Colour design can be seen as a symptom of human action: Interview with F.A.S., uncut

Q: Thomas Kölsch A: Timo Rieke, translated by Timo Rieke

1. Many people take colour for granted - few think about nuances like absinthe turquoise, ant red and gloomy blue. But what does colour mean to you as a professor of colour design?

At the Institute, we work to make colour design understandable and, as far as possible, scientifically based. We focus on people's needs and explore the interaction between design and perception (external and internal). Which colour and material combinations are relaxing, which are stimulating and which colours facilitate communication. From a design perspective, colour has a functional character. We distinguish between cultural functions, sensual-aesthetic functions and functions of accentuation. This means, for example, do I use colour to emphasise something or do I use colour to conceal?

The relationship between colour and design is similar to the relationship between sound and music. If I know what I want to achieve with a composition, I can find the right concepts for it. And that can be absinthe turquoise, as in our latest colour trend report, or a simple white combined with wood and a little neon yellow.

Our trend reports explore contemporary colours that we see in fashion, but also in durable products and architecture. That's why we don't completely change our 15 colours every year, but rather represent an evolution. Contemporary colours are important because they are part of the historical process of human development. Kant once wrote: "Beautiful things show that man fits into the world", and I read this as the need to live in harmony with culture and time. Art and high fashion expand the horizon of beauty in harmony with sociological and technical developments, creating a development that feeds itself and leads to something new. We like to see the University as part of this evolutionary process, thinking at the same time about metaverses, AI, ecology, minimalism and the colours that reflect, are or will be part of these worlds. This is how colour scenarios for future design emerge. We do not stop at colour, but always consider the language of form, surface and structure in an integrated way.

Since the first humans, colour has been part of life and a mirror of human development. From the first handprints on cave walls, to the highly artificial AI-generated images of digital imagery, to the restrained, serene designs of today's interiors. Unlike the colourful 70s, living spaces today are designed with little excitement and are more of a retreat from the digital bustle on the screen (which I can switch on if I need to). Contemporary spaces are very tactile, stimulating the senses with flowing, hand-shaped elements. Colours are muted and always natural, rather than bright white or overly colourful.

Although colour is physically very easy to measure, its effect is complex. For me, colour is closely linked to emotions and feelings. The colour design of the architecture that I experience influences how I feel. Of course, this also works with design objects and products. In other words, you can see the intention behind the design of a room or a product. In this sense, colour design can also be seen as a symptom of human action.

For me personally, colour is something that accompanies me throughout the day. The slowly shimmering, leafy, radiant and warm yellow of morning light, the sweet red of jam, the astringent, transparent and fragrant reddish-brown of black tea. It is interesting to note that you only need to see the jam to know that it is sweet and strawberry-like, you only need to open your eyes to see if the sun is shining, you can tell by the colour if the tea has been brewed too long or if the milk in the coffee is perfect.

2. What effects can colours have on people, consciously and unconsciously? Is it possible to make general statements about this, or is it more a question of taste and socialisation?

In principle, our whole life is based on the evaluation of visual stimuli, and these are related to colour. People are experts at judging colour - but they are usually not even aware of it. We find something beautiful or suitable, but we don't know exactly why. Even young children can judge what is beautiful and what is not. Most conscious colour choices are culturally influenced and socialised. These are mainly media phenomena such as trend colours, fashion, but also conscious references to architectural styles or the adoption of certain anecdotal narratives. Then there are more unconscious decisions that determine how we value colour, and these are of an aesthetic nature. That is: How soft does a colour appear? How dry does a hue seem? How striking is a nuance? But here we are already deep in the research of the effects of colour.

Even colour choices that are perceived as deliberate are often impossible to explain in detail. Yet people are surprisingly unanimous about whether a particular colour combination will suit a room in a particular location. People seem to have a fairly uniform sense of what colours go with what place, or what they find beautiful. The reason for this is a very homogeneous imprinting through similar sensory perception (eyes, ears and hearing as well as sight function very similarly), the way of the natural environment, the increasingly similar, now global, media such as television, advertising, films and series as well as magazines, brand communication and shopping worlds.

