Hue

Catching up

2012-01-19T16:18:00.000-05:00

Yes, I am still here! I miss our blog dialogue here on Hue.

Life has been busy with a toddler, to say the least. I call this photo, "Playing with rolled oats is super fun, mom!" (mine is the red-headed one)

I thought I'd show you a sneak peak of a fun recent project.

I worked with a family to give their beautiful Victorian an interior facelift for a more bright, airy, modern feeling. Dark stained trim and moulding were painted white, for starters. With a lack of natural light, the space felt too old, dark and closed in.

Here is a before shot of the foyer, with a variety of painted sample boards. Notice how we didn't paint swatches directly on the walls? There is no sense in selecting a color based on how it relates to a background that won't exist once you repaint.

We see colors in relationship to whatever color is next to it. The technical term is called simultaneous contrast. The appearance of any one color is modified by the presence of other colors. For example, place dark colors next to light colors and the dark colors will appear darker and the light colors will appear lighter.
The center gray square is the same in both the right and the left.

Okay, back to pictures.

Here is the "after" shot of the same hallway. Huge difference, right? We did an warm, cheery accent wall in the foyer to greet people as they arrive.

Before shot: On the other side of the hallway is the staircase, flanked by an impressively intricate banister.

We continued the mocha color below the chair rail from the accent wall, and used a soft grayish taupe for above the railing all the way upstairs to the second floor hallway. Because the hallway zig-zagged it's way through the foyer, up a staircase, and around the second floor landing, care had to be taken in selecting a subdued palette that would function in so many different spaces. Cut-off points like the end of a wall, or a break in the trim were not available, so color mileage was key.

A challenge with this project was incredibly varied lighting conditions throughout the spaces. Using Benjamin Moore's new full spectrum paint, Color Stories, the paint swatches looked dramatically different when held up to various locations around the foyer and hallway. In the end, after trying 5 or 6 different combinations and options, we ultimately returned to the first choice. Sometimes you just have to check out your options!

Have any of you experimented with full spectrum paint? How has it changed the way you view paint?

Latest Stir article live: Colors of Cirque Du Soleil

2011-10-11T16:44:00.000-05:00

My latest article with Stir magazine is up!

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This time, I delve into the colorful world of Cirque du Soleil. The show Totem is coming to San Francisco soon- is it any good? I try not to miss a single show when they come to town.

What's your favorite show? What were the colors like?

Magazine issue dedicated to global color

2011-10-04T16:33:00.002-05:00

I am popping in to share with you an awesome magazine (available as print subscription), Hand/Eye. I'm constantly peppered by press releases in my inbox, mostly snooze-worthy notices about bathroom sinks or concrete products. I know some of you get very excited about the above, but I've got a fairly one-track mind; it's gotta have -something- to do with color. Here was one that really caught my attention!

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Founder and editor Keith Recker explains his inspiration for this issue, "[I have] conviction that color is a profound cultural phenomenon – a sort of illustrated layering of both poetry and prose about the needs and aspirations of us complex human beings. HAND/EYE’s 06/Global Color issue is look at the shifting landscape of color around the world today...All of the stories in 06/Global Color give us insight into the symbolic import of color across diverse cultures. And in some cases, we get a glimpse of how our view of specific colors is changing right before our eyes."

Topics covered in 06/Global Color include: the dark side of sunny yellow; red as protection, purity, dignity and honor; and indigo the color of love. Each carefully researched article touches upon a different color, delving into it's significance, be it cultural, historical, or otherwise.

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"for all of yellow’s belligerence, it collapses when faced with a drop of black to tone it. The radiance flickers out and leaves a hesitant husk in its wake. Yellow’s dirty little secret is that it’s a pussy of a color." So naughty. So true.

I chuckled at this quote, too:

"No offense to ecru, ivory, chalk, alabaster, or the fairest of them all, Snow White, but the nuances in differing shades of everyone’s favorite non-color are completely lost on us. The only white thing in our apartment is the milk in the fridge. "(source)

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Global color covers Ghana, Macedonia, South Asia, Cambodia, Australia, Morocco, Guatemala, India, Brazil, and more. It's an fascinating glimpse into the complexity of color and it's cultural significance.

Each issue of Hand/Eye is different. The next will be PERU and focusing on the textiles, craft, history, and colors deep within this beautiful country. You can purchase a subscription to Hand/Eye magazine, or you can also sign up to receive four weekly ezine articles at no cost.

A Must read!

Chromaphobia

2011-08-25T09:00:00.000-05:00

In response to my last post about the challenge in selecting a rug for my baby Nina's nursery, reader Kim wrote,

"Overwhelmed! I cope by picking one that is -- don't hate me Rachel -- black and sand (for my deck) and then resolve to use colorful pillows and cushions for pops of color. In my defense, I am not a designer, as you know."

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Here is Kim's rug.

I love the idea of outdoor rooms, so bravo to Kim for exploring this under-used space. But this also got me thinking. Why is it that people are so chroma phobic? I can understand if someone's taste runs towards the understated. Perhaps if they felt saturated hues were garish. But what about those who love bright vibrant hues, but shy away from them anyways?

There's even a book, aptly titled Chromophobia, (I am presently reading), investigating its origins. The author argues that our fear of color is essentially "a fear of corruption or contamination through color - lurk[ing] within much Western cultural and intellectual thought. This is apparent in the many and varied attempts to purge color, either by making it the property of some "foreign body" - the oriental, the feminine, the infantile, the vulgar, or the pathological - or by relegating it to the realm of the superficial, the supplementary, the inessential, or the cosmetic."(source)

So, the question begs, with all the bright colors of outdoor life (flowers, greenery, colorful umbrellas, tableware, etc. why go blah?

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Koko Company has a wild selection of modern, funky outdoor rugs. If you can't go wild outdoors, where can you take risks?

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Dash and Albert has an outdoor line, too.

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Looking for more earthy tones? A more "ethnic" look(for lack of a better term)? Pottery Barn has some nice selections

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As I just happen to know that reader Kim's outdoor area is covered, she could even go with something funky like these trompe l'oeil floor mats from Urban Outfitters. I love the playful turning of "rug" on it's head. Woven polyester, and machine washable to boot.

