The Colour Literacy Forum is a virtual platform featuring presentations and interactive conversations focused on updating and expanding 21st century colour education at the university level. The goal of this global collaboration is to develop an interdisciplinary STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Math) and beyond model, that positions colour as a Meta-discipline and aligns colour education with current needs in the culture, providing state-of-the-art resources, and offering dynamic networking opportunities for all stakeholders.
2025 Series: Colour in Practice: Expanding Knowledge for a Changing World
As global challenges reshape how we design, communicate, and engage with our environments, colour itself must evolve to meet new social, ecological, and technological demands. The series highlights practitioners, researchers, and thinkers who propose innovative, meaningful, and ethical approaches to colour—grounded in current knowledge rather than inherited conventions.
Each Forum showcases real-world applications that position colour as a strategic, sensorial, psychological, ecological, and systemic tool, demonstrating its impact across materials, spaces, and experiences. Understanding this broader landscape allows us to see colour not simply as an aesthetic choice, but as a force with tangible effects. The series invites participants to question assumptions, explore emerging methodologies, and expand their understanding of colour. In doing so, it redefines colour literacy for today and the future, framing it as a vital, dynamic form of knowledge—one that equips us to navigate a complex, interconnected, and rapidly changing world with insight, responsibility, and creativity.
Connect - Innovate - Educate
Colour literacy forum dates & topics
Click on talk titles for more information. Recordings of past forums are available on our Youtube Channel.
Designing with Colour: Relation, Strategy and Regeneration
FORUM 15: Friday April 3, 2026
11:00am-12:30pm ET
With: Timo Rieke (HAWK University of Applies Science & Arts Hildesheim), Montaha Hidefi (President, Color Marketing Group® (CMG)), and Laura Perryman (Designer, Author and Lecturer)
Colour Matters: How Colour Shapes Experience beyond Theory
FORUM 14: December 12, 2025
With: Domicele Jonauskaite (University of Lausanne, Switzerland) Verena M. Schindler (Art and Architectural Historian, Colour Researcher), Juan Serra (Universitat Politècnica de València) & Ignacio Cabodevilla (Universitat Politècnica de València)
Colour MIXconceptions: Comparative Mixing Processes
FORUM 13: October 10, 2025
With: Paul Green-Armytage (Researcher, Writer & Educator) & Marjan Kooroshnia (Associate Professor at The Swedish School of Textiles, University of Borås, Sweden)
Beyond Hue: Reframing Colour for a Multidimensional World
FORUM 12: May 17, 2025
With: Ellen Divers ( Independent Design Theorist and Researcher) & Esther Hagenlocher (University of Oregon)
Colour Misconceptions and their Impact in the Classroom
FORUM 11: March 1, 2025
With: Robert Hirschler & Andreas Schwartz
The Cultural Palette: Colour’s Role in Identity, Gender and Society
FORUM 10: December 6, 2024
With: Alexandra Loske (author, Colour - A Visual History); Carolyn Purnell (author, Blue Jeans) and Dominique Grisard (University of Basel, author Gendering Terror)
Colour Through Time: Histories, Meanings, Practices
FORUM 9: November 9, 2024
With: Patrick Baty (author, The Anatomy of Colour; Nature's Palette); Spike Bucklow (author, The Alchemy of Paint) and Judith Mottram (Lancaster University, UK).
The Interaction of Colour and Light
FORUM 8: June 13, 2024
With David Briggs (Colour Society of Australia), Silvia Pont (Delft University of Technology) and Kine Angelo (Norwegian University of Science and Technology)
Colour in Context
FORUM 7: March 22, 2024
With Harald Arnkil (Visual artist, Colour researcher & Author Colours in the Visual World) and Valtteri Arstila (Professor of Theoretical Philosophy, Department of Behavioural Sciences and Philosophy, University of Turku)
The Evolution of Colour Vision
FORUM 6: September 29, 2023
With Andrew Parker (University of Oxford), Jay Neitz (University of Washington) and Kimberly A. Jameson (University of California, Irvine)
Colour & the Perceiver
FORUM 5: June 15, 2023
With: Ming Ronnier Luo (College of Optical Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University); Maria Olkkonen (Principal Colour Scientist, Microsoft); and Bill Fischer (Digital Art & Design program at Kendall College of Art and Design)
Colour & Materials: Past, Present, Future
FORUM 4: March 31, 2023
With Carolyn E. Boyd (Texas State University), José Luis Caivano (Buenos Aires University), and Noora Yau & Konrad Klockars (Aalto University)
Teaching Colour Online: 3 Perspectives from the Arts & Sciences
FORUM 2: September 30, 2022
With David Briggs (Colour Society of Australia), Saara Pyykkö (Aalto University) & Robin Kingsburgh (York University)
State of the Art: Colour Teaching in Design Education
FORUM 1: April 22, 2022
With Ingrid Calvo Ivanovic (University of Milan)
FORUM PARTNER ORGANIZATIONS
Inter-Society Colour Council (ISCC) is the principal professional society in the field of color in the United States and the US member organization of the AIC.
Cumulus is the leading global association of art and design education, representing a dynamic ecosystem for knowledge exchange and collaboration in art and design pedagogy, research, and practice.
The International Colour Association (AIC, Association Internationale de la Couleur) is composed of national colour organizations and members representing over 30 countries. Founded June 21, 1967, in Washington DC, USA, the AIC aims are to encourage research in all aspects of colour, to disseminate the knowledge gained from this research, and to promote its application to the solution of problems in the fields of science, art, design and industry on an international basis.
The Study Group for Colour Education (SGCE) of the AIC is an international network of scientists, teachers within the field of colour, and other professionals with a specific interest in colour education. Aims: exchange of knowledge and experiences among its members; stimulation of teaching and research; to inform about coming congresses, seminars, workshops and exhibitions which might be of interest; to share news from congresses, seminars, workshops, publications and exhibitions.
