be utilized
by individuals. However, a negative space is designed for
more of calmness, low energy, low congestion, more of a soothing vibe, a calm vibe instead of
having a dynamic movement. But you could
combine the best of both worlds by having
a balanced space. Now, most probably all of these terms are very new to you. Like I've mentioned, the stuff that you're
learning right now, often they're overlooked
as part of you trying to come up with great
designs for your own spaces, for your own renovations, for your own projects,
regardless of the application. These are core interior
design elements which are applied within every single project that you tackle or every single
area that you have seen. You have the element of space, which has to be
taken into account before you actually try to
get pieces of furniture, try to come up with the
decoration process, right? So a space like we
have mentioned, includes the layout,
the zone, empty, including furniture
and whatever goes into that space will fall under
the definition of a space. Now, a space could be positive. Where you have a lot of
furniture compared to emptiness. Think about it as a ratio. The ratio of objects to
emptiness is higher. So high objects, low emptiness. However, for the negative space, think about it the
other way around. The ratio of emptiness to
objects is higher in this case. You have more empty,
less objects. So from a negative space, the word negative implies
we are removing objects, keeping the space empty. Positive space implies
we are adding objects, reducing the emptiness
in the space. But you could have a
balanced approach. For the balanced approach, you incorporate the various
elements of design, the interior design principles, including symmetrical
or asymmetrical design practices,
visual weights. These are very important core
principles that you apply them within the space
design process. So you have the ability now to dictate what kind
of space is this? Is it a balanced space? Is it a positive space?
Is it a negative space? And then you fuse in the elements and the
principles of interior design. That way you are strategic about the process rather
than just simply trying to shift
things here and there and hoping for the
best design outcome.
6. Fourth Element of Interior Design: Very powerful element of design is what we
call as textures. Think about it as a way
to add some sort of a visual contrast to existing
elements within the space, such as walls, floorings, pieces of furniture, simply by manipulating the
aspect of texture. Think about it that
way. Whenever you run your hand on a wooden
surface, sand, table, how you feel when you run your hand
on such surfaces, this what we call as a texture. Fabrics, linen, wool, cra, all of these are
different textures, but they fall under
the same umbrella of textile in that case, right? So textures, they relate
to textile quality for visual or visual perception of surfaces. This
is very powerful. So it adds depth interest, such as smooth, rough
or patterned surfaces. So if I take a look at the visual representations
for fabrics, for example, some of them they have
the same color palette, color scheme, yet they
are not exactly the same. Simply due to the fact that
they have different textures. So if you're going to give
them a color, it's gray. However, they look
different, right? Some of them they feel rough. Some of them they feel smooth. Some of them they are rugged. Some of them they are curved. Some of them they have
patterns on them. This is the whole
concept of texture. It opens a whole
different category for creativity by
taking whatever that you have and just
simply manipulating the textures of various
elements such as pillows, carpets, or paints to help
you elevate your design. Take a look at this example. What is the first
color that pops in my? Black and gray, right? So imagine now if you follow the same texture
over here throughout, it will look quite stale. But through proper
integration of textures, the walls have been designed with light
gray, smooth walls. The firepit dark gray towards black with a
rugged rocky feel. Then you have a flooring, which is black in color with
smooth surface or finishing. So all of these textures, they created that design. That's it. It wasn't
based on color. It wasn't based on certain
pieces of furniture. It was mainly through
the manipulation of textures, through
fabrics, accessories, paint, the surface
finishes of the walls, the flooring, marble,
rocks, whatever it is. The way you'd like
to think about texture, think
about it this way. When you run your
hand on the surface, how does that feel like? Is it smooth or rugged? Or visually, when you
take a look at it, are there certain patterns or visual perception
that pops up? Do you see it as smooth? Do you see it as rugged, or do you see it as
following a certain pattern? All of these things they
fall into textures. Take a look at another
beautiful example. You got this living room, you got the sofa, which is gray, you got the curtains are gray. You got the corner lamp,
which is also gray. Take a look at the wall, right? This is the first
thing that pops. Now imagine if you use the paint from this
wall over here. I will literally
destroy the design. It wouldn't look visually
appealing in that sense, right? However, by using
the rocky texture as if it's a mountain
within the living room, this created a whole visual
appeal, a different ambience, different theme entirely by simply manipulating the texture, even though both of them, by the way, they are
the same colors. One of them is smooth.
