Colour and design: From natural patterns to monochrome compositions

Abstract

There is no doubt that nature provides endless inspiration to the world of design. In order to explore the role of colour in design, forty-two people were asked to first choose a pattern from nature, then to abstract this pattern into geometric shapes and finally to colour this pattern. All work done by the participants were statistically analysed to find out the effect of colour on design. Findings of the study suggest that colour in a pattern is the first principal component of design as a unifier whereas this is replaced with the number of shapes in one group in black and white patterns. © 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.