Color Impact 2023 was a great success. These pages are left here for archival purposes.

We hope to see you at a future Color Council meeting! Our next conference in June 2025.


June 11-15, 2023

Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY, USA


Presenter - Beichen Yu


Beichen Yu, Researcher, Colorist and Landscape Architect

New Urbanisms of Color: Environmental Color and Urban Life

Color in the design of urban spaces, including public art, urban design and landscaping, has undergone unprecedented changes since the new millennium. The use of bright, high-chroma (or saturated) colors in the design of urban spaces has become increasingly prevalent in recent years, particularly as seen on social media and design websites.

This presentation draws from my completed PhD research, which sought to provide a fresh insight into this trend of environmental color in contemporary urban landscapes and a methodical approach to color design analysis. The presentation will present key findings showing that environmental colors, at least those observed in contemporary urban landscapes, have become more integral to urban life. The concept of "Urbanisms of Color" is a relatively new perspective for investigating environmental color, highlighting the link between social and physical (color) factors and understand the impact and change of color in relationship to urban issues.

Representative cases from the past two decades will be used to illustrate how changes in urbanism led to an increase in the use of saturated colors in urban landscapes. These cases aim to demonstrate the crucial role that environmental color plays in expression and communication in urban life. With the progress of globalization, the digital market boom, and the dominance of social media, the connection between color and urbanism has been strengthened. Through this presentation, it is argued that environmental color is a vital aspect in communication and expression in urban environments, continually shaped and reshaped by societal progress and demands. The arrival of the era of New Urbanisms of Color has made environmental color more responsive and reflective of changes in the urban environments.

Bio

Beichen Yu is a researcher, colourist, landscape architect, and artist with a design background. She holds a PhD degree from the University of Edinburgh, where she conducted extensive research on color design in urban public spaces. Her work has shed light on the development of urbanisms of color through the emerging use of saturated color in contemporary urban and landscape design. Her expertise is in the social semiotics of color, quantitative analysis of color and color data visualisation, specifically in environmental color.



The Inter-Society Color Council advances the knowledge of color as it relates to art, science, industry and design.
Each of these fields enriches the others, furthering the general objective of color education.


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