Exploring an experimental and material-based colour design practice

With this project, I investigate how elements from classical colour theory and aesthetic theory of atmosphere can form both the basis for the development of an experimental and material-based colour design practice and the basis of a contemporary colour terminology using harmony and atmosphere as perspectives to analyse and discus designed colour combinations.
Existing colour theories present the concept of colour harmony as a dogmatic approach to colour combination for example Itten (1977) and Munsell (1905). The argumentation for the harmonious colour combinations is built on the organisation of colours in each theory’s specific system. This is aligned with the earliest conceptions of beauty as a common ideal where beauty is embedded in the object and can be achieved by arranging elements in a certain way (Aristotle & Barnes 1984). The colour theories are being criticised by colour and design researchers for not including the diversity of material and form and for not being aligned with the contemporary practice of colour design that has a more intuitive and experimental nature (Arnkil 2013, McLachlan 2013, Weber & Kanthak 2018).
The concept of chromatic atmosphere is recently suggested as an alternative to the concept of colour harmony within architecture (Arnkil & Pyyrko 2018). Chromatic atmosphere is based on the understanding of atmosphere as a physical perception of a space through emotional sensibility and recognise materials as an important element in the creation of emotional response (Böhme 2018, Gumbrecht 2012). Opposite the concept of colour harmony, chromatic atmosphere acknowledges the material’s influence on the perception of the colour, but refrain from suggesting specific design methods.
The project applies the methodology ‘Practice-based design research’ (Koskinen et al. 2011, Vaughan 2017) and is built as an empirical study with a reciprocal action between practice-based design experiments concerning the creation of colour combination and theoretical reflection.