Skip to main content

Another Color Revolution

Within the past few years color has served as a visual unifier for nonviolent political movements. Wearing of a specific color (sometimes at great risk) is a physical reminder to those who support the like-minded.

The recent wave of discontent among Egyptians has the makings of another color revolution. The key demands for free elections (without the repeat of an automatic winner from the ruling party) is only one of a long list of reforms that the populace is demanding.

Other countries such as Iran, and Ukraine have used color to reinforce political, and cultural reforms that have been emotional nods to their nation’s history.

In December of 2004, Ukrainians wore the color orange to send a message to Putin that they were unified against the rigged elections that made Viktor Yanukovych the newly elected president vs. Viktor. Since orange was the original color adopted by Yushchenko’s campaign and supports, it was a natural transition for the color to be used to represent their candidate and their emotional discontent with the ruling government. The “Orange Revolution” ushered in a series of acts of civil disobedience, sit-ins and general strikes. These demonstrations ultimately gave rise to action taken by Ukraine's Supreme Court to conduct another runoff which ultimately made Yushchenko the victor.



Will the fractured populace in Egypt use their national flag (three equal horizontal red, white, and black bands) as the banner for their ongoing cause? Or, will one color such as green (used in the failed 2009 Iranian election protests) become their standard?

Whatever the choice let’s hope it is one that serves as a conduit towards positive change for the greater good without the cost of lost lives.

Popular posts from this blog

Making a Color Exclusive

Logos, slogans, and colors, become synonymous with a product, company, cause or sports team over time. Studies to support consumer driven responses to color are constantly being monitored by the marketplace to maximize data on current and future color trends. Because color can stand independently of words, it is capable of being recognized on its own —devoid of any reinforced logo or text. With this in mind, should an organization strive to protect their color assets through trademark? Not unlike a logo or company slogan, colors can also be protected under the umbrella of trademark. But can these measures extend to the name of a color as well? Syracuse University filed a federal trademark for the exclusive rights to the word “orange”. From the university’s perspective it was a logical move toward protecting their sports team name (which in 2004 had been edited down from “Orangemen” to simply “ Orange ”). Even though the official filing was done in 2006, several colleges have ...

Munsell’s Crusade to Instruct the Masses

We often take for granted the past work done by pioneers such as Albert H. Munsell. Painter, teacher, and inventor, Munsell created the most influential color-modeling system for its time. His efforts devised a “rational way to describe color” through the of use clear decimal notation; using hue, value, and chroma into uniform yet independent dimensions within a three-dimensional space. This idea broke with the traditional approach of identifying colors through a naming scheme, which Munsell thought was “foolish” and “misleading”. Munsell Color System, Atlas of Color Charts. The color system Munsell built back in the 1900 ’ s continues to serve educators, visual artists, and the industries who depend on color matching technologies to produce their products and services. The Munsell Color Company website has a historical overview of Munsell’s legacy as well as examples of company projects that continue to advance the process of achieving accurate color. To peer inside the...

Another Pinboard to Follow

Having resisted Pinterest for about a year now, I finally dipped my toes into the virtual pool of pinboards. My apprehension was truly misdirected and I've come to find that the concept of organizing visual images/links onto a virtual board has become a great teaching tool. After covering the typical graphic design topics such as typography, and history it was a natural move to include color among the related topics. So here is a link to my All Color Matters pinboard .