So, you’ve decided that you want a colourful school canopy… an excellent choice! The correct colour for your canopy isn’t just about aesthetics, though. The colour can affect visibility, create a specific atmosphere, and even tie into your school’s branding. With so many options available, navigating the colour wheel can feel challenging and overwhelming.
Don’t worry, as at A&S Landscape, we’ve created this handy guide that will provide insights and inspiration to help you select the ideal shade for your outdoor learning and play areas.
Ready to discover the perfect colour for your canopy? Let’s get into it!
What is the best colour for a canopy?
While there isn’t simply a ‘best’ colour for your school canopy, there are some key elements that you will need to consider that are unique to your school’s needs, branding, and the intended purpose of your canopy. For example, if you want a primary school canopy, you might be after something with bold primary colours!
Motiva Linear Coloured Roof (23)
Here at A&S Landscape, we have an extensive canopy colour range for you to choose from. With a vast selection to opt for, including special colours and beyond, we’re certain that you’ll find one or more colours that appeal to you and your school. From sophisticated greys to bright, sunny yellows, there’s a colour out there for everyone!
But just how can you settle on a colour that suits your school? Luckily for you, we’ve got some tips and ideas on how to settle for the best-suited colour for your canopy. Let’s look at them in a bit more detail.
1. Match your school’s colours and values
Many schools will often choose colourful frames or roofs to match their core school values and ‘house’ colours. These ‘houses’ usually represent values such as respect, kindness, independence, determination, perseverance, aspiration, and tolerance. In most cases, schools, especially primary schools, will use colours to represent their different houses, such as yellow, red, blue, and green.
Common school colours like red can be used to represent qualities such as strength, action, and bravery, while blue represents responsibility, trust, and calm. Yellow is known to stimulate mental activity and promote happiness, with green promoting feelings of safety and a connection to nature. Remember to choose colours that create harmony throughout your school and playground, letting you create an impactful outdoor space that truly represents your institution.
2. Stimulate positive emotions with colour
According to research titled ‘Children’s emotional associations with colours’, most young children associate the majority of colours with positive emotions. In fact, colours can help attention spans, allow children to focus on boring topics better, and increase their ability to retain key information, concluding that there is a direct link between colours in learning spaces and student behaviour, performance, and mood.
So what are calming colours for kids? According to said research, white, green, and blue evoke feelings of calm, curiosity, satisfaction, and hope in children. However, be mindful of colours like black and grey, as these can have the opposite effects and create feelings of worry and fear.
3. Encourage focus and creativity
Another thing to consider when choosing a colourful school canopy is how you can help students focus better. According to world colour specialist Jacob Olesen, children tend to be the most focused and creative at school when they are exposed to colours that enhance their skills. For example:
- Yellow brings joy to classrooms while benefiting a child’s memory and focus
- Orange can help boost the mood of kids in a classroom while helping them engage with their peers
- Green can help children feel calmer, which can benefit their ability to understand new topics
- Blue is a calming colour that can help boost productivity
- Red (to be used sparingly) evokes feelings of excitement
The key is often about finding balance. While vibrant colours can be exciting and stimulating, too much intensity might be distracting, especially with younger children. Consider using a more neutral base colour for your framework and incorporate accent colours into specific areas, such as the roof or side panels. For example, our Maxima StarSail’s® steelwork can be finished in Dura-coat™ colour finish to any RAL colour, and its shade cloth material is available in 14 stunning colours!
Using these bright colours, especially paired with outdoor learning, can positively improve academic performance.
4. Don’t forget about a coloured roof or steel framework
Some schools will opt for a plain grey or white frame, saving the bright colours for the roof or post protectors. Coloured polycarbonate roofs, like we use on our Motiva Linear™ canopies, are available in bright colours like red, orange, and yellow can brighten up even the dullest of days. Our polycarbonate roofing is available in a clear or opaque finish as standard, or coloured as we’ve mentioned at a small extra cost. Post pads can be selected from our wide range of colour ways, creating contrast to the structure.
5. Use light colours for shade solutions
While the primary purpose of one of our canopies is to provide shade, did you know that the colour you choose can significantly impact how effective it is at keeping the area underneath cool enough? Lighter colours, such as white, cream, and light grey, are highly reflective, meaning that they’re able to reflect more heat away from the covered area, resulting in a cooler and more comfortable environment for students and staff, especially during summer months.
High-quality materials are just as important as the colour of your canopy. The fabrics used by us here at A&S Landscape have been specially designed to block harmful UV rays, making for a truly effective shade solution.
Choose A&S Landscape for your next colourful school canopy!
Hopefully, this guide has been handy in telling you all about what the best colour for a school canopy is. While there is no ‘set’ colour to go for, we recommend choosing light colours that are better at blocking harmful UV rays as this will give you extra protection and safety.
Here at A&S Landscape, we’ve been installing canopies for almsot 50 years, building meaningful relationships with our clients along the way. Ready to install a bright and colourful school canopy? Then please don’t hesitate to get in touch – a member of our expert team will be more than happy to get back to you!
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