A Study on Color Image through Color Psychological Analysis of Playing Space in Kids Cafe

Abstract

(Background and Purpose) At present, each household in China has between one and two children, and more attention is being paid to educational projects that parents can participate in with their children; among these, the Kids Cafe is a representative program. Despite the increasing emphasis on Kids Cafes, spatial research considering the psychological stability and comfort of children using these services remains insufficient. In this regard, this study explores the current state of research on the overall interior design by analyzing the colors used annually in the Chinese Kids Cafe and examining the psychological characteristics of the space. (Methods) The spatial scope of the study was established as the play space among typical Kids Cafes currently operating in China to analyze indoor images in consideration of colors and psychological characteristics. For this reason, the concepts of Kids Cafe, playing space, color theory, and psychological characteristics were included in the investigation. To analyze seven Kids Cafe facilities in China, the KSCA program and IRI color adjectives were applied to extract the colors of the play space and obtain information about the interior image. (Results) The results of the analysis revealed that in the play space, images of clarity were used up to three times; images of nature were found twice, and images of elegance, decency, gentleness, modernity, grandeur, and cuteness were each displayed once. In terms of the ride and other facilities, cute images were found four times, clear images three times, modern images two times, and cheerful, decent, subtle, natural, and elegant images once each. In the play spaces, four cafes were planned together and used a combination of warm and cool colors, and in terms of the ride and other facilities, four cases used a combination of warm and cool colors. (Conclusions) As described above, the combination of warm and cool colors is harmonizing and gives the facility a sense of balance. Despite this, the cyan color, which was found as the main cool color of the play space in six of the cafes in this study, has been judged to cause stress for children, and it should be avoided. In addition, in terms of the ride and facilities, warm and cool colors are integrated to create a playing environment that is both comfortable and tense, but the differences in play space are insufficient because they employ the same color plan and use similar colors. Although this research is based on the Chinese Kids Cafe, in the future, more cases and in-depth research will be conducted by comparing and analyzing the colors used in the Korean Kids Cafe.