A Creative and Systematic Colour Education for Designers

Colour Connections 2021: Colour Society of Australia National Conference, Abstracts and Biographical Notes, 2021

This conference proposes the development of a Colour Design Training Itinerary (CDTI), as a complete educational framework (different training paths, intended learning outcomes, contents structure, methodologies, teaching and learning activities, and assessment strategies) that sets out different levels of action for the improvement of the teaching and learning of colour in the design discipline. The project is being carried out with special attention to observation and direct experience as a way to inspire the individual reflection on colour and, with this, to lifelong learning. Also, the CDTI framework is being built through consultation, involvement and collaboration with colour teachers from different countries and backgrounds. The main goal the research is to provide meaningful resources to contribute to a greater inclusion and consideration of the teaching and learning of colour, according to design and project disciplines needs in a changing world and for the future.

Finiture Green, 2025

Whether designing an interior, product, or brand identity, architecture and design professionals consistently rely on colour to establish connections with users and convey specific messages. However, translating abstract ideas into colour selection can be challenging, particularly when working with complex or sophisticated meanings that lack physical or concrete visual references. So, how can we make informed colour choices beyond subjective intuition or traditional associations? To address this, the Colour Meaning Matrix (CMM) was developed. This tool assists creatives in selecting colours with precision and purpose, offering guidelines and suggestions to align ideas with all three colour attributes - hue, lightness, and saturation - and enabling designers to choose colours that effectively communicate the desired emotional and contextual meanings.

Jurnal Sosioteknologi, 2018

Color is one of design elements which plays a significant role and influences people's daily cultural and personal experiences. It is a subject that should be studied from multidisciplinary perspectives; not only art and design perspective, but also chemistry, physics, psychological, sociological and cultural perspectives. Color: The Professional's Guide is a book dedicated to discussing different color topics by providing strong foundation in a holistic approach. The author is a designer and educator in color design and visual merchandising at Rhode Island School of Design Certificate Programs. She has written for many design magazines and newspapers on color and design topic. The book contains 19 chapters and is organized into six parts.

The PhD research "Colour Design Edu.System. For a systematic and creative approach to an interdisciplinary colour education in design" (2009)(2010)(2011)(2012) identifies in education and Design Thinking the opportunity to develop a shared colour culture in step with the complexity and interdisciplinarity of today's knowledge. The context of design education has been chosen to develop and test the CDES Toolkit, conceived both as propaedeutic and supplemental tool and method for the colour design activity, supporting students and teachers from research to the meta-design phase. The toolkit is made of two sets of cards of which one was tested through action research strategy at three European design schools. Both as educational toolkit and online service, the CDES is going to be subject of new workshops and test phases, to contribute to the development of those "colour design communities" in which each type of expertise and discipline can participate creatively and "designerly" to the knowledge sharing in the huge colour scenario.

Faculty of Built Environment and Engineering School of Design, 2009

In a university context how should colour be taught in order to engage students? Entwistle states, 'What we learn depends on how we learn, and why we have to learn it.' Therefore, there is a need to address the accumulating evidence that highlights the effects of learning environments on the quality of student learning when considering colour education. It is necessary to embrace the contextual demands while ensuring that the student knowledge of colour and the joy of discovering its characteristics in practice are enhanced. Institutional policy is forcing educators to re-evaluate traditional studio's effectiveness and the intensive 'hands-on' interactive approach that is embedded in such an approach. As curriculum development involves not only theory and project work, the classroom culture and physical environment also need to be addressed. The increase in student numbers impacting the number of academic staff/student ratio, availability of teaching support as well as increasing variety of student age, work commitments, learning styles and attitudes have called for positive changes to how we teach. The Queensland University of Technology's restructure in 2005 was a great opportunity to re-evaluate and redesign the approach to teaching within the design units of Interior Design undergraduate program -including colour. The resultant approach "encapsulates a mode of delivery, studio structure, as well as the learning context in which students and staff interact to facilitate learning" 1 with a potential "to be integrated into a range of Interior Design units as it provides an adaptive educational framework rather than a prescriptive set of rules". This paper provides a critique of one university unit, Colour Studies, which is tailored to suit future interior designers and architects. Unfortunately, teaching colour to students of design within the higher education sector is becoming a luxury rather than core business. The study raises some of the issues involved in the educative climate drawing on educational theory as well as the teaching team's reflections. The implementation of new modes of 'teaching', as a means of coping with higher student numbers and reduced staffing and resources are described while reinforcing their relevance and application for colour design education. Student perceptions and staff observations of the outcomes are presented. Generic capabilities, in association with professional knowledge and skills, are integrated into the ongoing development of the Colour Studies unit in order to create a motivating and active learning environment. Within this paper the authors highlight the nature of student learning, as an important component of how students come to understand colour and its implications. Secondly, they describe this particular colour unit and its implications. It is evident that a deep approach to learning colour is required in order to understand and apply it in design practice. Superficial learning may result in task-orientated approaches and lecturer-dependency which are evident by lack of engagement and/or deeper understandings within their project work.