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or my new favorite rug company, with their indoor, outdoor rugs- so cute!

Here's a company dedicated exclusively to outdoor rugs (thank you Apartment Therapy for the link)

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Looking to really go eco friendly? Mad Mats are made from high-grade recycled polypropylene from sources such as water bottles, plastic milk and soda bottles and and other kinds of packaging.

So, why the fear of using saturated, vibrant color?

The Evolution of Design Blogs

2011-08-22T09:00:00.002-05:00

I recently read a rather heated discussion over on the Garden Web forum about the evolution of design blogs. Readers were bemoaning how many bloggers have stopped posting lovely eye-candy and juicy tid-bits about design projects. And yes, you might have heard crickets chirping over here as well. Motherhood, with it's rigorous schedule, has forced me to re-examining how I want to utilize the communication tool that is this blog, Hue.

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Many bloggers have evolved in the direction of money-making posts, or updates about his or her personal life. Discussion forum readers were expressing their displeasure with these recent turn of events. "Why is everything changing?" they want to know. Lately, bloggers seem to be less interested in sharing another fabulous photos of some gorgeous interior, and more interested in sharing their latest endeavors. Many are branching out professionally by teaching seminars, or developing product lines.

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Others are raising families, or blazing new trails, and want to share those milestones with readers.

Personally, I think evolution is healthy, to be encouraged. Without growth, we stagnate. As professionals figuring out the terrain that is online content, we have to push boundaries and try new avenues. Sure, pretty pictures are fun to browse through, but from a development standpoint, doesn't get you very far. Blogs are personal sites, edited and curated by individuals. So naturally, these sites should and will reflect it's owner.

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Newspapers and magazines are struggling to remain in business because competition for free content is stiff. People are no longer interested in paying for subscriptions when they can get the information for free online. But this can't continue forever, and solid, accurate data is a commodity we'll never stop needing. The wild west of online content has got to smooth out eventually, and when publications start charging for content again, my sense is that readership will simply fall in line, accepting that once again, you must pay for credible information.

What are your thoughts? I know several fellow bloggers who have put blogs on hold to re-examine goals. Where do you think the world of blogs is heading?

Can white boxes support color?

2011-08-18T09:00:00.002-05:00

Everywhere I look these days, I see examples of white spaces hosting brightly colored furniture and accessories. I know, I know, you probably think this is the beginning of yet another anti-white walls rant. But honestly, I just want to open this topic up for discussion.

Here are some examples. Do you think they work?

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Skype's new office digs in Stockholm. The architecture firm was charged with "expressing the Skype brand’s playful spirit and its mission to connect the world in the working environment." So, how does that compute that the furnishings do not relate to their environment, instead, float within it?

Here's another example from my latest wonderful new find, The Cool Hunter, based out of Australia. Here, the attention is drawn inward to the brightly colored clothing display cubes. I do like how the angular shapes repeat in the glass block windows and architectural elements within the room.

What do you think about white boxes? Yay or nay?

Upcycling cork colorfully on Earth Day

2011-08-15T09:00:00.000-05:00

Okay, okay, so Earth Day was in April. I totally dropped the ball on that one. Somehow, this post sat in my inbox, all scheduled to post, but never launched. Puzzling. Ah well, it's still fun to take a look back...

I give you, Anthropologie's fabulous cork installations.

Back in April, I happened to be down at my local shop, and ran into the visual merchandiser who was hard at work, glue gun in hand, gluing cork, after cork, after cork onto these enormous chicken-wire wrapped globes.

I thought it looked so cool, being able to see how the piece was constructed. But evidently, the project was just so huge, they had to be put together in place. I snapped a few shots of the pieces in progress.

images by Rachel Perls

"We’re setting out right from the beginning with a goal: to support cork, to support the environment, and to do it right. In partnering with the CFCA we have been able to strategize a way to borrow, collect, and donate cork while being as environmental as possible...

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The project started with a gift to Anthropologie from the CFCA and Kendall-Jackson of around 2.5 million used corks. In addition, our store teams have been collecting cork stoppers from the staff, the community, and the customers for over a month now. Through the support of so many we have collected between 4-5 million corks."(source)

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I did some poking around online, and discovered that each cork end had to be painted/stained a specific hue to coordinate with each piece. Man, the amount of time this must have take is mind-boggling.

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The cork installations were inspired by sculptor Tara Donovan, who takes massive quantities of everyday items like tape, plastic cups, buttons, etc—and “assembles them in different ways, providing the viewer with a compelling, perceptually transformative experience.”(source)

Colonizing, I'd call it. Just beautiful...

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These were some other stores' creative use of the corks.

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Aren't the textures and patterns created by the subtle variation in color just gorgeous? Hats off to the artists in charge of putting these enormous, time consuming, gorgeous pieces together. Way to go Anthro.

A sad farewell to an artist

2011-08-10T09:00:00.001-05:00

Last month, on July 5, 2011, Cy Twombly passed away. He was a great artist and contributed beautiful works of art to our world.

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"In a career that slyly subverted Abstract Expressionism, toyed briefly with Minimalism, seemed barely to acknowledge Pop Art and anticipated some of the concerns of Conceptualism, Mr. Twombly was a divisive artist almost from the start."(source)

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Markus Linnenbrink

2011-08-04T09:00:00.001-05:00

I originally saw this artist's work featured in an Apartment Therapy post about staying in cool hotels.

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I noticed the drippy striped walls and went hunting for more details. The hotel featuring these uber cool walls is the Arte Luise Kunsthotle in Berlin. Each of the 48 rooms was designed by an artist, most from Berlin, who has "created scenarios that go beyond their work in the studio and reflect on the time, place, and situation of the traveler. The entire room is taken into consideration, usually including the furniture and other decorations."(source)

Markus's work is in high demand; he is represented across the world from San Francisco to Korea.

His characteristic "oozing and streaked hues of vivid colour"

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His epoxy resin on panels are so whimsical, I just want to reach out and touch them.

