Doing Color The Right Way

How to incorporate the correct hues and shades and with just enough to make that color pop!

The 60-30-10 Color Rule

The 60-30-10 rule is meant to balance out the colors used in your space in a pleasing way, by assigning percentages to the colors that you use in Interior Design. Here’s the rule:

60% main color + 30% secondary color + 10% accent color = FABULOUS!

OK, I added the “FABULOUS” part, but you get the idea. Here’s how to use the rule:

• The 60% main color of the room includes things like your walls, your sofa, the main color of your area rug, and perhaps even your cabinets or tile (if we’re talking about kitchens and bathrooms). If you squinted your eyes when you walked into the room, this would be the predominant color you would see.
• The 30% secondary color includes things like accent chairs, bedding, drapery, an accent wall, and maybe even painted doors or furniture. The main purpose of the secondary color is to provide contrast. This color will show up about half as much as the main color in your space, so think of it like a great supporting actor in a film. It’s different enough from the main color to provide interest, but not steal the show.
• The 10% accent color is the fun stuff – decorative accessories, pillows, artwork, lamps, picture frames, candles, florals… It’s the pop of color you want people to see in your room. Could even be a metallic finish, like gold or brass…just sayin’

So How Many Colors Should You Use In A Room?

While there are exceptions to every single rule out there, the general rule is three. – although you can successfully incorporate many different tones of these three colors. This three-color rule will allow you to create a balanced, restful-looking color scheme that’s difficult to go wrong with.

One thing I notice that happens often in a design space are the hues, accents, and tones not correlating well. For example, if you pick Olive Green, a more bold color it should only account for 10% of your color palette. Of that, if you want to accent with an additional color make sure it has the same tint saturations as Olive greens. Color, and color theory could be an entire book based on Isaac Newtons law, it is complicated and has many scientific breakdowns and explanations of why to pair certain formulas together or subtract color.

Emotional responses to colors are can depend on a range of personal factors, including gender, cultural experiences, and age. Before you get started with choosing your color palette, be sure to establish who your audience is. What are their common traits, and what are their expectations? What brands relating to yours are popular among your target audience—and how can you out-do their designs?

Conducting structured, thorough research on your target audience will not only help you to fine-tune the story you want to communicate, but it will also help you to prevent a potentially catastrophic design failure.