Introducing… the Wellbeing Colour Wheel Tool and Framework

Karen Haller 01
Karen Haller

Last week I spent three days at Clerkenwell Design Week. Now into its 9th year, it’s definitely one of the highlights on the global design calendar.

It’s also one of my favourites as it has a real festival feel to it and for me this year was even more exciting because I officially launched my new Wellbeing Colour Wheel in collaboration with the prestigious 100-year-old flooring brand, Altro, where I selected colours from their current product range based around the concept of Creating mindful interiors for wellbeing spaces – going beyond the grey.

Clerkenwell Design Week was the perfect forum to launch the Wellbeing Colour Wheel, to ‘test’ out my concept and it was so well received I literally spent the three days speaking non-stop to people, many who came specially because they wanted to know more about it. I spoke to architects, design companies, interior designers, product developers, manufacturers, large corporations, major paint brands (such as Dulux, Johnstone, Benjamin Moore), everyone wanted to know more about the new way that I’ve presented the work that I do. I’m sure I saw Elle Decoration there too.

Wellbeing Colour Wheel | Clerkenwell Design Week in collaboration with Altro

If you have been reading my blogs for a while now you’ll know how passionate I am about sharing the word, but what I have found is that I needed a way to bring in Applied Colour Psychology in an easy to understand tool. What’s unique about the way I’m doing this colour wheel is that it allows me to start to show the depth of how you can use Applied Colour Psychology in any situation or space.

Some of the typical 1-1 conversations I had with design professionals ranged from how to:

  • bring colour into a scheme when my residential client is scared of using colour
  • bring this wellbeing concept into schools to encourage learning and play
  • how to use colour to facilitate and support new agile ways of working in open planned offices to support their overall well-being and performance.

This is the way that big companies want to move towards. Experience using this within an agile framework which is the way big companies re moving towards. We develop towards positive ways of working.

I’ve been working using this framework in my day to day work for many years now. But it’s only in the last year or so there’s been positive signs and shifts towards bringing the use of colour and how to use it for positive benefit in the well-being space, so it felt like it’s the right time to really bring this out into the public.

Wellbeing Colour Wheel | Clerkenwell Design Week in collaboration with Altro

Wellbeing Colour Wheel | Clerkenwell Design Week in collaboration with Altro

 

Wellbeing Colour Wheel Tool & Framework
And what under pins the Wellbeing Colour Wheel is the field of Applied Colour Psychology – the study of how colour and specifically combinations of colour influences how we think, feel and behave.

There are five points to the framework, where I shared three of them at Clerkenwell which were:

  • Context (setting)
    e.g. a children’s hospital, playroom, residents’ dining area in a care home.
  • Experience and behaviour
    What are the positive experiences and long-term positive behaviours for those using the space?
  • Creating a tonal harmonious colour palette including consideration to:
    – chromatic intensity
    –  proportion
    –  placement

    These will have a direct impact on whether the positive or adverse effects of the colours are likely to felt in the space.

 

Given the great response and interest over the three days I’m encouraged to continue developing the Wellbeing Colour Wheel Tool & Framework which I will be sharing more about it so keep an eye out for future talks and workshops around this topic.

If you would like me to help bring this into your workplace, in an agile working environment to support positive and productive work behaviours for your team or staff then get in touch and we can have a conversation.

If you would like to learn about this yourself then drop me an email at
[email protected] to arrange a call.

If you want to know how to advance your colour knowledge, then check out my courses.

Author note: Please feel free to share the information and images in this article. All I ask is that you credit me including a link back to this article.

© Karen Haller 2018

Wishing you a colourful day,
Karen

 

 

 

 

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