Reported by:
Khoo Xin Yi Jr3Z(6)
The world around us, brought to life by colours. On the 28th of December, an intriguing talk on Colour Theory was organised by the Kuen Cheng Online Art Festival Committee, starring Dr Eric Leong as the guest speaker. Being Dean of the Art & Design Faculty and Assistant Professor in New Era University College, it is no doubt that Dr Eric’s experience in art made the talk an insightful one.
Dr Eric Leong
Starting off, Dr Leong gave a brief explanation on why colours are so important to us. Colours form a natural order in life and influence us in many ways such as how apples turn red when they ripen or how leaves change colour throughout the seasons. He explained how colours influence our senses and brings back memories in the process.
Next up, Dr Leong introduced the 8 main colour families, namely red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet, warm neutral and cool neutral. He talked about how each colour has its own meaning and how the colours are suitable for different scenarios in daily life, even displaying various interior designs with the different colour themes. He first spoke on the colour red which represents love, passion, danger and anger. Along with that, he mentioned that the colour red enhances our appetite.
8 Main Colour Families
On the other hand, Dr Leong said that violet gives an expression of romance, mystery, magic and royalty. The colour violet is suitable for the bedroom because of its romantic aspects and he brought up how royal subjects often use the colour violet. Just like violet, the colour yellow represents royalty as well because of all the South East Asian countries that use yellow as a royal colour. Yellow is said to represent energy, strength and optimism, which is why it’s not suited for bedrooms since it could give us too much energy at night when we want to sleep.
The energy to move forward also comes from the colour orange. Dr Leong gave his remarks on how orange represents sunshine, hope, positivity and moving forward. He even recommended the colour orange for offices because it often sparks creativity and motivation. The participants were then enlightened with a video on an experiment where a grey track field was painted orange to look like a race track, making civilians feel more motivated to run and race. After orange, came the colour green, which was associated with focus, healing, refreshing and growth, thus being perfect for libraries, study rooms, clinics and hospitals.
Civilians Motivated by Orange Running Track
The blue sky is limitless, as is the colour blue itself. It was noted by Dr Leong that blue is a colour representing calmness, harmony, limitlessness and communication. Blue is often represented in communication companies such as Celcom, Meta and more. However, darker shades of blue also make us feel more depressed and dull. Dr Leong then played a video of an experiment in a collage where one side of the stairs was painted grey while the other side was rainbow coloured. Most students chose to use the coloured stairs instead of the grey ones.
Then, Dr Leong explained that warm neutral colours are often associated with purity, cleanliness, warmth and desaturation. Such colours are great for enhancing more vibrant colours. Meanwhile, cool neutral colours are more serious, quiet, cool and mysterious. Dr Leong also recommended mixing cool neutral colours in various shades to create aesthetically pleasing patterns.
Cool Neutral Colour Themed Interior
To conclude his explanation on the influence of colours, Dr. Leong played a video experiment compilation where it was made clear that people often chose coloured stairs or elevators compared to dull ones, showing just how much colours matter to us.
Lastly, Dr Leong introduced what’s called the Colour Trend to the participants. Colour trend reports are said to be important for companies in marketing their products. Every year, a new colour trend is announced. For example, Colour Future 2022 is said to have a dull blue theme, bringing a more underwhelming yet versatile and open feeling. An interview video was then played, starring Dr Leong who spoke on the theme for Colour Future 2013, which was violet. He explained that violet connects blue and purple together, and such connections bring us happiness.
Colour Trends Throughout the Years