This very power makes the misuse of colour an abuse of the viewer. Professional designers are often guilty of colour misapplication and poor taste, creating violent clashes or room schemes that do not support the room's function. It's not as if the rules of colour are new. Goethe first expounded a printed theory of colour many centuries ago, and related colour to emotions. The Greek and Romans had symbolic meanings for colour in earlier millennia, some of which are still at the base of the theories of colour taught in art schools.

Artists like Klee and Albers , and designers such as Itten worked with designers closely at the various iterations of the Bauhaus in developing theories of colour in interiors, carpets etc., some of the effects of which are only lately being revealed through the work of the restoration groups on Bauhaus properties in Germany. Yet despite this research, and the teaching of colour theory in art college across the world, ignorance in the use of colour continues to be displayed.

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