The other one is a rocky feel texture
in that sense. If you take a look
at the texture of the pillows over
here, this is gray. This is gray. However, you'll find that the texture
is different. Take a look at the lamp
post, for example. If you use a regular lamp, it might look quite stale, but the linen covering the lamp, the texture of it, complements the entire space. So these examples
are very powerful. When you utilize textures, always take into
account the contrast. How would they look like two different pieces within
the same color scheme? How would they look like
next to each other? You can use these
examples to help guide your decision
making process. That way, you are utilizing
a very powerful element, and by the way,
it's not expensive to incorporate textures. It's part of the design process, and they have a lot
of impact of shifting the entire design process from basic to something
extraordinary. Like I've seen this even
with curtains, for example, like you could have a
regular space by simply manipulating the texture
of the curtains only, you have the ability to
transform the space. Taking one level further, manipulate the
texture of the paint. Manipulate the texture of
the accessories, the tables. If you notice the
table over here, it has a wooden texture. So this adds to the
theme that you have. So think about it that way. Whenever you're buying a piece of furniture, paint curtains, not just simply decide based on the color and the
design of the item. Take a look at the texture. Grab the fabric, grab
the piece of furniture, run your hands on the
piece of furniture, run your hands on the wall, try to understand the
texture behind it, which will help you
at those fine touches which take a basic design and
turn it to a masterpiece.
7. Understanding Colors and Palettes as part of Interior design: Going to be discussing one of the most important elements
of interior design, something that you definitely
have been using as part of your decorative efforts
without giving it sufficient thought,
which is color. Now, in terms of the
regular definition of color, think
about it this way. It's an electromagnetic wave, which is a combination
of various frequencies, red, blue, green, yellow, combined together
to give you what we call as the white
light or the sunlight. This is from a
natural perspective. And as humans, we
engage with nature. So when we are
dealing with colors, we have a certain
response to colors. From a psychological
perspective, various colors evoke
different moods or emotions. And from an interior
design perspective, we need to be equipped
with such knowledge in order to be able to fine
tune our design approach, select colors to achieve
a certain end result. So we need to understand,
first of all, the emotional impact of colors, choose a color palette, which is a sequence of colors. Align it with a
certain purpose of the space and to
achieve a certain mood. And the best way to go about
this is through examples. If we have two projects like
the ones in front of us, if I direct this
question to you, which one of those do
you think gives off the energetic vibe and which one gives off
more of a comer stable? If you have chosen this project to be the energetic
one, you're right. If you have chosen this one to be the calmer
one, you're right. Now the question is, why? Why did you make such a choice? And often the answer is, well, I picked up such a
vibe from the project, the same way when you
walk into a restaurant, a cafe, a new place, and you're able to absorb the mood and the theme of
the place psychologically. This is part of the color cues. Which our brains have
the ability to pick up on and to develop a certain
psychological response, too. Often when we are selecting certain colors as part of
an interior design project, we need to keep in mind which colors evoke, which responses. If you have noticed
over here, for example, for this current project, we have the following
sequence of colors, often called the color palette, the sequence of colors
that you put together to fulfill the color
scheme of the project. So if you pinpoint them inside the project or
inside the application, for example, we got
this color over here, we got this color over here. We got this color
over here again. We got this color over here
again, also on the painting. We got it also on the
pillows, this color as well, also on the walls, also on the pillows,
also on the walls. So you notice every
single color has been selected based on a certain
purpose and a certain mood. And once we combine
them together, we're able to channel that mood. This is the power of color
as part of interior design. If you take a look
at this example over here, and by the way, different colors, they
get various names, endless combinations. So as you go about practicing,
building up your projects, building up your applications, trying to do some sort of home improvements and renovations,
the more you practice, the more combinations
that click to evoke a certain emits that
you aspire to have. Now if you take a
look at this project, we got, for example, black. We got Cosmic Navy,
peacock feathers, sky blue, drifting
by, soft touch. All of them, they are
present in the project. If you take a look
at the Cosmic Navy, consider this as a practice, try to identify the colors. Now for the cosmic navy, it's going to be
present on the pillows. Some of them also present on the fine graphics on the pillows as well in
terms of various shades. If you take a look
at the black color, the frames of the images for the soft touch