Colour is an integral part of our emotional world. Colour has a decisive influence on how we perceive our surroundings, because it is the visual sense that stimulates all the other senses. It makes something seem soft or hard, loud or quiet, sweet or salty. Colour is also a cultural factor: what goes with the year in which my flat was built; are there places with which a room should be associated in terms of design. And then there is a decision about distinctiveness: what goes with the objects and furniture that are important to me, and which ones I want to emphasise with the right background, for example. Colour design promotes feelings of calm or vibrancy, openness or enclosure, communication or silence, contemplation or departure. Accordingly, you can design the areas of your home according to their function. A dining table that is more communicative, a bedroom that is quiet and cool, an entrance area that is tidy but full of character, ...

People's reactions to colour are strongly linked to their own experiences with colour. However, it would be completely wrong to conclude from this that reactions to colour are completely individual. We all grow up with very similar sensory organs, in a very similar environment that has socially tested and cultivated the natural and cultural signals of colour over decades. So we are by no means alone in our colour education, but are in dialogue with others. So much so that television and cinema influence our experience of colour and help to adapt colour codes to the times. In fact, the meanings of colour are not final, but flexible and changeable. However, many basic perceptions persist for a long time and form the basis of colour perception. This is simply a result of the many unchanging visual habits we have acquired through our senses and memory.

The importance of colour becomes clear when we realise that people always associate colour scenes with memories or visual habits. This usually happens unconsciously, but is formed over a long period of growing up and socialising. Greys and beiges remind us of sandstone, darker browns of earths, greens of leaves, etc., pink is often associated with plastics. All these experiences are intermodally linked to haptic and tactile sensations. A fresh leaf feels different from sandstone, earth different from plastic. Colour can be used to define the material properties of an object. A black cardboard box feels heavier than a white one, a pink shape softer than a dark grey one.

3. What are the current trends, especially in (high quality, expensive and exclusive) interior design? What colours or colour palettes are alternatives to the usual Alpina white? What is modern, what is timeless, what is kitsch and what is elegant? And which colour combinations make you, as a designer and aesthete, go ballistic?

A good alternative to pure white, which has its place, are slightly off-white shades such as lime paint with natural chalks such as RAL 090 85 05. These shades are becoming increasingly popular because they give the walls a calm yet deliberate look. Pure white is more and more seen as naked and undesigned. For me, every pure white wall is like a white canvas, an incentive and an opportunity to design. If it is very colourful, it can quickly become kitschy and "too much", especially if the colour scheme does not take into account the purpose of the room. A colourful, very lively bedroom is more likely to look tacky than a colourful dining room. More timeless are earthy, natural colours that feel familiar and reassuring. Darker tones used in a deliberate way are elegant. Especially if the whole room, including the ceiling, is painted in the same colour and the colour is coordinated with the furniture and floor.

The current trend is for natural tone-in-tone combinations with accents. The surface is very important. A colour changes very much with the surface and materiality. There is a huge difference between high quality handmade and industrial high gloss. There is a strong trend at the moment to move away from artificial pigments and dyes and to let the pure material give the colour. This includes natural earths as pigments for wall paints, as well as materials from residual and waste materials such as copper slag or natural aggregates such as recycled cork for interior plasters. There are already naturally produced mother-of-pearl effects on wood, for example, or 3D-printed, locally mined clay used to make vases

At the same time, we are seeing a move towards fine sustainable materials in complex and quite colourful shades that do not look like ecology, but are part of a technical development where plastics can be reused relatively well and production is as sustainable as possible.

I'm attracted to colours that are contemporary and create places that are identifiable, that have character. At the same time, I find colours annoying, such as very artificially coloured wall designs (usually only one wall, usually in "fresh" bright green), but also the impersonal and careless white/anthracite of every second renovation or new building project. What I find difficult in the product sector is the use of the one colour of the year, which then pours over shop windows offering cups, ironing boards, pens, pans, umbrellas, socks and jumpers, undifferentiated and without context. Here, colour becomes a marketing campaign and loses its reflective character that makes things valuable. In the home, at the latest, the object loses its value and is soon discarded.

4. Bright, bold colours were popular in the 70s, whereas muted, natural colours seem to be more popular now. Where do these trends come from?

