Welcome to a ‘wonderful world of color’

This is a happy confluence for me, because I previously worked with both Jude and Sean as contributors to STEP inside design magazine. And as Jude points out, Sean and I continue to “spar in friendly Spy vs. Spy style” in a series called 3Qs for this site. Here, Adams shares his views on color application, inspiration and prognostication.

By Sean Adams for the Publikum Calendar Project, 2008

When I think about designers who are masterful in using color, I think first of AdamsMorioka, the Beverly Hills studio of Noreen Morioka and Adams, who’ve done vivid and memorable work for Nickelodeon, Sundance, Disney and so many others. Whether he’s doing environmental, editorial, identity or motion design, Adams’ color sense is distinctive without lapsing into simple style. And while his approach has mid-century modern antecedents, he has done more to evolve that canon and make it fresh and relevant in the 21st century than anyone working today that I can think of.

His color sense is rooted in the same way, which is to say there’s more than zest to his palette. He freely admits to a Left Coast bias: “My color sense is a product of what I see. Living in Los Angeles, I’m bombarded with a clash of cultures. I see more palettes that come from Mexico, South America and Asia than European. Add some Middle Eastern and Hawaiian, and you’ve got a bright mess.”

It appears his only dogma is eclecticism. “I don’t understand when people say they can’t work with color,” he says. “I’ve never met a color that didn’t like the one next to it. Being brave and slamming things together always works.”

Inspiration is all location. “I work in a space with 12-foot floor-to-ceiling windows that blast light all day, so there is no such thing as too intense. My inspiration comes from my environment,” Adams says, and there’s no doubt that includes Disney, specifically the Disney artist Mary Blair, whose work from 1940–70 includes iconic imagery we all recognize: art for Alice in Wonderland, Cinderella and the Disneyland attraction It’s a Small World. Walt Disney himself is said to have admired Blair’s color styling. “She combined colors in ways I would never have considered. Lime green and yellow with rust, violet and pink, avocado green and burnt orange. If you ever need a crash course in color theory, ride It’s a Small World repeatedly. If the song doesn’t drive you mad, you will emerge a color master.”

Above: Design by Mary Blair from It’s a Small World; below: Tile designs by Mary Blair, Disneyland

I had to spoil Sean’s fun at this point and jump in with a cliché: How does he get ahead of trends so he knows not to offer a color solution that’s played out? Adams is of course way ahead of me. “I am the last person to ask about trends. I am so tragically unaware of any trend that people pity me. I’ve worn the same style of clothes since I was five. I’ve used the same palettes my entire career.

By AdamsMorioka for Mohawk Fine Papers

“I can talk about colors I like at one time as opposed to another,” Adams says. “For example, we just repainted the office, changing from pastels to odd colors: watermelon, avocado, ochre, butter yellow. But I have no idea what is groovy today. My advice is to avoid trends. Stick with what you like. You’ll be out of style for 18 years, then in style for two, then out again, in cycles.”

Among their many-hued accomplishments, AdamsMorioka are the authors (with Terry Lee Stone) of the Color Design Workbook, from Rockport Publishers.

Top image: By AdamsMorioka for Mexico Restaurante y Barra
Disneyland photos by Sean Adams