and drifting by, they are used for the pillows,
including the flooring, if you notice the flooring, then the black color also for
the table for the lighting. Then you have the
peacock feather is used for the
overthrow blanket, also for the table accessories. Drifting by was used for the selection of the legs
of the coffee table, the surface soft touch, which is also a shade of white. So all of them,
they are present. Mixed together sort of speak. We pick up the accessories, we pick up the
pieces of furniture. We go about painting,
we go about selecting the tiles,
for the flooring, for the walls, the accessories, the lighting the art
pieces, the canvases, the vases, the ornaments, whatever element that
goes into the space, we have already selected
a certain color palette, and every single color
within this palette has been utilized to achieve a
certain purpose and mood. So at this current
stage, you understand the power of color as
part of interior design. So when you combine
lines shapes, spaces, colors, along with the interior
design principles. You have a powerhouse of knowledge to take whatever
project that you're dealing with and apply these practical skills and expertise in order to
transform any space. So this is where you have
the clear difference, the cut line difference between decoration and interior design. From a decoration perspective, you are just simply
trying to match colors. The way you pick up
clothing, right? You pick up a certain t
shirt, certain pair of pants, certain shoes, certain
colors, and that's merely it. But from interior
design perspective, you follow a certain texture, you combine the colors, you take into account the
various principles of lines, shapes, all of these, help the design process
get fine tuned, helping your end
result stand out instead of taking a
look at project which seems that someone has done an okay job trying to
match the colors of the various pieces
of furniture and the accessories and
the paint and whatnot. To something which
is professional. And in order to
achieve that level, which is a professional level, you need to be quite
well versed with the various elements of interior design that we are covering, how to apply them,
how to use them. And whenever you
walk into any space, a residence, a
restaurant, and cafe, you have been trained
to actually pick up all of these elements which have helped develop the interior design project that you are interacting with.
8. Examples of Colour Palettes: Welcome back. I've
seen the importance of colors as part of the
interior design process. I got for you some examples
to actually see how things work out in the practice
to develop that awareness. Let's get right
to it. We do have a couple examples kicking things off with a basic bedroom. If you notice we have the
following color palettes. Always make sure that
you're selecting colors which tend
to work together. Do not overthink it, but if you visually can see
them work together, experiment with those colors. We got every single shade
of the colors that we have. In the color palette present
in the actual project. For example, the light pink is actually present over
here as the blanket. Then you do have the following
accessories over here. We have a combination of the dark gray with light
black in the color. And I'm using my own
representation of these colors because there are different shades
of the same color. You got dark brown, light brown, you got dark blue, light blue, green, blue, a combination of them turquoise the naming of the
colors are extensive. But pick up what
works best for you. There's no need to make things
complicated in that sense. If you take a look at the beige, it's for the frames of the bed, the hairdresser, take
a look at the paint, which is a very
strong application for the color palettes. We got the shades of beige
present on the paint as well. Also as part of the carpet, like I've mentioned,
the accessories or the baskets over here. So you have the
ability to visualize how these colors
they mesh together. Often from a decoration
point of view, you get the furniture, and then you try to make it
work, which wastes time, wastes effort, wastes money, and you don't always get
the result that you want. You need to reverse the process. You pick up the mood, you
pick up the color palette, take a look at the colors
as we're going to see, we have what we call
as the mood boards to come up with the
design concept, then we transition to actually trying to pick up the
pieces of furniture and the tools and the equipment and the accessories and everything that you need to
go into the space. That way, everything
fits perfectly based on the theme that you have let's take a look
at another example. He's in another bedroom, but we have darker colors. We got black, dark brown, light brown, dark beige, and all of them,
they are present. For example, we got
the parquet floors. Take a look at the paints, take a look at the
pillows and the blankets. All of them, they combine the
color palette that we have. Another example, which is on the opposite end of
the color palette, where you have very
bright colors. Here we got neutral colors. Here we got some dark
colors, plus neutral colors. Here we got some bright colors. And often what do you
associate bright colors with? Being bubbly,
energetic, vibrant. Neutral colors are
more calm, subtle. Keep this at the
back of your mind. If you notice again,
every single color on the palette is present in one way or another
as part of the scheme, the color palette that we have. Even a fine touch
of the same color of a certain color should
