trust, restraint, and curiosity help colour feel easier again
After a break ~ whether it’s Christmas, a busy season, or simply life taking over ~ returning to creative work can feel surprisingly tender.
Hands feel a little out of practice.
Confidence feels quieter than it did before.
And colour, which once felt exciting, can suddenly feel overwhelming.
Do I go bold or stay safe?
Do I trust my instinct or second-guess it?
What if I get it wrong?
In our DesignPlus groups, we see this moment often. And what we’ve learned is this: confidence in colour doesn’t come from being brave all at once. It grows through small, gentle decisions.
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Colour Isn’t a Test
One of the biggest shifts people experience is realising that colour isn’t a test of taste or talent. It’s a tool - one that becomes easier to use the more permission we give ourselves to explore.
Confidence doesn’t arrive when you finally “know enough.”
It arrives when colour stops feeling like something you have to get right.
That shift is subtle, but powerful.
Starting Smaller Than You Think
When colour feels intimidating, the instinct is often to either avoid it altogether or to add too much too quickly.
Instead, confidence often grows when we:
work with fewer colours
repeat the same palette across several small studies
remove colour instead of adding more
notice how colour interacts with shape, line, and texture
Limitation isn’t restriction - it’s clarity.
By narrowing the choices, colour becomes something you can listen to rather than control.
Colour as a Conversation
In the DesignPlus sessions, colour is treated as a conversation rather than a decision.
What happens if you shift one tone slightly?
What if you mute something instead of brightening it?
What if you let one colour lead and the others support?
These questions lower the stakes. They invite curiosity instead of judgement.
And when colour is explored alongside others. Shared on screen, talked through, reflected on… confidence builds faster. People begin to see possibilities they wouldn’t have noticed alone.
Confidence Grows Through Repetition
One of the quiet ways confidence develops is through repetition.
Using the same palette again and again allows you to understand how it behaves. You start to anticipate how colours respond to different materials, textures, and scales. You notice patterns in what you’re drawn to… and just as importantly, what you’re not.
This kind of familiarity creates trust.
Not because the colours become predictable, but because you become more grounded in how you work with them.
After a Pause, Be Kind
At the start of a new year, it’s tempting to expect a sudden return to energy and certainty. But creativity doesn’t work on a calendar.
If colour feels harder than it used to, that doesn’t mean you’ve gone backwards. It simply means you’re finding your way back in.
And colour ~ approached gently ~ can help with that.
Try beginning with:
a colour you already love
a neutral palette with one accent
a familiar combination used in a new way
Confidence doesn’t need a dramatic restart.
It often returns quietly, through curiosity and play.
Learning Colour Together
What makes this process easier inside a community is knowing you’re not alone in the uncertainty.
When people share their colour studies ~ tentative, experimental, unresolved ~ something important happens. Doubt loosens its grip. Exploration feels safer. Confidence grows not through comparison, but through shared experience.
This is why we return to colour again and again in DesignPlus. Not to master it, but to build a relationship with it… one that grows more trusting over time.
A Gentle Way Forward
If you’re easing back into your creative practice this January, let colour be an invitation rather than a challenge.
You don’t need boldness.
You don’t need certainty.
You don’t need to prove anything.
Start small.
Notice what feels right.
Let confidence grow at its own pace.
Sometimes, colour doesn’t need you to be brave.
It just needs you to begin.
👉 Join the waiting list for our next DesignPlus Discovery Call to explore the design principles in a small, supportive creative community… and Find Your Birds!