Inter-Society Color Council Quarterly Newsletter, 2022

ISCC Quarterly Newsletter #500 issue. A report on the state of color education in university design programs, its challenges and opportunities for the 21st century.

Journal of Psychology Research

the pedagogical research in the teaching of color theory, the author has carried out a series of interviews with visual artists in different areas. Some of these visual artists currently involve in the art education as well. Therefore, the sharing of their experience in their learning, practice, and teaching of color theory will serve as good qualitative data for the development of a robust color theory training approach to benefit our current tertiary visual art students. The background of these visual artists covers art educators, architects, fine artists (painters), a comic artist/an illustrator, a visual communication artist, a product designer, and a film-maker while a few of them have profession in more than one areas stated above.

Color Research & Application

Color comprises both subjective and objective aspects within its contextual nature. Research on color design tends to explore this seemingly contradictory concerns from theoretical point of view, as well as architectural and design practice. The aim of this study was to observe subjective, intuitive or heuristic and objective, knowledge-based or analytical attitudes toward color in design education. In the study 84 introductory design students were surveyed progressively to understand their color decision criteria after completion of three 2-dimensional colored exercises, specific in terms of color education. Students' responses to open-ended questions were coded according to the 5 categories, under 2 decision making processes derived from the literature; heuristic approach: preferential and symbolic criteria, and analytic reasoning: formal, thematic, and systematic criteria. A distinction between associative and emotional aspects of symbolic criteria was also revealed by the data analysis. The findings showed a shift from heuristic responses to analytic reasoning, as expected. Additionally, it is also investigated that students not only used heuristic approaches but also analytical components (formal and systematic) of color decision making in varying degrees as well, even before any color subjects covered. Thematic color decisions became a major part of the students' design considerations upon completion of color subjects. The observed increase in the number of color criteria interrelated by the students' among almost all categories explicated a complex decision making process particularly in color design and education. These findings were expected to lead to some further understanding in color decision making in design.

Graphic designers, like all designers, are dedicated in the thinking process until the very last moment of final production. During the design process, designers engage in brainstorming, researching, analyzing, and applying imaginative skills, using their logic and critical skills to create ideas. However, the process can be peculiar to distinct designers, which will lead to totally varied results. So, does that mean design thinking is random and unpredictable? Can we actually record the process and visualize it? If we could, would it be clearer for us to view the relationships between ideas and lead us to a better result?

AIC Midterm Meeting Color and Landscape, Book of Proceedings, 2019

In this paper, we expose some of the most significant color design experiences and results conducted in the Master Program in Color Design & Technology, organized by Politecnico di Milano in cooperation with Associazione Italiana Colore and Università Degli Studi di Milano. This Master aims to provide advanced multidisciplinary training to professionals, so as to enable them to understand and manage the technical and design issues, often across many disciplinary areas, typical of all the professional and research sectors in which the use and management of color are essential. This one-year post-graduate master program consists of three main phases: the first phase is composed of lectures on color fundamentals by different academics and professionals; the second phase, which we expose here, is composed of five specialized extended workshops about Color in Communication, Fashion, Interior, Product, and Urban Design. In the last phase, the students go through an Internship period, to establish contacts between academia and companies who work with color in the field of design, architecture, textiles, and paints, among others.