Transform Healthcare Spaces with Healing Indigo Blues for 2026

Cool and calming, we believe blue is the perfect tone for 2026, when life is often hectic and overheated. This balancing colour feels particularly relevant in healthcare spaces that today, around the world, are often overstretched and in overdrive. Research shows that noisy and frenetic environments are detrimental to both staff and patients¹ and that quiet, reflective areas in clinics can be beneficial for healing healthcare spaces². To give you maximum flexibility to work with blue, our Colours of the Year: Free Groove™, Slow Swing™ and Mellow Flow™ to create a family of blues. These three indigos feature in all our 2026 colour stories, with one acting as the lead colour in each.

Creating Healing healthcare spaces with Colour Psychology

For hospitals, clinics and medical centres, we recommend the Dulux Trade Slow colour story with its combination of quiet tones that support patient recovery environments. The dark meditative blue - Slow Swing™ is the hero in this palette, but all three can help create the ideal calming backdrop for reflection and recuperation. By slowing the visual pace of a space, these cooling colours can help dial down feelings of stress and offer relief. Also, by using Slow colours to define specific areas where patients, staff and visitors can unwind can help healthcare settings function more effectively.

¹ Hospitals are noisy. They don't have to be, Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), August 2023 

² Aristizabal, S.; Byun, K.; Porter, P.; Clements, N.; Campanella, C.; Li, L.; Mullan, A.; Ly, S.; Senerat, A.; Nenadic, I.Z.; et al. Biophilic office design: Exploring the impact of a multisensory approach on human well-being. J. Environ. Psychol. 2021, 77, 101682.