Tuesday, December 16, 2014

How to Use the Colors of the Year



Tangerine Tango? Radiant Orchid? Marsala?
(here are the #1 colors of the last 3 years used together)
#ColoroftheYear


Colors come and colors go - the color industry declaring what is hot right now and the fashion, home decor, beauty product industries scrambling to keep up by issuing new clothing, new jewelry, new paint, new pillows and towels, nail polish... This is of course designed to keep us buying!

But how do we keep up? What if we really love the colors from 2 years ago? What if our wardrobe is filled with last years 'Radiant Orchid' (2013), our dining room painted with a bright red wall from oh sometime in the early 2000s, our living room brightened up with accents of 'Tangerine Tango' (2012). How does the new 'Marsala' (2015) fit in?

My #1 Mantra: Define your color palette, the one that makes you feel happy, comfortable, energized, the colors that make you light up from within. Surround yourself with 'Your Colors', stick with them whether they are 'in' or not. Then - only after you feel good - for a bit of fun, throw in accents of the Color du Jour.

But, you ask, what if the Color of the Year doesn't go with my color palette?

This is the fun part!

My #2 Mantra: All colors (can) go together! Yup - even if they are very far apart and look off when viewed side by side by their selves. The key is what you put with them!

I go into a lot more depth in my eBooks: Artful Color for Creative Projects and Dip Into ColorDip Into Color - but here is the heart of pulling colors together - add transition colors, the ones that guide your eye from one color to the next and voila! they all look good together!

Have fun pulling colors together and adding accents of the Color of the Year to your palette!



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