Pretty in Porange

Rihanna rockin it

Once upon a time, just recently actually, two colors formed a new team in the fashion world. Purple, our wise and royal hue, married warm and energetic orange to form Porange. The couple is now aspiring to the heights of other hybrid name duos Brangalina or Bennifer.

Hot color combo via Glamor

While slow moving in the beginning the trend seems now to be inescapable and will presumably infect all susceptible members of the population by late this year. 

But wait. As with all things in fashion, Porange is cyclical. This whole trend could just be be a Princess Diana revival movement. And why not? We could always use a little more of her grace and generosity. 

Princess Diana back in 1992

Or maybe its all an ingenious viral marketing ploy by Raw Color.  

A raw color hybrid hue

Why so popular?

We often think of complementary colors as those straight across (180 degrees) from each other on the color wheel. Purple and orange are what is referred to in color theory as compound colors, they are about 120 degrees (or 1/3rd of the way) away from each other on the color wheel. Different angle, same great synergy.

We here at Colour Studio would like to do our part to spread the Porange meme so here is this weeks color scheme: 

- Emily Eifler, Associate Designer, Colour Studio

Color me skeptical

Are you one of those people who like to take  personality quizzes like What Harry Potter Character are you and What dog breed are you? What about What hue are you?

Aquamarine, the March birthstone

In our studio we have five different color quizzes that claim to know you inside out. Actually "quizzes" may be a bit too low brow, they like to call themselves Color Systems. They come with headlines like "What Color is your Personality " and "Choose your colors, Change your life"

So I decided to take them all and then bare my soul to you all here, or at least the color of it.

Colorstrology

Most of us are familiar with birthstones, mine is either jasper or aquamarine depending on the system you subscribe to. Colorstrology is similar but vastly more complicated. Michele Bernhardt's book Colorstrology assigns a special color and list of personality traits to each and every day of the year. For March 4th, my birthday, the color is "Reseda."

Reseda Alba, my birthday colors name sake via Flora Italiana

What does Reseda mean about my secret inner life? I am apparently spiritual, private and productive; frankly not the first three words I would use to describe myself. I flipped to a random page later in the year, July 7th, to be greeted by Persian Jewel, a pleasantly rich blue, and the description intelligent, seductive and sensitive. Frankly theirs not a bad day in the book. No one is ever grumpy, dull, or prone to addiction. Eye-roll




Color Energy

"Trust your body knows the color it needs, just as it craves orange juice when you need vitamin C"

This one is is part auras/part chakras. To give your self a "color reading" you lay 12 colored cards out in front of you, rub your hands together till they get warm, shut your eyes, hover your hand over the cards till there is a buzz like sensation then pull one card (if this doesn't work for you they encourage you to use a pendulum). Yes I did actually do all this sitting at my desk in our studio, luckily I was alone with my embarrassment. I pulling the yellow card.                        

Now comes the interpretive phase. Apparently the electromagnetic frequency of my third charka is exactly the same as this yellow card, which means my intellect is buzzing. Wait what does that mean exactly? Oh right, my yellow is too high or too low or needs a back rub. I am lost on this one. Can I do an eye-roll twice in one post?

The Dewey System
In the Dewey system we move from fairly random oriented systems to the seemingly more accurate use of personal preferences. The system can be boiled down into several steps of picking color cards, which ones you love, which ones you hate, and what they mean when they are combined. I ended up with a blue-purple-black palette. When combined,  these colors apparently mean others see me as a Pioneer but I see myself as a Thinker. Now if I am being honest I  like those results, they feel true, or at least I really want them to it be true.  But that is the point of these systems right? Make it you feel good about the results or demonstrate that you can use a non verbal medium, the stimulus of color to gain personal insight. I would need to see this one tested on lots more people before I became a believer.

The Luscher Test
Want to try one of these systems for yourself? Try out this online version of the Luscher Test, a well respected color psychology test. Developed by a Swiss physician in 1947 to aid in diagnosing  disease, the test was believed to offer insight into  treating the whole person.

