Part 1 : How to choose and combine colours?
How to choose a colour that “matches” your business?
1. If you sell high-end products, choose black, which evokes luxury, elegance and class. It also symbolises refinement, and even mystery.
2. Want to create the illusion of more space? Keep most surfaces white.
3. White is also ideal if you sell health or hygiene products, as it symbolises cleanliness.
4. Do you run a branch of a bank or insurance firm? Consider blue, which inspires confidence and trust.
5. Is your space dedicated to beauty or relaxation? Purple can create a sense of tranquility.
6. If you want to promote relaxation and a feeling of “zen”, for instance in a store dedicated to wellness, health foods or organic produce, choose green. This colour is easy on the eye, (so forget neon and “Granny Smith” shades), and has a calming effect on the nervous system.
7. To draw the attention of your customers to a specific product, consider yellow. Eye-catching and cheery, this colour is generally used in window displays for promotions, and customers recognise and identify this signal instantly.
8. Red should be used sparingly - save it for sales and promotions. Synonymous with urgency, it can “stress” your customers, increasing their heartrate.
9. Orange implies urgency, or even aggression. Like red, it should therefore be used to draw attention to special offers or stock clearances.
A few basic rules
10. Pro tip: limit yourself to a maximum of three colours, used in varying proportions, 80% for the main colour, 15% for the second and 5% for the third. The latter is used to accentuate the environment created by the other two colours.
11. If you are aiming for balance, use a colour wheel to choose three adjacent colours (next to one another on the circle). If you follow this advice you can’t go wrong!
12. When combining colours, choose a neutral tone (white or grey for example), then add a few decorative elements, or an entire wall, in a contrasting colour. This will produce attractive results, and you can easily transform the whole effect, by simply changing the feature colour.
13. To make an interior appear larger, you could paint it entirely white, or choose pale shades of the same colour, such as three pale blues. Used alongside mirrors and carefully planned lighting, this strategy is highly effective.
