hey guys,i'm a doctor and i've set up an elderly clinic. It had been two days when all the carpentry had been finished and right now, i'm stucked because i don't know what color to paint the walls. i would prefer a shade of green or yellow since they are colors soothing to the eyes and are easily seen by aged. I'm trying to avoid red, purple and orange since based from studies, they increase blood pressure.What shades of blue/yellow should i use? What colors should i combine green with? Also, i'd like to ask your opinion if it's ok to put sofa with printed design. Your opinion would be highly appreciated. Thank you very much!
Color combinations that are cool to the eyes of the elderly??????
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Hey Doc, while I'm not an expert in color psychology, I think the blue is the better choice. And, blue can be mixed with green. Blue and green are in now. Step lightly with the yellow, maybe use it as an accent. If my memory serves me, yellow requires the most of your eyes to process, kind of like the smile/frown saying. I also remember reading that yellow is not good for nurserys because it can cause irritability. I think blue, green, with a cream accent/trim would be calm and easy on the eyes. I guess a print would be okay as long as it's not too busy. Put some thought too to what your patients would appreciate as decor as well. I think blues with a value around robin's egg are nice. Don't know if it's in your budget, but have you thought of hiring a designer/color expert with a good understanding of color psychology? Just a thought.
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I'm a creative director by profession. Blue is traditionally associated with health-related fields. Almost every big health organization and medical manufacturer, from Kaiser Permenente to Medtronic, has blue in their logo. It conveys strength and safety from a psychological standpoint.
That said, I would highly suggest that you invest hiring an interior design consultant to help you choose colors. It is basically an hour or two of their time and will be worth every penny in the quality of the results. They'll come in, look around, ask you a few questions about current furniture and future plans, and then create a color palette for you that works for the space and your equipment and furnishings. And they'll have ideas that will improve the professionalism of your office that won't cost you anything extra, such as "room flow" with different colors leading into others. Trust me, it will have a direct impact on patient satisfaction and retention and will pay for itself in short order.
That said, I would highly suggest that you invest hiring an interior design consultant to help you choose colors. It is basically an hour or two of their time and will be worth every penny in the quality of the results. They'll come in, look around, ask you a few questions about current furniture and future plans, and then create a color palette for you that works for the space and your equipment and furnishings. And they'll have ideas that will improve the professionalism of your office that won't cost you anything extra, such as "room flow" with different colors leading into others. Trust me, it will have a direct impact on patient satisfaction and retention and will pay for itself in short order.
I am a trained color consultant and have a degree in psychology and almost one in sociology in addition to a couple more in design and so forth. I was a painter for years and restored antique homes.
Kind of offends me that you would single out the elderly as needing special colors. What you should really be considering is the intensity of those colors if your anticipated patients have macular, retinal or corneal degeneration.
I think you should really focus your energy on lighting and its color if your population is elderly.
As suggested, if this is to be a special geriatric practice I would hire an interior designer, color consultant and before either of them a lighting consultant.
There is a magical place south of me I helped with colors involved in cosmetic surgery. It is gorgeous and you feel immediately at home, I suppose because of lighting and then my color selections.
I don't buy the blue green or beige look as comforting at all. All strike me is highly institutional. They are the last colors I would recommend to a geriatric practice.
I really did have a client way on top of the Chrysler Building in NYC once. It was a very high end dental prosthodontic practice. Lighting designer, not me or the interior designer, really pulled it off in my opinion although I will claim some credit.
Design professionals can really save you money in the long run. The poster ahead of me is correct. I have always used interior designers when it comes to furnishings. And after years with architects and such, I still insist on good lighting designers added to the team when budget allows.
Kind of offends me that you would single out the elderly as needing special colors. What you should really be considering is the intensity of those colors if your anticipated patients have macular, retinal or corneal degeneration.
I think you should really focus your energy on lighting and its color if your population is elderly.
As suggested, if this is to be a special geriatric practice I would hire an interior designer, color consultant and before either of them a lighting consultant.
There is a magical place south of me I helped with colors involved in cosmetic surgery. It is gorgeous and you feel immediately at home, I suppose because of lighting and then my color selections.
I don't buy the blue green or beige look as comforting at all. All strike me is highly institutional. They are the last colors I would recommend to a geriatric practice.
I really did have a client way on top of the Chrysler Building in NYC once. It was a very high end dental prosthodontic practice. Lighting designer, not me or the interior designer, really pulled it off in my opinion although I will claim some credit.
Design professionals can really save you money in the long run. The poster ahead of me is correct. I have always used interior designers when it comes to furnishings. And after years with architects and such, I still insist on good lighting designers added to the team when budget allows.
Thanks for sharing your input with us, it's needed.
Why would you be offended? I thought that, in today's age, every group needs a special something, because that's what we are, a collection of groups. Politics aside, I think you're selling the good doc short. I highly doubt that he would consider electric blues and flourescent lime greens, you don't need a color expert to figure that wouldn't go over with the elderly, macular degeneration or not.
Good point, especially since, in it's purest definition, color is light. However, the wrong kind of light is garish and brutal on anyone's eyes. And frankly, as a non, but near approaching senior, I'm offended that you would even imply otherwise. What makes seniors so special that they need certain light. I think most soft blues and greens would fly under most traditional lighting.
On it's face, that's in patent opposition to generally accepted color psychology theory. Blues and greens are widely used in decorating for their calming effect. As to being institutional, any color can be that lacking the warming effect of decor and color coordination. They use those colors in institutions for the very same reason you disagree with. Institutions don't decorate, that's the problem, unless of course you consider mental health posters and exit signs decorative. I did a doctor's office in a robin's egg value blue with cream trim, and from what the staff tells me, the response has been overwhelmingly positive. Thanks for getting rid of that sterile off white. It wasn't the color so much as the placement of new funiture and wall hangings that looked comfortable, decorative, and inviting, which replaced the doctor's office waiting room standard fare. And it was done under the typical flourescent office lighting, plus a few table lamps for balance. It was the living room versus waiting room effect.
BTW, color suggestions? Objections should always be coupled with suggestions.
top of the Chrysler Building in NYC = $$$$$
Sometimes you just have to design on a dime. How do we know the good Doc_Nap isn't some country doc from a sleepy hollow, as his user name implies? I think if the good Doc_nap was a high end sawbones, he would have assigned this task to his office manager, and not be hanging out in a DIY chatroom. I've been on jobs where lighting professionals were used and I know their prices and the products they peddle are not cheap, nor are the wire nuts that install them. Just saying.
I've had some fun at your expense Sdsester. I do respect your position and your knowledge, and appreciate your input. I agree that lighting does wonders to enhance setting and mood, but it's a little beyond practical on the everday level. Hell, for all we know, the good Doc_nap could be an eye doc who specializes in geriatric particulars, who knows more than we do, who already has the correct lighting, and is really just asking for color options.
No harm taken.
I don't offer color selections without knowing the color of the light being used, just to start. If the doc was smart and moved into a building matching his intended practice I know what he has. Suspended 8 foot ceiling with florescent tubes and they are all lighted about 4200k with a color rendering index under them kicking out the blue green you recommend. Just replacing those florescent tubes could bring the doc up to near 6500k and almost 95 percent on the color rendering index if he wanted to
So something like an apple looked red. No apple under a cheap florescent at 4200K is going to look natural. Nor is in old geezer.
I and I hope most designers, color consultants, and lighting designers have accepted color charts and things we use to be viewed at 6500k and with a color rendering index of at least 95.
This is the industry standard for paints and inks. Anyone looking at color lower, is not seeing the color the industry sees it.
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