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Cartoon colors

2011-08-02T11:40:00.000-05:00

I thought this was kinda cute: a color wheel that presents the full spectrum of cartoon character hues.
You can hover your mouse of each character to learn more deets about them on slate.com

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Did they miss anyone?

How Fireworks Produce Color

2011-06-30T09:00:00.000-05:00

This article was first published last July, 2010, but after colleague Kelly retweeted it today, I thought, "great idea! Let's bring it back for this year."

With 4th of July just around the corner, we're all intent upon nailing down the best spot for the most impressive fireworks display. (FYI- I have heard Boston's show is amazing)

But how do we get all those amazing colors in every burst of light?

A little background...Visible light of different wavelengths is detected by our eyes as a range of colors. Of the light that we can see, violet has the shortest wavelength and red has the longest.

Wavelengths of light corresponding to different colors

Fireworks generate light and color due to the physical and chemical attributes of specific compounds. When these compounds are heated and combusted they give out energy, some of which may coincide with the wavelengths in the visual region of the spectrum.

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The mixture of specific chemicals can produce different colored fire.

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To make fireworks colorful, metal salts are added to the basic oxidant fuel mix concoction. For example, if you put a piece of copper into a fire you see it glow with a blue flame.

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The amount of energy released, which varies from element to element, is characterized by a particular wavelength of light.

Strontium or carbonate salts (longest wavelength and lower energies) = red flame
Copper oxychloride (much shorter wavelength and higher energies) = blue flame
Barium nitrate = green flame
sodium salts = yellow flame
charcoal or other forms of carbon = orange flame

With those metal salts, pyrotechnicians have a whole spectrum of colors at their disposal. If no salts were added, the fireworks would simply reflect all the colors in the visible spectrum. In other words, white.

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Pyro-technicians say the sign of a very good firework-maker is a really good strong blue. The reason blue is so challenging is because copper compounds can be unstable at high temperature.

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Where are we headed with fireworks colors; are turquoise and fuchsia fireworks in our future? Dr. John Conkling, professor of chemistry and a past executive director of the American Pyrotechnics Association, gives us some idea.

"We can usually make a pretty deep red, a nice green, a reasonable blue. Now, if you start to combine the red and the blue, you get violet, lilac, purple. There's interest in being able to make lime-green, a beautiful orange, and so on. That takes a real careful mixing of color technology. We keep getting better and better. As research continues, we're still making advancements...I see no reason why there should be much limitation on the colors we see. It's just a question of R&D (research and development) effort as well as demand.

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It's usually driven from the entertainment side. A theme park may want a very specific effect for a show they're doing, and they'll say "Give me lime-green." Once a company starts to develop a lime-green, they start thinking, well, we have this new color, let's find some other customers who would like to have it as well." (source)

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Test your fireworks knowledge with this fun set of quizzes. First review the chart, then see how many types you can accurately label.

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Want to learn more about the anatomy of a firework? Great site for the low-down on the sky-high kabooms. I know I know, cheesy. But I couldn't help myself...

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Color Outlook- a new twist on trends

2011-06-22T09:00:00.001-05:00

It's finally live! That secret venture I alluded to before has launched, and now I can gush all about it.
This article below was originally slated to be published in a magazine, but at the last moment, got cut. So the tone is a bit more formal than you're used to from me. But first, an admission.

I approach color trends with a healthy skepticism. Really, it’s more of a frustration with the disparity between predicted color forecasts and concrete, useful color information. No one wants to coat his or her walls in Honeysuckle Pink … they just don’t.

With this in mind, I recently joined forces with five design colleagues, representing key regions from coast to coast, to start a new venture called Color Outlook™. We are producing quarterly podcasts offering an alternative solution to traditional forecasting. Our ultimate goal is to present what’s hot in color -right now- from design experts dealing with clients on a daily basis.

How did this come about? Back in March 2010, Color Budz producer Lori Sawaya invited Kelly Berg and me to record podcasts on color perspectives. Dubbed Color Podz, we wanted to explore topics on color and the built environment that interested and challenged us: from color psychology to color design. More than a year later, our podcasts have been downloaded more than 20,000 times. We got the sense that concrete, trustworthy information on color was greatly needed.

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The reality is, anyone involved in the paint industry (paint retailer, manufacture, designer, or trend spotter) needs to know what is happening color-wise in the marketplace. The evolution of color trends is fleeting but relevant, and in today’s climate of customization, clients expect their needs and tastes will be met. The lightening fast pace of information transmission means consumers are savvier and more educated than ever before. They want to feel that service providers have their fingers on the pulse of what is happening right now.

Looking at the options for industry professionals to find timely data on what consumers are currently asking for, there’s a major disconnect between needs and solutions. Traditional trend forecasting reports are published 12, sometimes 18 months in advance, and are only educated guesses at what consumers will want, generally ignoring specific context. Then there are independent trend forecasters, but they focus primarily on merchandising, not interiors. Regional differences are another area that is overlooked; a designer in Florida is not going to use the same palette as someone in New England.

Color Outlook is Lori Sawaya, Kelly Berg, Rachel Perls, Paula Doelling-Lynn, Annie Elliott, and Amy Woolf.

Those of us working on architectural spaces know it should be all about a person’s unique needs, rather than imposing the “latest and greatest” color on them. But to ignore patterns in clients’ interests would leave us color pros at a significant disadvantage.

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After fielding request after request for gray walls instead of beige, or after spec’ing a bright cherry red (like SW Positive Red) over and over again, I had to pay attention. What colors are homeowners looking at? What finishes are they ordering? A marketing rep sealed off in a cubicle isn’t going to have that kind of data. Lori Sawaya, Color Outlook’s executive producer, explains, “it is true that color consultants and designers working in the field are on the front lines of identifying the ebb and flow of how real people with real projects are thinking about color right now. I recognized the fact that trolling social media and scrolling through blog after blog, looking for these valuable nuggets… required trend spotters to invest a lot of time and effort.” That is where Color Outlook comes in.

