How Color Can Create Thoughtful and Engaging Spaces
Hi, I’m Amanda. I’m so excited to be joining the Ericka Howill Design team to lead marketing and branding. My background is graphic design, and I have a deep love for color theory and using that to find meaning in the things we interact with every day. Much of my time in undergrad was spent exploring my culture and history, and using that to experiment with the design decisions I made. I’m very excited to get into the interior design world and learn more about other people’s backgrounds and stories now!
While pursuing my undergraduate degree in graphic design, I decided to take an experimental color theory class as an elective, just for fun. Most of my design classmates avoided the class like the plague, but I knew it could offer a fresh lens for understanding color. I didn’t expect to learn as much as I did, or to begin noticing the finer details of color that I often overlooked in my everyday life.
I distinctly remember my professor encouraging us to choose a color and create an arrangement using found objects based on that hue. During this process, I looked to artists like Portia Munson, especially her installation The Pink Bedroom, which was created using only pink objects and materials. This piece honors femininity and explores how the color pink is projected onto women from a young age. It’s maximalist and monochromatic, yet I find it fascinating that, despite how much is going on, the specific tones of pink allow certain objects to stand out. The color is meant to evoke a sense of overwhelm, and maybe even nostalgia for one’s childhood.
“It was almost like an investigation through accumulation, and seeing what information came out of collecting everything in this color.”
—PORTIA MUNSON, ON HER CREATIVE PROCESS
As a graphic designer who also works in the interior design world, I often notice similar examples of color theory in the way objects communicate meaning and emotion. Most of us are familiar with the color wheel and the idea of harmony, but it still surprises me how much influence color has on our mood when we walk into a room.
For instance, Brian McCallister’s home features a mix of greens, beiges, and browns. Walking into it immediately gave me a sense of calm, along with a feeling of luxury and timelessness. The palette enhances the story of the antique pieces incorporated into the space.
These kinds of moments, whether in an art installation or someone's home, remind me that color is so much more than just a design choice. It shapes how we feel, how we remember, and how we connect to the spaces around us. As I continue to grow as a designer, I’m learning to see color not just for how it looks, but for what it makes us feel and how it subtly or vibrantly tells a story.