In fact, we are currently seeing a return to more colourful tones, at least in the most contemporary and high-end designs. In other words, there are currently at least 2 main trends that are constantly crossing each other: the more monochrome, natural-coloured, material-emphasising designs and the more artistic, staged designs. Society changes, and with it tastes and preferences for colour. This is something quite natural.

The word trend can be interpreted in different ways. For many, it is what is new and fashionable and simply sells well. But in the truest sense of the word, a trend is a change in the issues that concern a society. The 50s have different colours than the 70s. This is due to social developments in art, technology, norms and values, which change because society is a dynamic entity. A change in colour taste is therefore always a sign of changing social issues.

Colour combinations that are in tune with the times are often perceived as more beautiful than the usual colour profiles. New colours are something like a premonition of the coming summer. New colours are always associated with hope. This is why trendy colours are often a little more colourful than the shades you normally wear or use.

At the Institute, for example, we use contemporary colours to mark developments as current and future-oriented. To do this, we read a lot, visit trade fairs and exhibitions and collect 10,000 images every six months, which we analyse in terms of colour. From this we can derive cycles and changes, even forecasts. We base our predictions on long-term social megatrends such as health, digitalisation and sustainability. We use colour trends to tell us about the future.

5. don't colours always have to suit the person who inhabits a room and fills it with life? How much psychology is involved in choosing colours?

A mathematician finds something beautiful differently from a graphic designer. So it takes a lot of collaboration with the client to find out what works. Choosing colours certainly requires some empathy and the right methods. Fortunately, there are colour charts, swatches and visualisations to help guide the design process. Colour design is a process. In the run-up to implementation, everything is done to ensure that the design will work. It is a design process with iterative loops using various media such as sketches, colour-material collages, 1:1 samples, renderings, diagrams and plans as well as test colours, new product development, text and presentations. So, as always, it's a bit of experience, empathy and a lot of work. At the end of the process, however, you can see the care in the result and you are looking at a transformed space.

6. What is the better choice in interiors: hard contrasts or soft transitions?

It depends. Hard contrasts are more vivid and loud, whereas soft transitions are more harmonious and quiet. The question is what suits the space. Colour design has many variables that guide the choice of colour, including: spatial situation, local context, function, target group, lighting conditions, inventory, ecological requirements, ...

7. What role does lighting play in the effect of colour? To what extent should it be taken into account when choosing colours?

Lighting is extremely important. Colour and light are inextricably linked. There is no colour without light. Coloured surfaces can be accentuated with the right artificial light where there is little natural light. But natural light also has an impact on the effect of colour. Rooms facing north tend to be cooler, and there is no direct sunlight. Neither of these are good conditions for bright, 'sunny' yellows - they will not be able to shine and will look a little unhappy. Warm reds are better there. Brighter colours are also welcome, but it depends on how bright the rooms actually are. In fact, any darker colour will take away from the brightness of the room. This is particularly noticeable on the floor. If the light coming in from above is not reflected, the room will be much less bright. Wooden floors are popular because the light reflected from them gives the room a slight yellowish tinge, which we find very pleasant. Natural light in rooms with grey tiled floors looks cool and not very lively.

8. From your point of view as a colour designer, when is a home coherent?

A home is coherent when it reflects the character of the people who live there, when it takes the location into account as a context, when it is artistically reflective and stimulating in a contemporary way, when it manages to play with and stage the furniture, when it composes the atmospheric areas of the home into a varied climate that is beautiful today and will still be of value in 15 years' time.

9. What does your home look like?

People often think my home is lively and colourful. I like simple furniture combined with coloured surfaces that emphasise the architecture, highlighting areas and immersing them in different colours. I paid attention to which colours would work in direct sunlight and which would work better in the shade. Eclipse blue (RAL 290 30 25) is the colour that runs along an architecturally accentuated wall panel from the entrance to the living and dining areas. In the living area it is combined with Light Violet (RAL 320 80 05) and Sand Brown (RAL 100 70 20), and in the entrance area to the north with Desert Red (RAL 030 60 20). The yellow chair (RAL 1018) in front of the front door is inviting and communicative.