Psychology of Colors in Interior Spaces - Research Proposal Example

Research Proposal: Psychology of Colors in Interior Spaces Introduction The psychology of colors is the study of how colors affect behaviors, moods, feelings, emotions as well as their mentality in different aspects of life (Fehrman and Cherie, 2000). Color is a very powerful tool of communication that can be relied upon to cause some physiological reactions among people, signal an action, or influence peoples’ moods so that they can make certain decisions. Interior designers and artists have always used color to being out some effect from people. The psychology of colors in interior spaces studies how different colors impact on people when the colors are used in interiors spaces of buildings or any structures (Fehrman and Cherie, 2000). This study is focused on studying the impact that certain colors have on people, and finding out why people prefer certain colors over others when it comes to interior design. The main objective of this research is to find out the effect of colors selected in interior designs of certain buildings and what those colors imply. This study aims at finding the psychological effect of colors when used interior spaces. It is a common fact that colors influence peoples’ emotions, feelings and behavior, whether knowingly or unknowingly. It is therefore important to study the effect of colors so as to help people make the right decisions on what colors to use for their interior designs. Psychology of colors is a relatively young field of study and still plays a very important role in peoples’ everyday lives. This research topic is therefore very relevant and significant in our contemporary world as it aims at helping people make the right choices on the use of colors in their interior designs, since this is likely to have an influence on other people’s feelings and emotions. Literature Review As mentioned earlier, the psychology of colors is a relatively young field of study. Despite this fact, the discipline has attracted a lot of interest from various people who have endeavored to do a lot of relevant research on various issues within the discipline. There are numerous books that provide great insights on colors and the effect they have on people. The concept of colors can be studied from various view points as it touches on different related fields of study such as art, philosophy physiology as well as psychology. Each discipline however approaches the concept in different ways. Psychology for instance studies how colors affect peoples’ minds, behaviors and emotions while art may study colors in terms of their aesthetic value in presentations. Pleij Herman for instance is one of the researchers in this field. In his book, Colors Demonic and Divine: Shades of Meaning in the Middle Ages and after (2004), he investigates hoe colors were used and perceived by European people in the medieval era. Stephen (2000) looks at color theory with the aim of helping artists make the right decisions as regards what colors to use in their work. Johannes (2002) brings out the two main colors of understanding colors, which are the objective principles of color and the subjective feelings that each one may have on different colors. Gombrich (2002) discusses the various aspects of pictorial presentations and the effect of color. Color helps to bring out certain effects in pictures that are likely to impact on people in different ways. A great pictorial presentation has to take in to consideration the psychology that colors have on people. Fehrman and Cherie (2000) also try to give an introduction t the study of colors and the effect that colors have on the psychology of human beings. Despite there being a lot of research done in this field, it is still important to do more research and relate the underlying issues with the contemporary society. It is also important to do a lot of research in this field so as to cover the new and emerging issues in psychology of colors. This research aims at presenting an insight on the effect of colors when used in interior design, which is a relatively emerging trend that needs to be given a lot of attention by color psychologists. Methodology This study will rely on both primary and secondary methods of data collection. Primary methods of data collections employed in this research are the use of questionnaires and interviews. Secondary sources of data such as library books, journals, periodicals journals as well as relevant internet sources will also be very helpful. The sample size to be studied includes both men and women who are involved in arts and interior design and who have a passion for colors. The sample size was selected using random sampling from among various people in this filed. They include university students and teachers from Doha’s Independent Secondary Schools taking art and interior design classes as well as professionals who are involved with colors in their work. The age of the sample size is between 18 and 28 years of age. The students and teachers will be given questionnaires to fill in while I will conduct interviews with various professionals. Questionnaires will require respondents to fill in certain details that will be relevant to this study. Some questionnaires will be sent to respondents via email, while a majority of them will be delivered personally to respondents. The respondents will have up to two days to fill in the questionnaire after which I will collect them back for analysis. The main aim of using questionnaires is to get useful information from respondents regarding colors and the effect, if any that certain colors have to them. The questionnaires will be simply structured with various sections so as to maximize the return rates from respondents. Some of the questions that the respondents will be required to fill in include: 1. What is your favorite color and why? 2. What effect do you think your favorite colors have on other people around you? 3. How do colors influence your choices in terms of interior design? I will also use personal interviews with a few selected people to find out their understanding of color psychology. This will be an open ended interview with structured questions that will guide me throughout the interview process. Among some of the questions that will be asked to interviewees include; 1. How do you understand the concept of color psychology? 2. To what extent do you think color influences peoples’ decisions and emotions? 3. How important is color psychology in designing interior spaces? Data Analysis The data collected will be carefully analyzed so as to develop a more reliable report with significant findings. Data collected is qualitative and will require qualitative methods of data collection. The stages of data analysis will be data cleaning, sorting the data, analyzing the quality of the data, initial analysis and the final analysis report. The questionnaires will be well analyzed during the data cleaning process to determine which questions were fully responded to and if the respondents filled in the right details. The interviews will also be analyzed to only remain with relevant information for this research. After the cleaning the data, I will sort them fine data out in terms of the quality of the information contained in them with regard to this research. I will then conduct initial analysis and proceed to write the final report. Expected Findings/Outcome of the research At the end of this research, I hope to have gained insights about the psychological effect of various colors on different people. I will also find important information regarding how colors influence peoples’ decision in interior design and how colors used in interior spaces affect the people who go to these places. Works Cited Fehrman Kenneth R. and Cherie Fehrman. Color: The Secret Influence. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2000. Gombrich, E. H. Art and Illusion: A Study in the Psychology of Pictorial Representation. London: Phaidon Press, 2002. Herman Pleij. Colors Demonic and Divine: Shades of Meaning in the middle Ages and after. New York: Columbia University Press, 2004. Johannes Itten. The Art of Color: The Subjective Experience and Objective Rationale of Color. New York: John Wiley, 2002. Stephen Quiller. Color Choices. New York: Watson-Guptill Publications, 2000. Read More