My results? Apparently,  I am having difficulty making progress won't put out any effort, even though I just got a new job. I am egocentric and quick to take offense, which I immediately  think is  totally insulting but also must be true since I just wrote an entire post about my personality (does my sarcasm drip from those words or politely cling?).

We do not subscribe to each of these systems, some are more research based and some are just pop culture.  However there may be an underlying value to knowing how you respond to color in your environment, your clothes, your psyche.

- Emily Eifler, Associate Designer, Colour Studio

Painting the town red: La Tomatina

La Tomatina, Spain 

On the last Wednesday of every August in Buñol, Spain, thousands of people gather to celebrate La Tomatina (also known as the Tomato Festival). This tomato filled festival has maintained it's strong tradition annually since it originated in 1945. There is no certain theory on how or why this tradition began. Some people believe La Tomatina started from a food fight amongst friends in the small town while others believe an unhappy group attacked city councilmen with tomatoes during a town celebration. Although many stories exist about the origin of La Tomatina, it is certain that for whatever reason the festival started, it was enjoyed so much it became an annual event of Buñol.

Each year La Tomatina attracts people from all over the world and the streets fill with rivers of thick red tomato pulp. A population of 9000 people, Buñol typically grows upwards of 40,000 during late August each year. The tomato craze takes place in the town's main square, Calle del Cid. At 11am, over 100 tons of ripe, juicy tomatos are rocketed into the streets and onto the crowds. For one hour, the thousands of people engage in a fun and frenzied tomato fight.

Although the festival began without religious significance, it is now held in honor of Buñol's patron saints, Louis Bertrand and Mare de Déu dels Desemparats (Mother of God of the Defenseless). Red has always been believed to be an attracting color, and through these few photos, we witness the intense passion of this celebration. 

Our favorite reds?

- Emily Eifler, Associate Designer, Colour Studio

Can color be a brand in itself?

Gold. It's part luxury credit card, part wedding ring, and part golden calf. Through out our history gold has been equated with godly purity and used to reward great human achievements. In the well known american economist Thorstien Veblen's book The Theory of the Leisure Class (1899) he described gold as having a "high degree of sensuous beauty," leaving no flexibility for the eye of the beholder. In today's modern stock and commodity heavy economy, gold perpetually reasserts itself as the safe place for investment after any calamity, from 9/11 to the 2008 market crash.

Golds symbolism is still well utilized by todays upper crust. Here the Queen and the Dean of Westminster shake hands at the recent royal wedding, both in shining gold. 

So can this historical love affair with gold be usurped by another? Chase seems to think so. In their recent campaign Chase is challenging golds supremacy with a color commodity of their own: sapphire. 

Logan Sapphire - Washington DC, Natural History Museum

In the new ads a car-factory style conveyer belt moves a line of products through to be spray painted gold: a tooth brush, a toaster, a pair of glasses, a vacuum; then comes the credit card. 

"If something is simply the color of gold is it really worth more? We don't think so.
Chase sapphire is a card of a different color."

This example of color as brad comes at a time when gold is being associated with seedy BUY GOLD NOW schemes like Gold Line. But will a momentary tarnish on golds reputation help fuel the fire of this campaign? We shall see.

- Emily Eifler, Associate Designer, Colour Studio

Living Dreams: My Color Ballet

Visitation, Mark Morris

The other night some friends came over for dinner and the conversation turned to creative projects that we had conceived but never realized.  One of my guests knew about my color ballet and encouraged me to share my vision. 

Mark Morris

Years ago someone gave me a book about Mark Morris.  I had his seen his dance troupe perform at UC Berkeley’s Zellerbach Hall several times.  Reading about the young choreographer with the piercing eyes, wild hair and mildly outrageous behaviors intrigued me.  Weirdly enough I was walking down the street in San Francisco a few days later and ran into him.  I told him that I loved his work and found his creativity inspiring.  He was warm, engaging, and perfectly open to talking with a complete stranger.  A seed was planted…

A very generous friend took me to the San Francisco Ballet for six years.  During this time, Michael Smuin was the Artistic Director.  We saw revivals, newly commissioned pieces and the premiere of The Beatles ballet.  The response to the Beatles premiere split the audience demographic down the middle.  While some attendees walked out, others gave the performance a standing ovation with cheers.