fall on the color palette, whether as an accessory, a carpet, a curtain, a picture, an image, a vase, whatever it is, or vase, regardless of how you go
about pronouncing it. So it's very important
to make sure that every single detail has
been accounted for. So the color palette
does not have to be only for the major items, even the small items, like a small lamp with
a certain color taken into account as part of the color palette because
at the end of the day, you as a human,
you're going to be engaging with that environment,
which is the space. So you're going to be picking
up all of these cues, color cues which are going to be translated into a
psychological response. And how do you confirm that you have done the job properly? If the response
from the guests of the space is exactly as you have designed
it in the first place, it means a job well done. You do not want to
design for a theme for a restaurant with
a calm ambience. All of a sudden, the
individuals that walk in, they're picking up energetic, bubbly, high energy vibes, which indicate movement
or motion or loudness. Even colors, they could indicate psychological loudness
in that sense. However, the selection
should be made based on the u colors and how they evoke a certain response,
as we are going to see. There are certain
colors which pick up or evoke certain
psychological responses. And once we figure out those and the colors and
their direct response, we have the ability to design
our response in that sense, through selecting the
colors as part of the palettes and then
translating it into the space. That way we achieve the
goal of the space from A to Z without trial and error and wasting a lot of time
and effort in the process.
9. Understanding Colour Psychology as part of Interior Design: And welcome back. Now
in this current lesson, we're going to be diving into the psychology behind colors. But before we
understand what kind of colors and what kind of responses they
are associated with, we need to understand
the preferences of every single individual got their own interpretation or
perception of certain colors. First of all, we have the basic emotional
response or mood response, which is common across the
majority of the population. We have certain
color associations which are related to culture and upbringing with such
colors or certain colors, they have certain
ideas behind them or certain themes behind them based on the cultural
context that you're. Also, we have the individual
variation and preferences. Some individuals, they like
blue, others love red. Everyone get a favorite
color sort of speak, based on their
color associations, based on their bringing, their childhood, their
environment, and the list goes up. So colors in general,
they are innate, and they depend on
the preferences and the cultural context and
the environmental context. From one person to the other. If you like the color blue, it doesn't mean everyone
likes the color blue. So it's important to understand that psychological context as you go about creating a certain design interior
design for a project, because oftentimes you
find individuals try to impose their own preferences
as part of the project. For example, they love
the color yellow, and they try to impose
the color yellow, green, pink, whatever it is, as part of their project. But a client or a
customer or someone using the space likes the
color green or red. So there are preferences
in that sense. However, there are
common responses based on different colors
within the color wheel. Now, this color
wheel is very basic. It includes the
various basic colors. Like we have mentioned,
we have the white light. If I take this color
wheel and spin it, it will turn to a
complete white color. But since it's made up of different frequencies
for different waves, which are the different colors, we have the color wheel. And every single color is broken down to its
various shades. For example, you got red and its shades orange, then
you got yellow, you got green, you
got blue, purple, different shades, turquoise,
the shade of blue. So we have the color wheel
which actually either fades or condenses the colors
coming up with various hues and contrasts. And once you take
a look at this, you have that reflex, which colors work together. But again, the subject
is very extensive, and I wanted to highlight the important points that
you need to pick up on at this current level to be able to implement them as part
of your design process. Now, warm colors,
such as the red, orange, yellows, they create a sense of energy and warmth. So if we go for these
colors over here, the ones that we have over here, the segment of the color wheel, you will notice
that these colors, psychologically, they evoke a
sense of energy and warmth. So when you're designing for
a space and you want to have that mood or that vibe
of energetic vibe, think about those colors. Cool colors, for example, blues and greens, they induce
calmness and tranquility. For example, the colors
over here. Here we go. So if I select any
of those colors, you would notice whenever
I select those colors, I would evoke a mood of
tranquility and calmness. Now, I would like to
ask you this question, why blue and green? Well, the simple
answer is nature. As humans, we interact
with the sea, we interact with plants, and all of these
environmental factors, what do they do at a
human based level? They make you feel calm. So we are wired in
that way, right? And neutrals, we have the
whites and the grays, the offer versatility, clean and timeless feel.
