I have always thought of yellow as an inspirational color, and the one most associated with innovations and ideas. A few years back I painted the walls of my apartment a pale yellow (“butter”), thinking that I would be inspired by the color! Strangely, I never associated the color with energy even though it obviously represents sunlight. “Yellow, in most cultures, is associated with the power and energy of the sun and is a perfect partner for sustaining and adding power to green.” Jack Bredenfoerder writes about color trends on the Landor blog. In this post, he explains how the economy can dictate the tastes people will have in 2010 and beyond. He asserts that because we’ve experienced such an economic downturn that people will move towards more simplicity in their life, and less ‘bling’. Sustainability issues are reaching the forefront of many peoples minds, and that may encourage folks to use materials efficiently and reduce waste by reuse and recycling.
I’ve included a natural pale yellow wood chair in the inspiration board above to represent the idea of sustainability, and the cool yellow light above represents the inspiration that yellow brings us. Tropical colors are also being forecasted for 2010, since people are dying to go on vacation! There are a couple warm yellow colors included in the Pantone color forecast, to represent sun and the warmth of lying on a tropical beach in paradise (that would be nice). Yellow also reminds me of citrus, and the shocking taste of a lemon. Yellow is the taste of cool lemon water while dozing in the sun on a breezy summer day.
Yellow Hue study. Includes every swatch of yellow color aid – all tints, shades and pastels from Yellow, warm Yellow and cool yellow.