5 easy steps to add colour to influence Restaurant & Bar patrons’ experiences
Have you noticed that most restaurants and bars today seem to use only 1 colour
in three shades of grey—dark, medium, or light? It’s as if there were a global shortage of grey
and we needed to buy it all before it sold out. Also, have you noticed that most restaurants and bars
seem to use 2 design styles? 1: Grey Industrial or 2: Grey and Scandinavian. Have we all joined
the Starbucks School of Design? That said, you must understand that I do like Industrial and
Scandinavian design and I do like grey; my gripe is that every Tom, Dick, and Mary is rehashing
the same design styles with the same colour over and over again, using grey as the go-to colour.
Restaurant ‘Generator’ at the hostel in Barcelona, Spain. Designed by Design Agency
Here is the great news for YOU!!!
There are so many cloned restaurants and bars that it makes for the perfect opportunity
for your establishment to stand out and be noticed. You can get ahead of the trend and
create your own personality; all it takes is a few cans of paint and some imagination.
Café ‘La Dolca’ in Barcelona,Spain. Designer El Equiro Creativo
I have worked with hundreds of clients and I can say that their Number 1 fear is colour.
So, let me help you get over the fear of colour in 2 seconds……….
Are you ready………. if you get it wrong……. just paint it another colour.
It’s only paint. Okay, now let’s move on and have some fun choosing colours.
Feast India Co., Kanpur, India. Designer Renesa Architecture Design Interiors
5 steps to add colour to your grey interiors
Restaurant Varna & Spiegel Verlagshaus, Hamburg, Germany. Designed in 1968 by Verner Panton Interiors
1. What colour to use? Here is a 10-second lesson in the psychology of colours made simple,
you can now decide the atmosphere and feeling that you want to portrait in your restaurant or bar
just by your choices of colours.
Red: Power, Energy, Love, Excitement
Orange: Energetic, Optimistic, Happy, Social
Yellow: Optimism, Competence, Cheerfulness, Happiness
Green: Positive, Eco-Friendly, Good, Envious
Blue: Peace, Clarity, Trust, Excellence
Pink: Love, Sophistication, Sincerity, Harmony
Purple: Imagination, Idealism, Sophistication, Creativity
Brown: Friendly, Earthy, Safe, Rugged
White: Perfection, Happiness, Wholeness, Purity
Black: Sophisticated, Expensive, Mysterious, Protective
Grey: Unemotional, Neutral, Calm, Reserved
Le E’Sprit Du 12eme, Paris, France. Designed by Garry Cohn for Studio Design Squared
2.This is not the time to be shy! If you are going to dive into “COLOUR” you cannot do it halfway.
It’s all or nothing, otherwise stay in your safe, grey world. Hesitation can be felt as being unsure
and non-committal; this is not the impression you want to convey to customers walking into a restaurant.
Switch Restaurant, Dubai, UAE. By Karim Rashid
3.Test your colours. There are many variables to get the right colour. The most important is the lighting.
When you choose a colour in a paint store, the lighting will not be the same as your restaurant.
Therefore, you need to do colour testing on your walls to get to the right colour for your space.
Restaurant Nubel, Madrid, Spain. Designed by Paula Rosales
4.How do know the right design style? If you are choosing on your own,
you must decide what fits best for your client. Look around the internet to see
what other people have done and what is appeals to you and your clientele.
I have also provided some images of bold and adventurous restaurant designs that you find inspiring.
Urchin, Dublin, Ireland. Designed by COHN
5.Go for it! Be unique! You really do not have much to lose. Any colour you add to a grey design
will pop out and cause you to be different. Just start with one wall and paint it a bold like orange
for example (grey and orange is a favourite combination) or any colour you like will work.
Stand back and your next ideas will start to flow.
Restaurant Pirog Myasnika, Moscow, Russia. Designed by Yana Holikberdieva
Make your restaurant and bar design memorable with colour and you will see
how it results in increased exposure on social media, increased numbers of new clients
curious to see something different, and the smiles on the faces of returning clients.
Perfect Photo Wall to Snap & Share. Urchin, Dublin, Ireland. Designed by COHN
Urchin, Dublin, Ireland. Designed by COHN
Coming This month, I Scream COHN, our new online design magazine connecting you to
top design influencers from New York to London dishing up the latest in cool.
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Coming soon, our Masterclass on the Zealous side of design.
How can you be bold and daring with any interior?