Design & Color - Coming in Spring 2011

Design and color affect every aspect of our lives every day. Our selection of clothing and furniture, the accessories we use and the products we buy are all based on design and color. One of the most important and least understood areas of design is color. Few people realize the tremendous effect that color has on human physiology, psychology and sociology. The program in Design & Color has been developed to increase the knowledge base for these two interrelated areas.

The Design & Color program offers a series of non-sequential classes for a variety of professional development needs. Interior Designers and architects can fulfill CEU requirements for professional organizations; designers, architects, real estate stagers and agents can broaden their knowledge base. Healthcare professionals such as physical therapists and massage therapists can benefit from increasing their knowledge about color and health to improve patient care and promote their services. Retailers can benefit from marketing techniques and the potential for increased sales. Individuals seeking personal enrichment will also find these courses advantageous to improving the personal environment.

Design & Color is an integrated, condensed program that allows students to complete the program within one semester. It is suitable for design professionals and for those with limited background in design and color because its approach presents the subjects in a new way based on the latest in research information.

What can a student in this Design & Color program expect to accomplish?

• An increased understanding of how color/light impacts us on a physiological, psychological and sociological level
• Exposure to the latest developments in color/light research with regard to human health
• An understanding of the multicultural aspects of color
• How to apply this increased color knowledge across various design fields
• How to improve marketing skills and increase the potential for retail sales
• A better understanding of design trends and environmental (green) design
• How to plan and develop successful visual presentations
• How to apply what is taught to the personal environment

Color
4 meetings of 3 hours each = 12 hours

Design Trends
4 meetings of 3 hours each = 12 hours

Design & Merchandising
4 meetings of 3 hours each = 12 hours

Total Program Hours = 36 hours

Curriculum

Color

This course is about color and its application to various field of design and retail. Color and light are inseparable, so this course will present color in an integrated form. We will cover detailed information about color and its effects including the latest research findings on color and health, color and psychology, the physiological effects of color, color and its cultural impact. The information presented will be in a condensed form and draws from a wide range of scientifically accurate studies. It can be applied to interior design, architectural design, fashion design, visual merchandising, landscape design and health care facilities and retail uses. For example, past students in the health care field have found color study an invaluable tool in making their physical therapy facilities and patient waiting rooms more patient-oriented which has improved treatment outcomes. An increased knowledge of how to apply color across the various design fields has proved equally effective. Knowledge of how to use color effectively in retail applications cannot be underestimated. Knowing how to attract potential customers through the use of color can be an invaluable business tool. This course is also ideal for those without a previous background in color study because it supplies information in a condensed form while showing specific ways to apply color effectively to daily life. At the completion of this course, you will have gained a more thorough understanding of how color impacts every aspect of your life and how to apply that information to a wide range of uses and professions.

Text: Fehrman, Kenneth and Fehrman, Cherie Color: The Secret Influence, Prentice Hall, 2nd edition 2004

Design Trends

This Design Trends course will enable you to gain a better understanding of how past, present and future designs blend to create trends which influence virtually all fields of design including interior design, fashion design, architecture and landscape design, and visual merchandising. This course is offered in an integrated format which includes the principles of design, the major influences on design trends, a discussion of designers and manufacturers, materials and methods of construction and the trend toward green, environmentally friendly design and its applications.

Texts:

Fehrman, Kenneth and Fehrman, Cherie Interior Design Innovators, Fehrman Books 2009

DeChiara, Joseph; Panero, Julius and Zelnik, Martin, Timesaver Standards for Interior Design and Space Planning, McGraw Hill, 1991

Design & Merchandising

The Design & Merchandising course is a particularly valuable course in light of today’s economy. It will provide techniques in design merchandising, concepts in the contemporary environment, multicultural consumer need, how to plan and develop visual presentations, the tools of merchandising and targeted merchandising as applied to the fields of interior design, fashion design, real estate staging, retail, architecture and landscape design. This is a hands-on course where you will be participating in assigned projects that will further your understanding of merchandising. Knowing how to effectively present a product or design is key to selling it. At the completion of this course you will have an increased knowledge of how to analyze and promote a design or product and to effectively present it in the current market.

Text: Morgan, Tony, Visual Merchandising, Lawrence King Publishing Ltd., 2009

Kenneth R. Fehrman, Ed.D. - Instructor Biography

Kenneth R. Fehrman earned his doctoral degree from the University of San Francisco, specializing in color/light and its effects. He is an Emeritus Professor of Interior Design at San Francisco State University and continues to teach color courses in the Interior Design program. He has taught at various institutions in the Bay Area including City College of San Francisco, Cañada College, the Rudolph Schaeffer School of Design, Western Design Institute, and the University of California extension. He has been a color consultant and interior designer for the past twenty-five years. He has also taught graphic design, environmental design, textiles and aesthetics. Dr. Fehrman is a member of the International Interior Design Association (IIDA), the Interior Design Educators Council (IDEC), the Inter-Society Color Council (ISCC), and the Society for Light Treatment and Biological Rhythms (SLTBR).

Together with his wife and business partner, Cherie Fehrman, Dr. Fehrman has authored several hundred articles about design and color, and is the co-author of Color: The Secret Influence, a book covering the physiological, psychological and sociological effects of color; and Interior Design Innovators 1910-1960 covering the iconic designers and designs on which contemporary design is based. The Fehrmans founded PRISM (Photochromatic Research Institute for Science and Marketing) in 1990 to disseminate accurate information about color/light. Currently, they continue their color research in the area of color/light and give seminars on its effects. They have recently formed a publishing company, Click here, to further explore these and other topics.