When it comes to architecture and interior design, strong colours are often a sticking point. Neutrals usually leave everybody equally calmed. However, for injecting personality into a room, strong colours are very useful. They create a base for the feel of a room, and help make a space memorable and inspirational. Neutrals are safe (and certainly preferable in some circumstances), but rooms with strong colours are the ones people remember. We look at the effective ways to use strong colours in a flooring context, with some visual examples.

Strong versus Neutral Colours

We all have an innate understanding of the benefits of strong versus neutral colours – and vice versa. Strong colours:

• Help individualize a room
• Can more easily create a different feel for the environment
• Often look cleaner for longer

Neutral colours in flooring, however:

• Are more universally liked, or at least, people feel more ‘neutral’ about them
• Can create a more professional or corporate feel in some circumstances

Sally Orme talks about the use of strong colours in retail flooring, hospitality, education and office flooring: “Intense techno colours express happiness, a new impulsive creativity. Graphic fascination breathes life into functionality. Interiors are injected with futuristic finishes and shots of playful colours, motivating us to question our environment.”

Flooring designed to reflect company branding

There are few companies across the world that use strong colours in their branding. You will almost always find deep shades of blue, red, orange, black and green used in company logos and colour schemes. When designing a professional environment, strong coloured flooring creates the option to make the indoor environment congruent with the company’s branding. This can be useful not only in a corporate environment, but also in a retail or education environment.

Strong coloured flooring in Educational environments (Strong colours to stimulate minds (as opposed to muted colours in study areas) schools)

The effect of colour on psychology has been widely studied, and few consistent results have been found. One thing that most of us recognise though, is that strong colours in our environment provide inspiration and stimulation. Their neutral counterparts relax us; and too much relaxation in an education environment is certainly counterproductive. In generative spaces, strong colours for education flooring are recommended; study areas would benefit from neutral tones in their floor coverings.

The colours in this carpet tile installation in a school are paralleled elsewhere in the room, and help energise students as they move from class to class.

Strong coloured flooring in Office environments

This example of the use of strong colours in office flooring highlights how The 5th Wall can be bold, but still retain a corporate feel. Using carpet tiles, with their wide range of available colours and patterns, makes it cost effective to differentiate between public and private spaces. In an office environment, the spaces where ideas and inspiration are most important (such as meeting rooms) can make excellent use of strong colours in their flooring.

Strong coloured flooring in Hospitality

There are few public spaces where energy and fun are more a part of the aim than in hospitality. The amazingly variegated, yet professional feel of this bar area wouldn’t have been possible with broadloom carpet – carpet tiles have been mixed and matched by the interior designer to create a truly unique piece of flooring. Strong coloured carpet tiles can also be used in a more purposeful way in hospitality and retail, to help customers navigate through the space, or to highlight certain areas of the shop or club.