Johnstone’s Trade has joined up with commercial facilities management contractors Mitie to deliver a colourful makeover to a Milton Keynes-based charity.
MK Snap, which offers professional support to more than 100 people with learning difficulties, was voted the winner of the Johnstone’s Paint Community Spirit campaign by the general public. More than 50 community projects from around the country originally entered the campaign after being invited to submit applications to win a re-decoration of their facilities.
The work carried out involved a complete redecoration of MK Snap’s classrooms, sports hall, work area, communal spaces, kitchen and office areas. Colour psychology played an important role in the project, given the special requirements of the centre’s users. Johnstone’s principal technical colour consultant Donna Taylor was on hand to offer advice at every turn.
Ms Taylor said: “After meeting with the team and pupils I was able to fully understand the environment and the needs of the centre and people. Our colour suggestions were created to provide a positive and enlightening space to learn in. For the classrooms, we proposed the use of passive colours such as blues, greens and purples to calm the mind and aid concentration.
“Where creativity, energy and encouragement were required, such as the craft and work rooms, we used active colours like yellows and oranges to reflect energy, creativity and optimism. A meditative purple/grey was used in the sports hall in order to complement the activities that take place there, such as yoga and dancing, while still considering the visual contrast required for sporting equipment.”
To help the MK Snap team visualise and see what effect our colours would have, Johnstone’s provided mood boards which included edited images of the centre’s rooms with the colours super-imposed onto them.
Maureen McColl, chief executive of MK Snap, said: “We did not believe that the energy could get much better until Mitie and Johnstone’s stepped in to do a makeover! The power of colour has truly transformed our centre and is visibly stimulating more creativity and pride among our learners and staff. We are so grateful to have won the Johnstone’s competition and although the future was bright here at Snap, it is now a whole lot brighter.”