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In a pinch, paint retailers will know what colors to pull for seasonal displays. Designers will better understand the colors their clients are reaching for. Trend forecasters will have market data for their reports. Whether to gain a leg up on the competition or as a way to draw interest or increase sales, industry professionals need this kind of timely, concrete information.

Have you noticed a hole that needs to be filled in the paint and coatings industry? What special color services do you offer, or would you like to see developed?

Global Color Semiotics

2011-06-20T09:00:00.001-05:00

I find the language of color fascinating. What words do you associate with any given hue? Do these associations line up across the country? What about across the world?

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PhD student Maryam Mohammadzadeh Darrodi is investigating just this very question.

Colour Selection for product Design

"Colour perception is a broad and complex aspect amongst artists, designers and scientists. Each of these groups have there own way of defining colour and explaining the effectiveness of different elements in colour selection. The process of colour selection in product design is directly dependent on the characteristics of the products and the nature of target markets: culture, geographical location, age and gender of the consumer, to list a few. Aim of this study is to identify and bridge this gap and find a convenient way to use the knowledge of these interconnected groups. As an outcome, a tool can be developed to help the designer with the key facts of colour selection based on the type of product."

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Her global survey presents a color and various descriptors, asking viewers to chose how closely they associate the hue with specific words.

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Is a color heavy or light? Soft or hard? The test is only 3 pages long, and you only get the opportunity to analyze one color. But you can retake the test as many times as you like, as each time you re-enter the site, a new color is presented.

I gather the finished product will be developed into graphic design software plugins for designers. By sliding various bars up and down, users can essentially "dial" in colors based on descriptors. I'm curious to see if there are universally-accepted definitions.

Take the survey and let us know what you think, then pass it on!

Design Blogger Meet Up July 21

2011-06-16T09:00:00.001-05:00

I just read about this: any locals planning on attending?

It’s high-time we all meet-up! If you’re a design blogger and live in the San Francisco Bay Area {or will be in the area}, we’d love for you to join us at Closet Innovations in the San Francisco Design Center on July 21st.

Feel free to spread the word! Also, space is limited, so please RSVP soon to showroom.idg@gmail.com.

Color evolution- do you agree?

2011-06-13T16:29:00.000-05:00

I was perusing an ezine put out by AkzoNobel. In it, they track the evolution of popular colors through the past several years, predicting where each of the major hues is going next. I find the whole thing fascinating. Here they are:

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Do you agree with their summaries? What about where each hue is headed next? How can this be reflective of architectural interiors- is it relevant? Let's discuss!

And now, for something completely different

2011-05-18T10:30:00.007-05:00

You might be wondering what I've been doing lately, since blog posts have been sparse. Well, I've got some exciting business plans in the works, which I will announce super soon. Extra-curricular activities have ramped up as well. My running buddy and I have been training for a race that we just completed this past Sunday. For someone who is a self-declared loather of running, even I was surprised when I agreed to run a 10 mile race.

The Tilden Tough Ten provides runners with an alternative to the craziness that is the Bay to Breakers, held in San Francisco on the same day. Bay to Breakers has something like 55,000 runners competing for cash prizes. Tilden Tough Ten caps out at 300, with age group winners receiving a medal and bragging rights.

"The course is an “out and back”, beginning and ending at the parking lot at Inspiration Point and is run on both road and trail, with a “killer hill” on the trail portion at miles 4.5/5.5 which descends/climbs 125 feet in just a tenth of a mile.

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...Combined with the unpredictable effects of erosion and free range cattle, it isn’t uncommon to see runners virtually crawling up and down this slope.

As it rained the night before and during the race, we had lots of muddy fun to contend with during the 2 mile off road portion.

"The weather offers its own brand of “tough” each year, with temperatures that can vary widely,

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from the blazing 80's in 2009

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to the can’t-see-your-feet-foggy 40s last year,
as well as occasional “perfect” days. What can’t be beat is the scenery, with San Francisco and the Bay on one side and the hills on the other. Runners are treated to the full array of wildflowers and the wildlife of Tilden Park. ... The Tilden cows provide a unique cheering squad. For those not concerned about finishing times, it is a 10-mile photo op." (source)

We're stoked to have done it. Now, a brief interlude while I collapse.

Wood color palette

2011-05-09T09:00:00.001-05:00

How can you create a colorful palette in your interior using only natural elements?
How about stained varieties of wood?

This lovely one bedroom cabin in Great Barrington, MA, utilizes primarily wood species to incorporate a broad range of hues into the interiors.

Wrapped in warm Western Red Cedar for the walls with blonde wood for trim and cabinets, light and dark play off one another.

I can't tell from photos, but it's either stone slabs or poured concrete floor in a deep charcoal for a grounded feeling. It would get way too busy if there were wood on the floor, as well, don't you agree?

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I also like how the wood runs horizontally across the walls, and vertically along the cabinets.

Refreshing to see the beautiful, natural qualities of wood expanded upon by mixing and matching. Who says you can't have them all?

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Updating brick- a unique perspective

2011-04-25T09:00:00.000-05:00

Aged brick walls and fireplaces can be a beautiful textural addition to your interior.

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Historic homes, industrial buildings transformed into live or work spaces, fireplace surrounds... In fact, brick walls are often highly sought-after architectural features.

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But sometimes, brick can be overbearing, dirty-looking, or just not the "look" you are going for.

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People are often torn: do they leave the brick as is? Do they paint it a light color in an attempt at camouflage? Or do they cover it up entirely with wood, stone or tile?

Here's a thought I hadn't considered before: what about simply Coloring them? Not a flat coat of latex interior paint, mind you. (not to say that this can't be a beautiful solution, too) But what about embracing the textural variation in tone, overlaid with beautiful rich color? Intrigued? I was.

I had never seen this approach attempted until I discovered photos of a particular apartment in the Chelsea Hotel. The space is rented (not even owned!) by Gerald Decock, an artist and hairstylist with a unique perspective on color in interiors.

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When Gerald moved into his Chelsea space, everything was pure white. “I am obsessed with color in its most vivid state,”(source), and so set to work transforming the entire apartment.

images source with permission from Todd Selby

His apartment is Wild! As one article puts it so eloquently, "the whole vibe is reminiscent of a harlequin outfit put into a blender without the lid."(source)
But what caught my eye was his extraordinary treatment of brick in his apartment.

