Dulux Trade puts colour to work

Colour shapes how people navigate spaces, how they feel in them, and how those spaces perform over time.

Through the Talks Stage at Clerkenwell Design Week, a new social housing specification guide, and an inclusive design resource for specifiers, Dulux Trade has been exploring what it means to put colour to work in practice.

Clerkenwell Design Week 2026 talks now online

Dulux Trade sponsored the talks stage at Clerkenwell Design Week 2026, where its creative director, Marianne Shillingford, hosted three sessions on colour and design. The standout talk, The True Nature and Power of Colour, looked at how colour choices influence the way people experience and move through a space.

A recording of the session, along with interviews with the speakers, is now available on the Dulux Trade website.

Colour advice for specifiers working on social housing projects

In social housing, colour does more than decorate. It can define identity, support wayfinding, improve accessibility and reduce maintenance costs.

In a new Architecture Today article, Dulux Trade’s Dawn Scott and Andrew Roser set out key considerations for specifying colour and paint in social housing, drawing on insights from the Social Housing Specifier's Guide, which is available for free on the Dulux Trade specifier hub.

Seen this Dulux Trade guide to inclusive design?

Putting colour to work also means making sure it works for everyone. Dulux Trade’s inclusive design guide gives specifiers ready-to-use palettes developed with neurodiversity and dementia in mind, alongside guidance on how light, environment and individual differences affect perception.

It's available alongside other specifier resources on the Dulux Trade specifier hub.