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.

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 .

Purple for the Privileged

Murex Brandaris For centuries, the color purple was both an elusive and exclusive hue. From the time of Ceasar till the conclusion of the Byzantine Empire, purple was worn by kings and those serving in a high office or positions of influence. Rulers like Nero would sentence anyone to death who dared to wear imperial purple. The Roman emperor Diocletain however, took a more economical approach by collecting taxes from anyone who was compelled to slip on the hue. Up until the 1850’s, the arduous process of acquiring this color was more involved then its close cousin—red. Not unlike red, purple was also derived from the animal kingdom. Farmed from the Mediterranean region by the Phonecians as far back as 1500 B.C., Tyrian Purple came from the mucous secretion of a predatory sea snail’s hypobranchial gland ( murex brandaris , murex trunculus , bolinus brandaris ). The sea snails were soaked and then boiled in large vats which allowed the “juice” to be removed from the gland. It t...

Color and Design

Not a book for light reading, Color and Design will satisfy any design practitioner, or scholar seeking to gain a more expanded view of how humans respond to color. Editors Marilyn DeLong and Barbara have curated a selection of essays which are organized into subjects ranging from color psychology to marketing and trend influences. Since these are essays, the reader should not expect this book to offer a cultural analysis of primary/secondary colors nor an explanation of basic color theory. What the text does offer is specific examinations on various topics that center around sociological approach of how color is assimilated within a culture, its art, folklore and consumerism. Outwardly this can seem to be a real bore. I did however find a pearl or two that can potentially be assigned as required reading for my students. For example in Part III: Markets and Trends , I found an informative essay by Alex Bitterman ( Color the World: Identifying Color Trends in Contemporary Ci...

All Color Matters

Search This Blog