Beatles, Michael Smuin

Critics of the Smuin era said the dancers were sloppy but advocates felt the boundaries of conventional ballet programming were expanded.  Patrons were exposed to the classics, the forgotten and the new.  Francis Ford Coppola was brought in to do sets.  The art component of ballet seemed to open for me.  I thought why couldn’t a color specialist dive into this world where musicians, and filmmakers, were adding excitement to the form.

New York City Ballet Set, Santiago Calatrava + Peter Martins

A Color Ballet based on the major hues would be a complete sensory delight. Music would be incorporated to elicit the mood of color.  Sets would communicate the psychological associations humans have subconsciously to specific colors.  The dancers’ costumes would be one uniform color using shape, texture, and form to convey meaning. 

Issey Miyake Design

The red movement would pulse with dramatic music like a beating heart and the red costumes would be provocative as a bullfighter’s form fitting couture.  The blue movement music and choreography would be hypnotic like ocean waves and the blue costumes would billow like clouds floating effortlessly in the sky. 

Pacific, Mark Morris

The visual receptors and the biological response to color stimulus paired with the mood triggering power of music, interpretive movements and gestures of the human body would reinforce the ballet concept. Imagine how a stage filled with movements in red would move an audience in a different way than a stage filled with blue movements. 

Italian Concerto, Mark Morris

Although a Color Ballet would not require a traditional story line the performance would still have the power to convey an entire range of emotions to the audience.  One could compare this to the genre of expressionist painting verses the pictorial old masters.  In this case, color meets dance on a primal level.

Mark Morris Dance Troupe

It was now time to engage Mark Morris.  I sent several color themed gifts to his studio in Brooklyn.  The staff referred to me as “The Color Ballet Lady.”  One color gift involved a Todd Oldham French grosgrain ribbon handbag from the South Beach Florida boutique, filled with green paint chips, green gloves, green feathers, and green rubber frogs. Another gift included a royal blue push broom with a matching over sized dustpan.  Each color quest was wrapped in the chosen gift color. He must have thought I was crazy.  

Color Gifts for Mark

Eventually, Mark agreed to meet me for a drink to discuss my idea. I left San Francisco and during my journey South, I visualized my color filled creation and saw myself taking bows at the triumphant finale with Mark.

Mark Morris + Jill Pilaroscia

We met in San Luis Obispo where his troop was performing at the time.  In my bag, I brought velvet squares in the major hues for cocktail napkins, and a careful selection of music.  The pale pink interior of the hotel bar spoke only of the 1980’s.  We sat at a high round top table on stools that immediately dwarfed my stature. I was carefully attired in black to not draw attention to myself.  I ceremoniously placed homemade polychromatic velvet squares on the table top as textural cocktail napkins.  I was setting the stage for the brilliant color ballet.

He was gracious and complimented my originality. He listened patiently as I discussed my big idea – each color would have music, costumes and sets that reinforced the inherent associative characteristics of the color.  We would contrast the colors in a way to create surprise and tension.  I referenced the work of Carl Jung on the collective unconscious, the origins of associative color and human evolution, and the metaphysical relationship of sound, specific notes and color. I also contrasted the concept to that of Balanchine’s Jewels ballet, spoke of Scriabin’s Color Music concerts in the late 1800’s - all this time stressing the originality of the Color Ballet idea. 

Jewels, George Balanchine

Mark responded with a clear statement, "I work from music not from ideas!" Having seen an abundance of Mark’s works I should have recognized his style. He finished his drink and invited me to his performance that evening. With a heavy heart, I drove back to San Francisco. My year long effort came to an end with Mark’s declaration that music rules his creativity.  Mine however, is ruled by color. We touched but we didn’t dance.