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One brick wall is completely covered in gold leaf. Evidently, it took him an entire month to cover the brick, as gold leaf is most easily applied to smooth surfaces, not bumpy, lumpy brick.

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Another brick wall was a variety of violets. Gorgeous. The translucent pigments allow the natural variations in the brick to show through so that the walls don't appear flat or too uniform. Instead, they practically vibrate with life.

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To replicate this look without necessarily delving into fuchsias and violets, brick staining/tinting kits are available. Instead of coating everything one tone, I would opt for several similar color choices, then mix different strengths of the stain to mimic the different shades in the brick. Much more natural looking.

Wait, we can't leave our tour of Gerald's apartment without a parting glance at...wait for it...his hot pink ceiling!

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Gerald's enthusiastically painted ceiling brings the rest of his crazy colors and decorations together. The icing on the cake, I'd say.

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"Everything was kinda done, and the ceiling was white, and it was really bothering me", says Gerald, "Once the ceiling was complete, which I painted, like, a hot pink fluorescent color I felt like the apartment was like, more whole." (source)

image source with permission from Todd Selby

Oh yes, and the floors are orange. Of course.

Okay, so does that spark some ideas for how you'll deal with tired old brick in your house? Anyone ready to paint their ceiling pink? Oh come on, give it a try- it's only paint!

The Controversy over Pink

2011-04-19T09:00:00.001-05:00

The text in a recent J Crew ad reads: "Lucky for me, I ended up with a boy whose favorite color is pink. Toenail painting is way more fun in neon."

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In response to the uproar surrounding the ad in which Jenna Lyons, creative director, paints her son's toenails pink, I thought I'd revisit the topic of gender specific colors.

Personally, I think it's Ridiculous with a capital "R" how bent out of shape some people are getting. Did it ever occur to them that color-coding for boys and girls is all just a marketing ploy, set up by advertisers, to sell more product? Just look through history. There is no innately Male or Female colors. It's all a matter of interpretation. Talk to someone in India, the UK, or heck, even Berkeley California, and they'll tell you that colors don't define a person's sexual identity.

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I love what Jon Stewart has to say on the matter: "in a Fox News clip Keith Ablow is seen saying the ad is "an attack on masculinity," Stewart counters with, "If only masculinity had a defender. Someone like four-time Ultimate Fighting Champion Chuck Liddell," who paints his toenails black."

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Photograph of paper dolls from "Polly Pratt's Sister and Brother," Good Housekeeping, 1920, by Jo Paoletti, courtesy of the Strong National Museum of Play, Rochester, N.Y. Yup, that would be a pink romper for the boy.

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As I entertained in detail in my article, "Why is Blue for Boys and Pink for Girls?" (four years old and still my most read-post) the assignment of pink for girls and blue for boys was not always the case. Often times, blue was thought to be much more of a feminine color, and pink a watered-down masculine hue.

There are many reasons that contributed to the pigeon-holing of gender-specific colors, specifically in the United States. According to an excellent article on slate.com, marketing played a major role in pushing color-coding. The book, Pink and Blue: Telling the Boys From the Girls in America, by Jo B. Paoletti is referenced. In the money-flush era between World Wars, mothers started buying more manufactured clothes instead of sewing their own. In order to boost sales, marketers established color-coded clothing. No more hand-me-downs from big sister to little brother. Nope, all new outfits would have to be purchased. Thus ensued a battle for whose coding would win out. Some department stores, like Wanamaker's in Philly, Marshall Field in Chicago, and Maison Blanche in New Orleans, pushed pink for girls. Others, like Macy's and Franklin Simon in New York City, and Bullock's in Los Angeles, pushed pink for boys. This was in 1927. Post war-time saw all sorts of bright cheerful colors introduced back into the marketplace, least of which was pink for women.(source)

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“Think pink!” decreed fashion magazine editor Kay Thompson in the classic 1958 movie "Funny Face"

Can we say market-speak?

Think pink! think pink! when you shop for summer clothes
Think pink! think pink! if you want that quel-que chose
Red is dead, blue is through,
Green's obscene, brown's taboo
And there is not the slightest excuse
for plum or puce or chartreuse
Think pink! forget that Dior says black and rust
Think pink! who cares if the new look has no bust
Now I wouldn't presume to tell a woman
what a woman oughtta think
But tell her if she's gotta think: think pink!
Pink for bags! pink for shoes!
Razzle, dazzle and spread the news!
And pink's for the lady with joie de vive!
Pinks for all the family
Try pink shampoo
Pink toothpaste too
Play in pink, all day in pink,
Pretty gayin pink
Drive in pink, come alive in pink
Have a dive in pink
Go out dancing but just remember one thing:
You can get a little wink
If you got a little pink
In your swing
Think pink! think pink, it's the latest word, you know
Think pink! think pink and you're Michelangelo
Everything on the great horizon
Everything that you can think
(and that includes the kitchen sink)
THINK PINK!

I'd like to close by share some insight from Hue readers from around the globe, commenting on gender specific colors:

Canada

"I have been jarred many times by what strikes me as a much more hyped-up pressure in the States to conform to these roles. For example, I have been almost shocked by the extent to which some U.S. online fabric stores actually tell customers in their product write-ups which colours and prints are appropriate for little boys, and which for little girls. Taking into account my 50 years of experience as an urban and rural Canadian being ongoingly exposed to both Canadian and U.S. media and now, to online stores, I have found some of this sort of gender-role advocacy coming from the States to be so over-the-top that it's actually made me consider not buying fabric from a couple of shops." -Oracle

Malaysia

"The association of colour to gender is not so strong in Malaysia. Of course the "pink for girls" trend has arrived but people are not satisfied with "blue for boys"- Sask

India

"No such stereotypes in India - if it is colorful, it belongs in baby clothes!"-Anon

