The easy way to choose the perfect color scheme
What would an event be without color? Color brings your event décor’s together and influences the attendees’ perceptions about how to feel and act. There is no doubt that color scheme makes up an integral part of any event and has a powerful effect on the overall mood and energy of an event. However, those who rely on the traditional color psychology theory completely misunderstand how color scheme affects event planning.
“One of the biggest mistakes we see from our event Slidelys is ill-picked color schemes. No photo can be great if you don’t have an exceptional – and colorful – backdrop. The colors set the mood not just for your event, but for the memories you look back on later,” Sharon Blatt of Slidely, explains.
A color’s effect cannot be simplified to the basic notion that certain colors influence mood in a unilateral way. Color scheme is a multi-faceted and complex part of décor, but it’s easy to learn how to harness the power of an effective color scheme at your event.
What’s the problem with color psychology?
Color psychology theory makes wide-ranging and often oppositional claims about how a specific color will affect a person’s mood, but in reality, there are a wide range of social, cultural, and design factors that denote what color will bring about what mood. Additionally, it’s hard to predict exactly how a color will affect a person because personal associations also influence people’s perception about a color.
There is no doubt that a single color can have a variety of effects, depending on the shade of the color, its placement, and surrounding lighting and décor. For this reason, even identical monochromatic color schemes can be used for different atmospheric purposes depending on where color shades are placed in a room and in what quantity. Picture a red color scheme: perhaps you imagine dark sensual reds, or soft romantic hues that border on pink, or maybe even red accents that liven up a rowdy party.
Clearly, a single color can be used in many different ways in décor, and when it comes to color schemes that combine colors, you can imagine how far ranging the possibilities are. So how do you know how to choose the right colors?
The key to choosing an effective color scheme
Choosing an effective color scheme isn't difficult. In fact, it’s quite logical. Here are the key steps to choosing the best color scheme for any event.
Decide whether the event type influences options. First, take into consideration how much the color scheme is dependent on the event type. Obviously a corporate party, wedding, and gala all have distinctive needs, but these could all use the same color scheme depending on the event’s purpose. Consider whether you need to integrate company colors or build off a specific color scheme before moving on.
Pick a dominant color. This color is going to be the base you work off to create the rest of the color scheme, so be aware of how your dominant color will affect the space. Too much emphasis is placed on how a color affects emotion – in the reality of event planning, it’s not the color but how you use it that is most important. You can use green elegantly at a wedding just as easily as you can use white or beige. Choose a dominant color that you feel would unify the tone of the event, and don’t be afraid to play around with hues until you find the best match.
Pick supporting colors. These colors will be used for accents and amplifying the effect of the dominating color, so you can choose either monochromatic shades of your base color or entirely different colors. Remember to stick to the same shades to build consistency.
Make sure your color scheme appears everywhere your event does. After you have solidified your foundational color scheme, ensure it will be appropriate across all event communications. Picture your dominant color as the thread tying everything to do with your event together. Anywhere your event appears – online or in person – this dominant color will too. It should signal invitees to think of your event immediately.
Consider how other influences will affect the atmosphere.
Factors such as placement and lighting have enormous influences on color, so use this to your advantage. Understand why you place colors in which areas and use your color scheme to unify or divide the space. For example, a social area could be decorated with either soothing colors or colors to encourage socialization, depending on the overall feeling you want to create. For large events with multiple areas to plan, or even for small events in which a planner wants to create the appearance of separate sections, color can be a powerful mode of signifying partitions. And of course, don’t forget the effect of lighting on colors in an event. You can use light to amplify the undertones or accenting effects of colors, and utilizing this properly is can help a little color go a long way.
Now that you have the basics, you are prepared to pick powerful color schemes for any event. Remember not to feel constrained if the color scheme you choose doesn’t seem to be working – knowing how to tweak lighting, placement, and color shades can turn any color scheme around.
For ideas on what to do – and what not to do – check out others’ events on Slidely. Brainstorm for the color scheme for your event by looking at similar events others held, and who know what you will come up with? After your awesome event, you can even use Slidely to share your photos so the whole world can see how great your color scheme was.
