Colour Scheme Preferences for Swatch, Clothing and Home Furnishings: Exploring Contextual Influences

Research on colour preferences has primarily focused on individual favourites for a limited number of single solid colours, with less attention paid to preferences for multiple colour schemes, as used in fashion forecasting, design planning and brand marketing. This study focuses explicitly on three-colour schemes to understand how context influences colour scheme preferences (favourites and aversions) beyond general swatches. The findings identified that emerging adults’ colour scheme preferences lean toward soft rather than hard colour tastes across different object contexts. Presentation context influenced most colour scheme preferences, as shown by some sex differences. Soft colours were deemed more suitable for female clothing, whereas hard colours were preferred for home furnishings. Colour convention, colour–object congruity and appropriateness, the relationship between subject and object, gender association, and colour tone and brightness should be considered more specifically in colour scheme preference research for objects associated with personal, social, and cultural meanings.