Color is quite possibly the most strategic tool a designer can use to breathe life into a concept.

And it comes as no surprise to the RCDT that used effectively and responsibly, color can transform an existing space more powerfully than any other single alteration. But it is important to realize that color does not exist as an object in itself; rather color is the relationship between light and an object, producing a condition that is unique and inherent to a specific material. As pure white light from the sun reaches a material’s surface, various light frequencies are either absorbed or reflected causing our visual perception to interpret the surface as a certain color. Thus color is actually a very scientific narrative between light, a surface, and our eyes.

This post could delve very deeply into the science of color and those factors that cause us to perceive what we do, but the scenery of India is far too inspiring to diminish it to wavelengths. Instead I dedicate this post to the basic and simple application of color, what it is, and why it is one of the things that makes India one of the most beautiful places on our earth.

I am currently on site at the upcoming Raxa Collective villa property in Panangad, a small village located in the Ernakulam district of Kerala in southern India. The beautiful 2-bedroom villa is situated among fresh water and brackish ponds, canals, and the Vembanad Lake, offering gorgeous 360-degree views of lush tropical landscape.

Rania and I set out mid morning to walk the property, each of us with a different mission. Rania was in search of tenable farmland in hopes to design the site as a fertile agricultural breadbasket, supplying some of the other Raxa Collective properties with organically grown and locally sourced fruits and vegetables. I, on the other hand, was in search of the particular hues that made up this beautiful landscape in an effort to derive a natural color palette inspired by the views outside our windows. Although the villa has some beautifully constructed interior spaces for relaxing, entertaining, and working it lacks a living connection with the flora and fauna literally at its doorstep. I was pleased with the bounty of color hues I sourced from our casual 3-hour stroll around the property that I will use to transform the villas living spaces.

Here are just a few of the color samples taken directly from the property in Panangad.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

I collected a total of 18 hues that I will use to create a multitude of color palettes to apply to new surface treatments, design elements, and varying materialities to resuscitate the interiors of the Panangad villa property.

While selecting endemic flora and fauna I used a collection of paint chips from Asia Paints (an easily available paint manufacturer in India) to try to match the color as closely as possible given the limited selection of paint chips. When selecting a color there are 3 primary variants I kept in mind:

The hue, which is the color family the color belongs to.

• Primary colors are 100% pure hue
• Secondary colors are 50% of two primary colors
• Tertiary colors are unequal amounts of primary colors

The value, which is the quantity of light that is either absorbed or reflected by the color

• Darker colors absorb more light while lighter colors reflect more light
• Value is determined based on a grayscale

Saturation, (or chroma) which is the amount of pigment in a color that defines how vivid or dull the color is.

The following analyses evaluate each variant independently using a hue I matched to the exquisite red clay earth found in most areas of the property. Each analysis creates a new color palette (or set of palettes) using the variant as the primary element. Designers will often conduct such studies to create color palettes that evoke a certain mood to support and strengthen the overall design concept.

*In the images you may notice when samples are drawn from the gradient bars the right edge or corner magically appears to become the original pure hue. This is caused by an optical illusion demonstrating that placing two colors of equal steps in a gradient next to each other drastically changes our individual perception of them.

Good designers take advantage of the optical illusions by strategically placing certain colors next to each other.

Three such phenomena are explained and illustrated here:

Simultaneous Contrast of Hue occurs from the presence of a single color hue in an otherwise monochromatic scheme. Simultaneous contrast of hue is the result of our eyes adjusting to the over exposure to a particular color wavelength, and in an effort to reach visual equilibrium in our eyes we perceive tints of the hue’s complement in the monochromatic areas of the space. The famous Dutch creative Marcel Wanders used intense simultaneous contrast of hue in his design for the Mondrian South Beach.

Ground Subtraction occurs when one hue is either completely or almost completely surrounded by another hue. Ground subtraction causes perceptual manipulations to the color by drawing out a color’s complement or a pure hue to make the color appear more or less saturated or bring out more of its complement. The famous early 20th century artist Josef Albers is notable for his Homage to the Square series that underscores abstraction through ground subtraction.

Optical Mixing occurs when several hues are used in small amounts or scattered within a large area causing the colors to be perceived as a mix of the two. A famous example of this is in the famous late 19^th century painting technique called pointalism.

India is a country that wouldn’t be the same without it’s bold and often brash use of color.  Its people have grown up with one of the richest color palettes in their backyard where they have developed an innate sense of how to apply it to their lives. From the beautiful textiles and the ornate temples to the food and the festivals, this land clearly demonstrates a culture directly inspired by its natural environment.

After all as Alexander McQueen said, “There is no better designer than nature.”