Color does Matter

While I knew from the time that the first limestone displays showed up at building material trade shows that this was the future of interior finishes, I admit to getting bored by the idea after more than 15 years. Year after year, we would develop an interesting palette of colors to put in front of focus groups. Year after year the focus groups would select the same non-color as their preference. The product introductions became indistinguishable from year to year as did the marketplace interest in our product. A possible further consequence is that the understanding of color in the design community may have disappeared along with any semblance of a color palette.

Why do I say this? I almost overdosed on museums last week, I am apt to do that when company is in town. Art museums are usually a totally aesthetically immersive experience for me. "Prendergast in Italy" and Edward Steichen at Williams College Museum of Art presented the opportunity for a fabulous twofer. The art did not disappoint, in fact both shows were overwhelming in both quality and quantity. Or maybe it just seemed that the quantity was overwhelming because the COLOR of the background walls in the exhibits were so totally wrong that it overpowered the art and diminished the viewing experience. For years, museums have moved away from off-white walls in special blockbuster exhibits, to palettes that enhanced the artwork and the total viewing experience. As a color designer, I always have found the colors selected to be in perfect harmony with the art being shown, this time the background colors were not even close. The strong peachy apricot and aqua colors used as background for "Prendergast in Italy" were not only reminiscent of Howard Johnson's logo colors but made the subtle colors that the artist used in his watercolors look washed out and murky. The Steichen sepia prints were framed in dark natural wood presented on a background the color of photo gray paper. Just the slightest amount of warmth in the wall paint would have harmonized so much better with the prints. I have to make a guess and say that the person selecting the wall color had absolutely no understanding of COLOR.

The same focus groups also told us, that despite the fact that the competition had more exciting products, they ended up using our product because the colors were "right on." Color does matter, but it appears that some in the design community have forgotten this fact.

All that being said, the Williams Museum of Art is a fabulous place, and along with the Clark and MASS MoCA makes Williamstown, MA a must visit spot for the art lover.

Added 8/10: Sherwin Williams, the paint company, in their current newsletter to the design community STIR addresses the issue of appropriate paint colors as background to art in an article entitled: Does Art Make the Walls or Do the Walls Make the Art?