The LANGUAGE OF COLOUR tool is structured into two practical exercises, each designed to develop specific skills in the perception and conscious use of colour in the design process.
Exercise 1 – Color Hierarchy
Each learner receives a pre-structured worksheet on which to build a balanced chromatic composition. The activity involves selecting and arranging three colours according to the hierarchy:
- Dominant colour → defines the primary atmosphere of the composition
- Subdominant colour → completes and harmonises the dominant
- Accent colour → introduces rhythm, focus, or an element of surprise
Through this activity, learners explore how proportions between hues influence the perception of balance and visual coherence. Completing the Color Hierarchy table helps formalise the chromatic structure and provides a reference for future projects or exercises.
Exercise 2 – Chromatic Synesthesia
The aim of this exercise is to translate complex emotions and sensations into a visual language. Participants are invited to choose and represent colours that interpret pairs of opposing sensations, such as:
- warm / cold
- sweet / bitter
- soft / hard
- near / far
- loud / muted
This introspective exercise stimulates intuition and fosters a deep connection between sensory perception and visual form. The activity may be carried out using watercolour, collage, coloured pencils, or other expressive techniques.
Why is this a key tool in the design process?
Colour is not a decorative detail, but a true design code. Its selection influences the perception of space, the emotions of those who inhabit it, and the quality of the relationship between people and their environments.
Designing with chromatic awareness means translating needs, functions, and identities into coherent, legible, and meaningful atmospheres.
The LANGUAGE OF COLOUR module provides concrete and accessible tools for learning how to structure a balanced colour composition and how to interpret colour as a sensory expression through synesthesia. These two levels – formal and perceptual – strengthen design skills by fostering a deep understanding of the relationship between colour, space, and the individual.
Through worksheets, mixed techniques, and perceptual stimuli, the module cultivates a more empathetic and inclusive design perspective, valuable across all areas of interior design – especially when working with vulnerable users, educational contexts, or complex environments.
Adaptable, scalable, and connected to lived experience
The LANGUAGE OF COLOUR tool has been designed to be highly flexible and replicable, adapting to educational, therapeutic, training, and design contexts.
Thanks to the use of simple materials and a modular structure, it can be easily integrated into both short programmes and more structured pathways.
The activity can be simplified or expanded depending on the target group: from design professionals to users facing sensory, cognitive, or emotional challenges.
The synesthetic approach enables intuitive and non-verbal access to the language of colour, making it inclusive even for people with expressive difficulties or diverse cultural backgrounds.
The tool can be adapted, customizing the duration of the activity, and operational methods. This makes the module scalable across different levels of complexity: from symbolic group activations to the chromatic definition of real renovation projects.
In summary, it is a transversal tool capable of connecting training, participation, wellbeing, and design within a single educational, sensory, and transformative experience.
Made with love by Wellhome team
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.
