Colour Training

Join us for Colour Literacy Forum 13: “Colour MIXconceptions: Comparative Mixing Processes”, which will take place virtually on October 10, 2025, from 11:00 AM to 12:30 PM ET.

This session—the third in the “Facts & Myths about Colour” series—will challenge common misconceptions about colour mixing. We’ll explore how paints, inks, and light interact in fundamentally different ways, and how our perception of colour is shaped not only by physical mixtures but also by human vision.

Featured Presentations

🔵 Paul Green-Armytage – “Colours and Mixing”
A deep dive into additive vs. subtractive mixtures, primary and complementary colours, and the ways mixing behaviours shift across different media.

🔵 Marjan Kooroshnia – “Colors in Motion: Designing With Change”
An exploration of smart pigments and responsive textiles that transform dynamically in response to temperature, light, and environmental changes.

The Colour Literacy Forum is a global, virtual platform for presentations and interactive dialogue aimed at rethinking and expanding colour education for the 21st century. Through an interdisciplinary STEAM approach (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Math), the Forum positions colour as a Meta-discipline, aligning education with cultural and technological needs, while fostering collaboration, resources, and networking opportunities for all stakeholders.

More info: www.colourliteracy.org

NEXT COLOUR LITERACY FORUM 12! - ‘Beyond Hue: Reframing Colour for a Multidimensional World’

📅 Saturday, May 17, 11:00 am-12:30 pm, US Eastern Time
Facts and Myths about Colour Series, Part 2

Speakers:

🔹 Ellen Divers (Independent Design Theorist and Researcher)
🔸 Esther Hagenlocher (University of Oregon)

Forum 12 will start with Ellen Divers, who will introduce the criticalities of the hue-based colour psychology -the hue paradigm- when addressing colour meaning in design practice. Then, Esther Hagenlocher will introduce a methodology for palette selection in interior design and architecture projects that goes beyond the traditional hue-based theories of harmony and contrast, and connects with cultural heritage, in the case of Oregon’s Colours.

The 2025 series will delve into widespread misconceptions about colour found in textbooks—including those from prestigious publishers—as well as scientific and popular articles, magazines, and the Internet. While the Colour Literacy Project has previously addressed some of these myths, this 2025 series will take a deeper dive, with insights from experts across various disciplines.

Information and registration here: https://colourliteracy.org/beyond-hue

Over the past months, design students at have been diving into the vibrant world of colour through immersive, hands-on exercises.

From observing subtle shifts in hue to mastering colour principles, they are exploring a contemporary approach to 21st-century color education step by step.✨

The challenges are as diverse as the palettes they created—recognizing colour properties, arranging hues by their key attributes, and crafting unique palettes both individually and as a team. It’s all about bringing color to life in fresh, bold ways!

Keep tuned!

⚠️ Next Colour Literacy Forum - Friday, November 8th
Free Event, Zoom Meeting - 11:00 am-12:30 pm (US Eastern Time)

Colour in Context Series, Part 3: “Colour Through Time - Histories, Meanings, Practices”

Speakers:
Spike Bucklow (Author, The Alchemy of Paint; Red)
Patrick Baty (Author, The Anatomy of Colour; Nature’s Palette)
Judith Mottram (Professor of Visual Arts, Lancaster University, UK)

The Colour Literacy Forum is an international, collaborative effort to align university-level colour education with current design needs in the culture. The Forum’s goal is to connect faculty, students, and administrators with interdisciplinary professionals to provide cutting-edge research, curricula, tools, and resources. The Forums are virtual gatherings featuring presentations and discussions related to updating and expanding colour education in art and design programs at the university level. The forum convenes three events per year to share information and offer dynamic networking opportunities for participants.

For information and registration go here: https://iscc.org/event-5916635

On Thursday 6 June, I had the honour to present the Closing Lecture of the international conference Biocolours2024, in the Auditorium of the University of Helsinki, Finland.

My lecture entitled “Sustainable Colour Design Strategies: A Framework for Action” proposed a reflection through eight strategies on colour sustainability for design decision-making. The framework focuses on how design practice and design education should motivate a careful evaluation of a sustainable colour application, stimulating critical thinking and fostering concrete actions related to reuse, recycling, and recovering colours; colour circularity and how to include more colour-thinking in all the phases of the design process to achieve a sustainable future, among others.

I presented the findings of the first stage of my post-doctoral research conducted in 2023-2024, as Visiting Researcher of the Department of Excellence programme of Politecnico di Milano. I’ll be publishing these findings very soon, and more interesting things are to come.

Stay tuned!

PS. Thanks to the organisers and the Project for the invitation and for hosting this wonderful conference, and to Bintan Titisari and Samica Sadik for the photos.