Any professional in the design field
knows that color affects mood; the creation of a positive
emotional color field is a staple of design practice. But what
if color could reduce the dropout rate among disaffected
high school students? The proof is in the patina: it does.
Philanthropist, industrial designer and design doyenne
Ruth Shuman, who herself lives in a beautiful Gaetano
Pesce-designed apartment in which the dominant colors
are yellow and rich Roman orange, founded Publicolor
after visiting New York City public schools: "I was just
astonished. They were so prison-like!..I just saw that there
was a major disconnect between this very disrespectful
environment and our expectations of excellence from
teachers and students…I wanted to put a paint brush
in the hands of disaffected students, let them paint their
schools. First of all, their schools will look beautiful, and
secondly, they'll develop a sense of pride in ownership
and they will start showing up."
Ruth Shuman is hands-on in her mission to
invigorate and indeed rescue both the physical and aca-
demic fabric of public schools through color, visiting schools
herself and conducting workshops on color with the stu-
dents. "I teach the kids about color as visual language.
HYLAND
