2019: The Year That Color Took Over Acoustic Design

Seeing red. Feeling blue. Green with envy. Heard these popular idioms before?

Color has the single greatest effect on how people perceive a design, a truth every architect and designer is well aware of, and yet it seems that not enough interior product designers and manufacturers spend the necessary time and effort to create various color palettes for their products. Knowing color acts as a unique form of communication, Kirei has expanded its EchoPanel palette to better help designers craft their vision for a space. From hotel lobbies, office breakout areas, or restaurant dining rooms, EchoPanel’s growing color offering have a little something for everyone.

The following highlights our new EchoPanel colors, including what each specific hue communicates to a physical environment’s occupants.

Purple is a complex hue that comes in a variety of shades including mauve, violet, lavender, and lilac. This elegant color is certainly a designer fan-favorite—in fact, PANTONE crowned UltraViolet as the 2018 Color of the Year. Continuing its reign in numerous 2019 designs, the color of royalty and creativity combines the calm stability of blue and the fierce energy of red all in one.

Purple can be dramatic or quiet, depending on its shade or tone. Kirei’s new Lavender 276 EchoPanel gives spaces a sense of lush sophistication. Versatile in its applications, this soft purple color is also incorporated in projects geared toward young children or the elderly, due to its association with nurturing and sensitivity. The richness and comforting aspect of the color purple also encourages imagination and productivity. A not-so-well-known fact about purple is that designers use this shade to help save on heating and cooling costs—as many occupants understanding of temperature is skewed by the cool tone.

Green is the color of nature and new life; it evokes a feeling of safety and is often associated with health, wealth, and serenity. Whether you incorporate the deep tones of ivy or jade, both can seamlessly blend with natural elements and neutral tones. Due to its organic feel, designers often use green shades to produce a calming effect. For example, green is preferred in spaces where occupants experience high-stress—such as corporate offices, medical offices, and even psychiatric clinics. A fun fact: green is the best color for employees who endure long hours staring at computer screens, as it is restful and improves vision.

As any designer will tell you, one can’t go wrong with beige—play it safe in your next space!

Beige, or in Kirei’s case Mushroom 468, is a neutral color that symbolizes dependence, conservatism, and flexibility. When incorporated into a space’s color palette, Mushroom can offer the warmth of a light brown, together with a muted sense of relaxing coolness. Although this is generally seen as an ordinary and ‘safe’ color, its meaning fluctuates based on the colors and designs it accompanies. A great canvas to build on, designers will often pair this color with pops of more vibrant hues to punch up a space. Kirei finds this color is best suited for office spaces, writing studios, banks, and hospitality spaces such as guest rooms or a lobby.

With the rise of minimalism, creams and vanillas are often incorporated into many types of settings from residential and hospitality, to government institutions and corporate office spaces. While white can be stark, vanillas and creams offer a softer approach to a clean slate.

Vanilla is known to help clear a viewer’s mind, encourage pure thoughts, cleanse negative emotions, and promote renewal. This subtle mix of white and yellow offers a sense of simplicity that can easily be manipulated with different types of lighting. Like beige, the addition of more vibrant colors helps create a harmonious contrast within an interior space.

Millennial pink is officially out! Taking its place are softer shades like rosy neutrals and muted blushes, which offer a space a sense of tenderness and kindness, evoking empathy and sensitivity to the eyes and mind. It only makes sense for Pantone’s 2019 Color of the Year, Living Coral to be on every designer’s radar as this color continues to dominate recent interiors—hopeful and optimistic colors in all different types of settings including offices, restaurants, and hotels.

As every design professional will say, ‘you can never go wrong with black.’ In just the past few months, it seems black is now taking over the world of interior design in 2019. Black may not be a color that many immediately jump to, but one cannot deny, the color invigorates a room with its grand aptitude for statement design. When incorporating black into a color palette, designers must fully commit—whether it be a black accent wall to bring in the drama or a black ceiling, which is a technique that works very well in small spaces with crisp, white walls for a bold look.

From subdued neutrals to vibrant hues, Kirei seeks to inspire designers to continue to push boundaries and create new ways of visualizing emotions for the environments they design.