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| 'Friendly' colours as voted by Manjimup Residents |
Following extensive colour research from all around the world, looking at natural colour palettes, palettes determined through religious reasons, environmental reasons, and cultural reasons, Lisa decided that the best course of action was a colour palette that spoke directly to the people of Manjimup, with colours selected by them.
The following information taken from Lisa Hannaford's thesis Manjimup Art Deco: Designing A Colour Palette, explains how we resulted in the MAD palette.
After exploring the various palette types established for this type of project, we
must decide on the most appropriate palette type to use. Each type of palette
discussed has various pros and cons that could help or hinder this project.
Using a natural colour palette like seen in Quarzazate or Cottesloe, the Art
Deco buildings in Manjimup would be painted in varying browns and greens
taken from the surrounding bush and farmland as discussed in Chapter 4.1.
Colours of this nature could work within the CBD, but it doesn’t feel natural.
With the obvious departure between rural and urban within the town of
Manjimup (discussed in Chapter 3.1), using colours suited to the rural
environment may not appear as ‘natural’ colours within the built urban
landscape.
Art Deco colour palettes do work for the areas that they are already being
used, but is it appropriate to repurpose a palette from one area of the world to
another simply because it is said to be of the correct style? Miami’s beach
setting works because of its buildings’ pastel colours, and New York’s
monochromatic metallics are appropriate for its skyscraper-dense
environment, but would these palettes bring any character to Manjimup’s
country-town setting? Would it be appropriate to repurpose one of these
palettes when the meaning drawn from colours is so dependent on cultural
and historical context?
Designing a custom colour palette for the project seems like a strong direction
to take, as we can harness a method that speaks individually to both the Art
Deco buildings and the populace of Manjimup. Creating a palette specific for
the town in the way that Grete Smedal did for Longyearbyen (as seen in
chapter 3.3) will give the buildings the attention that they deserve. This
consideration allows for contemplation of each building and the CBD as a
whole.
A custom colour palette will also allow a range of colours to be used, and
many combinations can be created within the overall palette to allow for
multiple variations. Each building can then receive a tailored colour scheme
that takes into consideration the different branding colours used for business
purposes.
Using Kobayashi’s Colour Image Scale we can create a custom colour palette
that uses keywords that relate to Manjimup’s positive values and attitudes.
Doing this will apply meanings to the buildings via the colour palettes,
encourage locals to relate to these values, and will influence the visitors to
associate these meanings to the town.
Kobayashi’s Colour Image Scale
Using colour to communicate, we can promote a positive set of values and
attitudes that relate to the people frequenting the area. Shigenobu Kobayashi
studied the idea of colour to convey meaning and his findings resonate with
most cultures around the world (Kobayashi, 1999, p. 2). He associates
colours with words and uses them to describe adjectives, and he created a
database of 180 words linked to more than 1000 colour groupings. This
Colour Combination Image Scale (Kobayashi, 1992 p.11) presents colour
combination research as opposed to the more standard single colour
examples. Studying associations between words and colour, Kobayashi found
that terms such as ‘clean’ related to light colours, ‘dignified’ to deep colours,
‘sporty’ to vivid colours and ‘dynamic’ to strong colours (Kobayashi, 1992
p.12). Through his studies of these associations and others Kobayashi
discovered a considerable consensus between selected terms and the
chosen colours.
Figure 8. Kobayashi’s Colour Combination Image Scale. (Source: Kobayashi,
1992 p. 11).
Kobayashi’s Colour Image Scale is a grid in which all colours can be placed
depending on their relationship to descriptive values. Horizontally, colours
range from ‘warm’ to ‘cool’ and vertically from ‘soft’ to ‘hard’. Areas of the grid
can be described with different adjectives and the colours that fall within
match these words. As seen in Figure 8, groups are defined with terms like
‘modern’, ‘dynamic’ and ‘casual’. Kobayashi has done extensive research and
testing to determine if this grid is successful and found that it worked across a
wide range of cultures and age groups (Kobayashi, 1999).
By developing a colour palette using Kobayashi’s Colour Image Scale
method, we can directly relate colours and emotions and apply them to the Art
Deco buildings resulting in their enhancement. By doing this, we can influence
the sentiments of the inhabitants resulting in a more positive atmosphere.
Picking The Descriptive Words
Kobayashi’s Colour Image Scale (1992) supplies 180 words that he has
applied to colours, so using this list, I created a survey in which the user can
choose which words they feel relate to Manjimup’s positive values and
attitudes. The survey was sent to a range of people who have lived in
Manjimup for more than 5 years in their lifetime, and they passed it on to
others. With 35 responses, the survey was a success because it highlighted
which words Manjimup residents feel relate to their town.
The top 16 words resulting from this survey were:
• Casual
• Quiet
• Comfortable
• Resilient
• Natural
• Laid Back
• Friendly
• Tranquil
• Traditional
• Nostalgic
• Simple & Appealing
• Mellow
• Clean
• Cozy
• Sporty
• Modest
This survey is still open, if you wish to complete it yourself.
Due to the competition with corporate identity colours and signage of the
businesses within the building, I feel using pale or mid tones would work best.
As discussed in Chapter 4, pale, mid tones or vivid colours work within the
landscape. The buildings must look smart and clean but not scream for
attention in the way that the stores within advertise. Bright and eye-catching
colours would compete and clash with the variety of colours used by the
businesses.
Workshop with Colour Society
Taking the opportunity to present to The Colour Society Of Western Australia
during one of their regular meetings, I invited 12 colour enthusiasts to use
Kobayashi’s Colour Image Scale method to gather data for my project.
Supplying them with the 16 pre-selected adjectives describing Manjimup’s
positive values, we individually selected tri-colour schemes that we felt best
described the associated adjective. This activity resulted in a total of 192
selections, which were then compared and discussed to determine if the
group felt they were successful.
Workshop with the residents of Manjimup
Following the successful Colour Society workshop, I invited residents to join me for an afternoon in the town library's function room to disucss the project and to select colours in the same manor. Only a handful of residents turned up which was disappointing, but they made a sample group strong enough to result in a collection of palettes that, when laid next to the CSA results, we could see a strong correlation.
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| Our stall at the Cherry Festival in front of the Post Office. |
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| Colour groups were listed without the attached 'adjective' to allow impartial decisions. |
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| Lisa Hannaford with Ryan Miller and Maree Brown from the Colour Society of Australia. |
Colour group 'B' was voted the most popular, with colour '2' the most popular with the group. This group was the 'Friendly' adjective! These colours are the colours chosen to paint the town, and Dulux paint matches were found resulting in the current 'Friendly' palette that is being used during Lisa's Colour Consultations and Danny Jones' painting.