It was with mixed emotion that I watched his San Francisco Ballet production, The Sandpaper Ballet. Isaac Mizrahi created the bright green costumes, which vibrated against an electric red set.  Seeing the inclusion of powerful colors made me think that I had possibly influenced Mark’s appreciation for color on some level.

Sandpaper, Mark Morris

Sitting high in the hall closet is a red cardboard banker box full of notes, costume inspirations, color visuals for sets, and reviews of successful new ballet productions worldwide. The idea has not died, and my passion for color still lives strong. One day I will revisit the Color Ballet with a grand finale showcasing the dance of the seven hues.  

Photo Credits
Visitation Ballet: http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2009/oct/30/mark-morris-programme-2-review
Morris Portrait: http://www.jessefrohman.com/pages/portport_2.html
Beatles Ballet: http://www.cb-pr.com/press/smuinseason.html
NYCB Set: Architectural Record, September 2010, Photo by Paul Kolnik
Miyake Design: http://arttattler.com/designfuturebeauty.html
Pacific Ballet: http://markmorrisdancegroup.org/resources/photo_gallery/
Italian Concerto Ballet: http://blog.chron.com/peep/2010/01/mark-morris-lou-voodoo/
Mark Morris Dance Troupe: http://www.cornish.edu/summer/dance/courses/mark_morris_dance_group_pre-professional_dance_intensives/
Color Gifts: Jill Pilaroscia
Morris + Pilaroscia: Donald Jones Photography, 1999
Jewels Ballet: http://artsplace.blogspot.com/2009/03/jewels-at-boston-ballet.html
Sandpaper Ballet: http://articles.sfgate.com/1999-04-29/entertainment/17684581_1_joanna-berman-dancers-mark-morris

Color Branding of Corporate Interiors

It is a human evolutionary impulse to covet the new and improved. Curiosity has lead to innovations, discovery, and improvements on all levels of existence.  In terms of the environments where we live and work, we have come to embrace the idea that the new has a powerful impact on our experience.

In the 1990s, companies started branding their corporate environments.  The trend grew, as the idea that business identity could crossover from advertising media to interior space gained broad acceptance.  Many corporations used the same environmental cues to support their brand messages in all their workspaces, whether in London, Omaha, or New York.

Target, Cape Coral, Florida

Innovative companies desired interiors that defied the norm. At the Yahoo campus in Sunnyvale, California, slides were installed to connect an upper floor to the floor below.  Who needs stairs when gravity can work to your advantage? Freestanding conference rooms with canted walls in vibrant colors looked nothing like their traditional counterparts.  Ebay followed suit with interior colors that matched its logo.   New players like Facebook and Salesforce chose enthusiastic palettes reflecting their youthful worker demographic.  These environments are bold, fun, festive, and stimulating.

eBay, San Jose, California

Google changes its home page visuals daily. High tech companies of all kinds are constantly adapting their products to reflect new introductions or new services. But should the branded physical environment change as quickly? Does using the precise criteria for branding identity and product make sense in the built environment? Is it a sound return on investment?

Twitter, San Francisco, California

Cultural anthropology has become part of the prerequisite architectural curriculum at architectural institutions like University of Florida. Architects use science and art to design spaces while anthropology focuses on science and people.    People who have researched the link between humans and environment like Dr.Heinrich Frieling, Dr. Harry Wolfarth, Frank Mahnke have found that humans need variety in their environments to avoid monotony, visual fatigue and boredom.   Access to nature, good air quality, variable light levels, and comfortable and ergonomic furniture all enhance productivity.

Facebook, Palo Alto, California

The concept of one-upmanship in creating dramatic environments sometimes misses the human mark.  We all like new, and fun things, but there will be times when color for color’s sake will not carry the clients’ investment soundly into the future. Lets consider if that colorful package design, which visually leaps off a retail shelf will be as successful as a focal wall color in an office environment.   Let’s at a minimum question if a branded color solution works in an environment.