United States

"Having traveled all over the world I agree that there is a greater gender color bias in the US than most places. Really though it very much depends on geography even within the US. I find that southern and mid-western areas tend to cling to more to the gender/gender link than in the north and northwest areas. In the northeast, where I live, you are just as likely to see a girl in muck boots and overalls as a boy. It definitely is more rare to see a boy in "girl" colors however." -Anon

Bangladesh

"I am a woman from Bangladesh and babies wear all colors in Bangladesh regardless of their sex. I learnt about this blue-pink differentiation only after coming to the US."-Kanta

Rio de Janeiro

"I'm from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In the last decades our culture was heavily influenced by marketing coming from the U.S., so the blue/pink gender association is present in full force." -Pedro

Sweden

"Hi, I'm from Sweden, where the debate rages high every day...Well, I'm fully aware that there are differences [between the sexes], but to be honest, don't we all wish for our children to be strong, nurturing, taking care of their family and friends, easy going, fun to be with and so on... I think that all qualities that are good in human beings are universal. That is, they are good regardless of the persons gender... " -Michis

Ireland

"I am distressed by the strict gendered duality of our societies, the rigid pink and blue boxes we feel people must fit in. Far from becoming more equal, we are in fact polarizing work suitability, ability assessments, etc. based on gender."-Simon

South Africa

"The Pink/ Blue situation is very entrenched here in South Africa but seems to be under going a change due to the '95 elections and a coulor mix here." -Graham

Pakistan

"We have a friend from Pakistan. He said when he first moved here as a child, he was made fun of for picking the pink cap instead of the blue one in school. He said pink wasn't taboo for boys in Pakistan"-Anon

This important conversation needs to be continued. What do you think of gender-specific colors? What are your observations about color where you live? I'd love for readers, especially those outside the US, to weigh in. We need a broader perspective on color that you can offer!

Walt Disney Family Museum

2011-04-11T09:00:00.001-05:00

I've been meaning to get over to the Presidio in San Francisco to check out the new Walt Disney Family Museum for months now. After reading Jill's article on Mary Blair, a color stylist and designer for Disney, I had to go see for myself. Alas, no picture taking was allowed inside, so I'll have to make due with what I can find online to show you.

You might be wondering, with Walt Disney so closely-tied to Southern California and Hollywood, why Northern California for this museum? Seems Walt's daughter Diana Miller wanted to keep her dad close to her home in Northern California. "Walt Disney was a huge fan of the military and Gen. Pershing [who commanded the Presidio] in particular," explained Diane. In addition, she says, the museum building "recalls the Main Street USA in Disney World." San Francisco firm Page and Turnbull was retained to design a museum to pay tribute to her father's life and work.

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The museum occupies a former barracks building located in The Presidio in San Francisco. The barracks were built in 1898 and housed soldiers during the Spanish-American war. I wish I could find a picture of the building located directly next door to this renovated one- it's amazing to see before and afters side by side.

This place is enormous. Three buildings, 77,000 square feet with a combined exhibition space of 19,000 square feet. A 20,000-square-foot addition set into the U-shaped barrack courtyard provides added exhibit space and facilitates circulation through a dramatic spiraling ramp.

A wee synopsis:

"Inside, Page & Turnbull collaborated with Rockwell Group and used influences from the existing building’s inherent character to feature the existing brick walls and exposed ceilings as a backdrop to contrast against more modern materials. Modest wood flooring, plaster walls, stamped ceiling panels, and original windows serve to ground the bright exhibits in which color was prominent, due to Disney’s successful focus on animation. To represent this cartoon creativity, the designers opted for a more theatrical approach to the interior lighting, alternating galleries between light and dark, to coincide appropriately with the exhibits’ back stories, and playing with the control of natural light within the space." (source)

What I was really impressed by was the immersive design of the museum, leading you through room after room chronicling Disney's life story. A bit of stimulation overload, with Disney's voice piped through speakers just about everywhere you turned. Storyteller and all that...

Designed by the Rockwell Group out of New York City, their goal was to honor Walt's storytelling legacy by using the tools he himself used throughout his career to innovate in this field: art, music and technology.

Let me just say, the exhibition design was -way- over the top. More than 200 video monitors. They were technology happy!

This was a -major- undertaking. Total project cost? Ready for this? $110 million.
Special highlights to justify this cost(as mentioned in PR)

• Original multiplane camera displayed through two gallery floors

• 360° overhead video ribbon showcasing a decade of Disney filmmaking

• Exhibits along a 164 foot floating spiral ramp path featuring the last 20 years of Walt Disney’s life

• Display case with over 100 examples of early Mickey Mouse toys, watches and other memorabilia

• Walt Disney’s own 1/8-scale live-steamer train, the Lilly Belle

• A 13 x 13 foot model of the Disneyland of Walt’s imagination

• Infinitely configurable circular light fixtures on ceiling of lecture hall that can display images of the sorcerer’s apprentice in Fantasia or exhibit a starry night effect when the lights dim

• Custom inset terrazzo tiles (these were super pretty)

• Custom, animation-inspired carpets

As for the designer's use of color and lighting- I thought this was very skillfully done. Galleries alternated between light and dark, vibrant or muted colors, old and new depending on the story being told.

I especially liked the "pause" in gallery space when gallery goers are treated to a panoramic view of the Golden Gate Bridge before plunging back into dark, dramatic gallery spaces.

Here I am posing, oh so glamorously, at the window with Nina on my back

But my favorite space in the museum?

The bathroom. Loved the variable sink heights with a different red or orange color in each bowl.

Yup, it was all pretty impressive. I know we've got some Hue readers with museum and exhibition design experience. What's your take on this project? Is that chump change for a project of this size?

For those too far away to visit, here's an in depth synopsis of each gallery

images source, source, source, source, source

Rugs: wallpaper for the floor

2011-04-05T17:00:00.001-05:00

My latest Stir article is up! This month, I talk about my quest for the perfect rug, and how to incorporate rugs into your design plans for a jolt of color.

"I like to think of rugs as wallpaper for the floor."

Designers are notorious for being the most indecisive clients. It’s probably because we can’t stand the notion of having to pick just one thing when we know there’s a myriad of options out there. I always thought I would know exactly what I wanted when it came time to decorate my baby’s room. Boy, was I ever wrong! Continue article

Whether you are a designer or DIY'er, when you are selecting something for yourself, are you decisive, or completely overwhelmed by all the options out there? How do you cope?