This is very powerful. So if I spin the entire
wheel, I'll turn it to white. It's a combination
of four colors. And if you add an
element of black to it, it will turn to gray. And there are various
shades of gray, various shades of black, various
shades of white as well. So the neutrals, they
are very powerful. Why? Because they allow some room in terms of
flexibility in the design, especially if you are designing for a client, you
have to be careful. If you know your
client very well, or let's say you know your
preferences very well. If you're doing this for
your own renovation, your own project,
wherever it is, you have a clear indication. Shall I go for warm
colors or cool colors? But if you're not
very sure about the preferences or you're not very sure about your
own preferences, neutral colors, they give you
the ability to experiment. So if you have neutral furniture such as sofas,
curtains, carpets, they give you the
room to tinker with the accessories in
terms of warm colors, cool colors, that way, you have the ability to test. But often bold design, such as going directly into
warm colors, cool colors, you have a clear vision, you have a clear idea about the response that you would like or the mood that you would
like to set up for a space. But the safest option to cover all
preferences and to have the ability to be flexible with the design process is
through the neutral colors, which covers whites, grays,
blacks, browns, beige. All of them, they are on
the same level together. So this is very important. Now you have leveled
up your knowledge. You've understood the
elements of design, the importance of color as
part of interior design, and how it affects our
psychology and not just that. We have a clear idea now
that different individuals, they have different
color preferences, associations based
on upbringing, environment, wherever it is. And certain colors, they evoke certain psychological
responses and moods. For example, warm colors, warmth and energy, cool colors, such as blues and greens, tranquility and calm
because they are related to nature in general. And the other way to
think about if any color you're able to
find it in nature as is based on your own interaction with that element of nature, how did that make you feel? And you're able
to use that color and map it as part of
the interior design, which makes you a very
powerful interior designer. And if you're not
sure about which colors you should go for, go for neutral colors, white, black, gray, beige, all of these shades of
the same neutral colors. Are timeless and they give
you room for experimentation. Me personally, I've
worked on projects where I've started off with
the base neutral colors, such as grays, dark
gray, light browns, beige in addition to combining the elements of textures
and fabrics and then building up with
accessories based on the various color schemes and the color wheel to fine
tune the color palette. This is an advanced strategy, feel free to try to apply it for your own
practices as well, where you start off
with a neutral base, a neutral color palette,
and then you build it up. Instead of diving into bright colors on the
spot, of course, unless you know what you're
doing for sure and you have a clear idea about the mood that you
would like to get out, your project that
you're working on. At this stage, we have zoomed in to the back end of
color psychology. That way, we're
equipped with the tools now in terms of
picking up furniture, picking up accessories based on certain color preferences, rather than just
simply decorating to see if the colors match. Now we're dealing
with psychology. We're dealing with
technical skills, we're dealing with some
insights of interior design and expertise to help us actually
make our design stand out.
10. Wrapping Up: So what do you think? I truly hope that you found
the class helpful. If it helped you level up
your knowledge in terms of interior design skills
and you're able to see interior design from a completely different
perspective, then it's a job well done. And I look forward to receiving your feedback on the
current class and make sure that I follow
my profile for the latest releases and updates, and I'll see you
in the next month.
Engr. Hussein Attié, CEO I Engineer I Educator
