COLOR THEORY color + design Transforming interior space
ESPERANZA MUINO
Color Theory and Application for the Built Environment color + design
Transforming interior space
Florida International University Spring 2016
Instructor Darci Pappano Student Esperanza Muino
MODULES
contents
This course explores the use of color in the built environment. This book include principal color systems, methods of color harmony, effects of visual phenomena, and various psychological, cultural and historical implications. Emphasis was placed on using color in combination with design principles.
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color + me
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color + theory
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color + designers
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color + psychology
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color + balance
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color + your camera
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color + rhythm
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color + emphasis
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color + proportion + scale
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10 color + variety hospitality
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11 color + rendering
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12 color + variety workplace
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13 color + culture
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14 color + conclusion
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M1
color + me
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color + me
I was born in Colombia but I grew up in Venezuela. Art first entered in my life when I was a young child but I did not understand art as a profession until I started my career. I studied at the Central University of Venezuela in Caracas, where I spent 6 years in the school of Architecture and Planning. I started my practice as an architect before graduation at the Design Department .
My practice had included collaborations on housing and private residences, small galleries, schools and some planning and environmental projects. During my college years in 1991, with the help of a group of students, I founded “Entre Rayas� a magazine dedicated to the architecture, planning and interior design (which is currently over 20 years old!)
I got married in 1992 and move to Florida without finishing my degree, missing just the final project! After 22 years of marriage, three wonderful, lovely and gorgeous daughters, I raised a family. I dedicated these past years to teach my kids how to succeed in life, be happy and be good human beings. Now that they have the tools to survive it is my turn to complete my unfinished dream. In these next couple of years, I will work to get my Masters in Interior Architecture and hope to learn not just how to design public space but also create positive atmospheres.
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M2
color + theory
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M3
Color + designers
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GERRIT RIETVELD Rietveld Schrรถder House UTRECHT NETHERLANDS
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M4
Color + psychology
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A color strategy is like a recipe for harmony - a set of color relationships that are proven to work well and can be used as a formula for building our color composition. ~Mitchell Albala
M5
color + balance
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color + balance No matter what your color preferences are, bold or subtle, color balance is the most important secret in achieving your desired interior designed effect. It is also the most difficult to describe as it comes down to how your eye perceives the space around you. 
The easiest way to achieve balance is by using the symmetrical or formal form, as the design elements are repeated on each side.
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Asymmetrical design is typically created with an odd number of disparate elements. Lines, colours, forms and textures are balanced in a sp ace without duplication.
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When there is a central focal point with other elements radiating from it or around it, this is radial balance.
symmetrical
asymmetrical
radial 30
M6
color + your camera
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M7
color + rhythm
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color + rhythm
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Rhythm can be thought of as a pattern in movement. You can hear it in varied sounds to create music or in the steady drip of a faucet. It can also be seen; think about lines in the sidewalk and how your footsteps relate to the regular breaks.
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Rhythm can be seen and heard throughout nature and in our built environment through repetition, alternation and progression. These three methods of achieving rhythm can be applied to interior spaces as a way to introduce order, interest and focus, and to help lead your eye through a room.
repetition
alternation
progression 34
M8
Color + emphasis
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FENDI
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M9
color + proportion + scale
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color + proportion + scale
Proportion refers to how the elements within an object relate to the object as a whole while scale relates to the size of an object compared to the space in which it is located.
Scale and proportion are without a doubt the most important part of achieving great design. Together, they are the holy grail of interior design. A little research will quickly show that the formula for scale and proportion has been around forever. It was first studied in ancient Greece 2,500 years ago. The Romans knew about it too.
the golden ratio shows up in nature
…in all of the world’s most beloved
(like in this nautilus shell)
artistic masterpieces…
…and in architecture the world over. 44
M10
Color + variety hospitality
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It is general knowledge for anyone interested in color that subdued value, intensity and hue make for quieter, less adventuresome interiors. Stronger approaches need stronger knowledge, more experience and flair. ~Van Day Truex, Interiors, Character, and Color
M11
Color + rendering
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The selective eye must be an experienced eye, an eye that knows the genuine pleasures of harmonious colors and textures, of sensitive line and proportion, of the play in contrasts of light and shade. The selective eye must see beyond immediate limitations, recognize possibilities that a fertile imagination suggests, and translate the difference between the genuine and the false. ~Michael Taylor
M12
Color + variety workplace
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M13
Color + culture
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A nation's culture resides in the hearts and in the soul of its people. ~Mahatma Gandhi
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color + conclusion
Color is one of the main elements of interior design. It has the ability to affect the apparent proportions of space, manipulate the perception of light, influence the psychology of people and works directly with the decorative style. In the interior design it is essential to find a color scheme that works. To do this we need to know about color theory. This course helped us to demonstrate an understand color principles, theories, and systems through the use of different strategies. As interior architects we need to know how identify the interaction of light and color and the impact they have on one another and the interior environment. We should be able to analyze different applications of color and understand how color relates and changes under varying typologies of interior spaces. We have to understand that color has the ability to affect people and their perceptions of the environment.
The information learned in this course will help us to demonstrate competence at communicating design intent through use of various digital media and compare and contrast the use of color as it relates to the principles of design. Overall this was a very interesting course, recommended for all designer in general. An A + course.
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