Things are getting interesting

2011-03-22T11:19:00.000-05:00

You might be wondering why my blog postings have been so sparse these days.

This is why.
I've really got my hands full!

Small space? Paint it bright and dark

2011-03-22T09:00:00.000-05:00

I recently did a consultation during which we discussed the merits of painting small spaces. Take guest bathrooms for instance. They are small. They are often windowless (read: dark). They are generally not rooms in which you spend too much time lingering, right?

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Well, unless you have some excellent reading materials to peruse...

So why not stop fighting against these space's inherent characteristics, and instead, embrace them?

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Powder rooms- often called Jewel boxes for their saturated bright colors, can be beautiful.

Likewise, so can other spaces.

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Take this lovely fuchsia room featured on House of Turquoise. Love it, love it love it. Would I have the guts to paint one of my own rooms this saturated hue? Realistically, probably not. But it's pretty cool, right?

My one request would be more balance between the warm and the cool. My eyes are starved for a respite from the overwhelming warmth of the colors, and keep jumping to the stripe of turquoise on the pillow. Maybe a green leafy plant, or teal throw rug?

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Luckily, this space is virtually surrounded by the cooling effects of aqua. So really, it's a burst of color in an otherwise super chill space.

2011 color trends- where's the fire?

2011-03-02T09:00:00.001-05:00

...Or is it all smoke and mirrors?

I like this quote I just read in Landor's 2011 Trend Report

"Color trends are fleeting and ephemeral; color connections, told through compelling design stories that speak to the consumer’s heart, mind, and soul, are the future of color direction." (source)

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Fire appears to be the new color story of the moment. Fiery passion towards sustainability, hope, and new goals. I do snicker a bit at their call to action, though:

"The coming year will challenge brands to set themselves on fire with passion. The brands that come alive with honest, intense warmth and understanding will succeed in attracting customers to their tribal fire."(source)

How exactly is this new color theme to be played out in merchandising by multi-billion dollar corporations? (says she with just a hint of skepticism)

Any brand experts out there want to weigh in on where color is headed?

(thanks Jane for the tip!)

Academy Award corpses

2011-02-28T19:27:00.001-05:00

What's with all the corpse-like colors at the Academy Awards this year?
All that "pale shimmery" washed out-ness? Blech

Apologies if I accidentally mixed in some other recent red carpet events, I think a few snuck in there.

Updating a Spanish Revival kitchen

2011-02-28T09:00:00.017-05:00

It all started with a leaky kitchen window.

Notice the water splashing out of the tupperware.

So we got the windows replaced. Ah, much better on the inside.

But what is all this dry rot discovered outside? What, you say, the kitchen addition was never properly affixed to the side of the house?

You say the kitchen is actually falling off the side of the house, that our subfloor is rotted, the cabinets along the window side are warped and rotted too? And the kitchen is being held up with wood that was not pressure-treated, and so is full of dry rot? And the pier blocks are sinking into the top soil?

Splendid!
We have found ourselves in the midst of an unexpected kitchen renovation.

Back in the 80's, a bump out was added to the kitchen to allow for more light to come in. Alas, the contractors didn't know what they were doing, and 20 years later, we are experiencing the results. Great.

So, the subfloor has to be ripped out and replaced, and damaged cabinets have to be replaced. While we have to endure construction in our home (can we say, goodbye naps for my 9 month old?), I figured, it's the perfect time to make some changes!

That is, if our landlord agrees. As we rent, we don't hold the purse strings, and don't have the final say. But as a designer, my advice does hold some weight, and I'm ready to toss out some ideas. Nothing risked, nothing gained, right?

If this were your quirky Spanish Revival/California 1930's Bungalow kitchen, what would -you- do?

We're talking floors, cabinets, countertops, maybe even layout (within reason). Appliances all stay. Let the fun begin- I can't wait to hear what you dream up!

Funky fashion: Desigual

2011-02-23T09:00:00.001-05:00

After my post on mauve in fashion, I started thinking more about how the clothes we wear reflect the image we want to project. My taste in clothes has always run more expensive than my budget allows, so my wardrobe has yet to really represent me the way I'd like it to. So I was thrilled when I stumbled upon a brand new clothing brand called Desigual. Well, relatively new to the United States, and certainly new to me!

Here is their newest shop, located in Union Square, a prime shopping district in San Francisco.

Out of Barcelona, Spain, they are known for multi-colored patchwork fabric in the craziest combinations you've ever seen.

Each season the Desigual design team, with about 20 designers, prepares a collection of over 1,000 items, including clothes and accessories, built around a unified concept.

Not the best choices for outfit basics, but great for a few show-stopper pieces.

Say goodbye to that little black number, and hello to a riot of colors and patterns. No one piece is the same. Each garment is produced in parts, every one with its own design, color and fabric, and then assembled in different combinations.

Not sure if I know any guys brave enough to wear these numbers, but it's refreshing to see some color injected into men's wear, regardless.

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and of course, little kids can get away with crazy combos like these.

Aren't they great?

Hottest color of the season? Go back 30 years

2011-02-14T09:00:00.001-05:00

Want to predict the hottest color of the season? Simply back-track 30 years, and you're likely to run into a color about to make it's grand come-back. Take mauve, for example.

I recently met up with some girlfriends in San Francisco for some much-needed rest and relaxation, prepared to do some serious damage with my credit card. I have to say, my reaction to the fashions being marketed now is "blech!" I wish I had snapped some pictures of the clothing displays to give you a better idea, but alas, I was too busy being disappointed that I couldn't squeeze into skinny jeans.

What I did notice was a resurgence of mauve. "Ack, really?" you might say, recoiling in horror. Yup.

Icky gray, 1980's, Miami Vice, hospital palette, grandma's bad dye job, over-used, guilt by association, pink trying to be purple, mauve.

I wonder what it has been renamed? Dusty Rose perhaps? Pale pink neutral? Blush? Lilac?