Yahoo, Tokyo, Japan

I would suggest that digging deeper into behavioral scientific response, geographic locations, climate conditions, and demographic profiles will yield a brand environment that will not be irrelevant when the next big color trend surfaces.

I completely support the idea that each organization has its own culture. The culture may prefer to work in quiet private spaces for specific tasks and then have the flexibility to roam a large floor plan to select informal group work situations. What I am suggesting is that the same amount of time spent on space planning, preparing furniture layouts, and using real estate efficiently should also be spent on determining what is the most beneficial aesthetic environment that will support human needs.  Color used indiscriminately to look innovative will not stand the test of time, nor will it serve the brand in a significant way.

Photo Credits
Target: http://www.ryancompanies.com/projects/supertarget-stores/
eBay: http://www.oneworkplace.com/ourclients/portfolio.asp
Twitter: http://viewhometrends.com/twitter-office-interior-designs/
Facebook: http://www.chilloutpoint.com/science_and_technology/google-office-versus-facebook-office.html
Yahoo: http://freshpics.blogspot.com/2009/09/yahoo-office-in-japan.html

Baghdad Erupts in Riot of Color

Photo: Jerry Levy

The quote from Marshall McLuhan in the late 1960s, "The Medium is the Message" is still relevant when considering the role of color in the environment.  McLuhan believed that a medium affects the society in which it plays a role.  He used the lightbulb as a metaphor - a lightbulb does not have content in the way that a newspaper has articles, yet it is a medium that has a social effect - the light bulb allows people to create spaces during nighttime that would be otherwise enveloped by darkness. I suggest that color has the same ability to change an environment by its presence.

Photo: Jerry Levy

Take the story published in the New York Times, by Michael S. Schmidt and Yasir Ghazi on May 15, 2011, As Baghdad Erupts in Riot of Color, Calls to Tone It Down, as an example that illustrates McLuhan's concept.

The authors state that downtown Baghdad has a new police headquarters painted two shades of purple - lilac and grape. The central bank has been painted in bright red candy cane stripes, the Trade Ministry is pink, orange, and yellow. Blast walls have been repainted hot pink. The article continues, "Baghdad has weathered invasion, occupation, sectarian warfare and suicide bombers. But now it faces a new scourge: tastelessness."

For decades Saddam Hussein's government ruled over aesthetics in Iraq's capital with the same grip he exercised over the people. A committee of artists, architects, and designers approved the color of buildings as well as the placement of landscape. With many beige brick buildings, and color used sparingly, most often on mosques, the city's appearance was uniform and restrained – and dull.  

When the Iraqis began rebuilding, the color police were gone.  Color was no longer controlled.  The New York Times writers state the color chaos is taking place because the regime’s artists, and arbitrators of taste had enough wealth to be able to leave the country.

Ferdinand Leger said, “Color is a human need like water and fire." I do not believe that color is being used solely because the wealthy and educated elite have left Baghdad, leaving only the uneducated lower classes behind.  This argument is based on chromophobia, a dismissal of color as a legitimate medium of human expression and human freedom.

Photo: Jerry Levy

Color has the power to influence experience that affects the observers on cross-disciplinary levels. Exuberant bright colors are stimulating, invigorating, enthusiastic, fresh, and different from what the citizens had seen during Hussein’s reign.  Given that studies have shown biological, psychological, and sociological response to color, I believe the culture is using color in a positive way, to pull itself up from a horrible set of circumstances.

Maybe these are not the most harmonic color combinations. Riotous color appears to reflect the strength it took this culture to overcome the perils and horror of oppression and war. I applaud the free thinking. Over time, the citizens will find their own balance.  I do not believe the elite intellectuals who pine for the days of Saddam's color control, really understand politics of change. This is a good kind of riot.

Link to New York Times article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/15/world/middleeast/15baghdad.html?scp=1&sq=As%20Baghdad%20Erupts%20in%20Riot%20of%20Color,%20Calls%20to%20tone%20it%20down&st=cse