It's All About Orange - Pantone's 2012 Color of the Year

The annual hue-of-choice made its début this past week. World renowned color authority Pantone named Tangerine Tango 2012's color of the year. Pantone believes that this vivacious orange can “...provide the energy boost we need to recharge and.” Perceived more often as an autumnal choice, orange was seen on the runways of Fashion Week this year amongst other robust colors. Dubbed by Women's Wear Daily “..as the most popular color at spring Fashion Week”, tangerine like any other color has the potential to leave the catwalks and make its way into the likes of retail sectors which include areas of industrial design.

The last time orange was used with abandon, was during the late 70’s. The avocado/harvest gold/brown combinations reigned supreme in kitchens across America. Often incorporated into Formica counter tops, vinyl flooring, and matching appliances, fake as well as real wood-grain themes was the style that permeated home furnishings.

With international economic woes causing general malaise, fashion can always be counted on to give a more positive vibe to console. Short days and cold nights have arrived here on the East Coast. The light hearted days of spring are still a few frozen months a way. At best, one could hope to harness the warm glow of Tangerine Tango’s aura to help us get through the frigid days and nights ahead. Who knows, maybe it can help usher in an early vernal equinox and give the necessary juice to help jump start bad economies.

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 ...

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 .

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...

All Color Matters

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