It was everywhere. You couldn't get away from it. Mauve, gray, taupe and peach. For those of us who prefer saturated hues, the prevalence of insipid, washed out tones was, well, depressing! (That's not to say that there weren't beautiful rich colors available in other area, like home accessories, etc)

I don't completely dislike the color. I guess it's more that I am amazed how similar the color palettes are out there in the fashion world. As if designers all gather in a room to discuss what limited options they will provide mass consumers for any given season. For once, I would love to see brands breaking away from trends and blaze their own color ways. I rail against color trends in this post from a few years back.

I know it's not breaking news here, but I had to vent to ya'll.

Tracking Hue- monthly banners

2011-02-07T09:00:00.016-05:00

I always try to change out my Hue banner every month to reflect the weather outside, a mood, or just a theme I am currently obsessing about. Each banner is created from little snippets of my pet portrait paintings, which were painted with gouache, an opaque watercolor medium, on Bristol vellum paper. Not to worry, the actual paintings are safely with their owners; these are just copied from archived scans.

Getting ready to save February's banner, I realized that this blog is going on 5 years! Can it be? Here's a look back through the years for your enjoyment:

2007

February

Cold, cold, cold (we were still living in Baltimore in '07)

March

Raining a lot- things starting to grow

April

yellow flowers blooming

May

thinking about swimming

June

It's getting hot

July

okay, very hot

August

um, are we done with the heat yet?

September

ah, fall colors

October

more autumn leaves

November

i must have been on an orange kick....

December

brrr, its cold!

2008

January

It's a fresh new year

February

Thinking about ice

March

Yeah, spring!

April

Flying high after my Washington Post interview

May

Mixing things up with multiple colors. Getting crazy now..

June

Let's celebrate- I'm moving back to CA!

July

On the road, letting guest bloggers run the show

August

um, excuse me, why is it cold in August? Oh yeah, it's Oakland

September

ah, Indian summer, here's the warmth

October

glorious fall colors

November

December

2009

January

February

more loosey goosey this year with colors. not season-related

March

April

My birthday month- let's celebrate with pink

May

June

July

August

September

October

We found out we're having a baby. I wanted to commemorate the occasion

November

December

Why must the holidays always been red and green, or blue and silver? Why not pink!

2010

January

hm, maybe I could recycle some 2007 banners

February

embracing cheesy Valentine's Day

March

April

dropped the ball.

May

June

I had our daughter, Nina Sophia. All organized life goes out the door.

July

Sleep? What's sleep? No blogging for me this month

August

Determined to get back in the swing of things. An artsy banner with scroll work

September

I drop the ball.

October

Maybe readers won't notice that the banner hasn't changed?

November

Okay, I am back, and this time with understated fall leaves

December

A little winter wonderland with snowflakes, anyone?

So there you have it: 5 years and 603 blog posts to date. Hm, where do I go from here?

Getting rid of brushstrokes

2011-01-31T09:00:00.001-05:00

When I look at a piece of nicely refinished furniture, I am always amazed when I learn that it was brushed on instead of sprayed. Of course, investing in a spray gun, compressor, and all those fun toys is a step beyond what most DIY'ers want to spend. I, myself, have done some refinishing in my life, and believe you me, it's more work than I think the pieces were worth. Not to mention, I could never completely get rid of those darn brush strokes. So imagine my delight when I read on Centsational Girl today about paint conditioners.

Here's the blurb:

"...paint conditioners are key for me for refinishing cabinets and furniture. Penetrol is for oil based (alkyd) primers and paints. I used it to refinish my kitchen island and the finish is so smooth, you simply cannot tell it was painted with a brush. Trust CG on this one. Floetrol is for latex paints and I used it on the gray blue dresser in my foyer.
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These two favorites are not paint thinners, they are conditioning additives available at larger home improvement stores in the paint department. They practically eliminate brush strokes and drag in your paint, plus they lengthen your drying time just long enough to get a smooth finish. I love these conditioners, and won’t paint furniture with a brush without them anymore." (source)

Have any of you worked with this additive? Does it do as promised? I might be more inclined to slap a fresh coat of color on more items if I had a secret weapon in my back pocket that really worked!

The fine art of mixing color

2011-01-24T09:00:00.001-05:00

Justin Clayton is an artist I have been following online for several years. He used to do daily paintings, and now posts several a week.

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He creates the most texturally beautiful little oil paintings of fruits and veggies, landscapes, and now, people.

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Impressionistic in his loose rendering of forms, his use of lighting reminds me of the painter Vermeer, one of my all-time favorite artists.

I've always wanted one of his pieces, but haven't taken the leap just yet.

Now, Justin has a second blog, called the painter's box, devoted to the topic of learning how to paint and other general tips for painters. If you've ever wanted to lean over the shoulder of a painter while he or she creates some wonderful piece, here's your chance!

The wonderful thing about Justin's demo blog is that he goes into great detail about his color use and layering to achieve the final effect.
For instance, he says that it's easier to judge colors more accurately by painting on a warm grayish tone on the canvas versus a bright white. Hm, sounds just like what I do when I'm presenting color palettes to business clients- I mount my images on a neutral 50% gray matte board to best represent colors and value.

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Ever wonder how to mix colors for realistic Caucasian skin tones? Justin mixes yellow ochre, alizarin crimson and viridian to create the shadows for this little girl's face. (For those unfamiliar with traditional paint colors, yellow ochre is a brownish yellow, alizarin crimson is a blueish red, and viridian is a blueish green.)

Layering one color over another can also help achieve a greater sense of depth and dimensionality. Justin states, painting cool colors on top of warm colors often adds an effect of realism. Want to learn more? Head over to his new blog to see for yourself.

These tips and examples are not exclusive to fine art painting. Borrowing from a diverse range of sources and backgrounds can sharpen your color knowledge and help you in just about any color application.

The Color of Sustainability

2011-01-17T09:00:00.001-05:00

Is blue the new green? Can green design, ie environmentally-responsible products and design decisions, be defined by any color -other- than green? Heck, do we even Need to have a specific color define this movement at all? Can't we just do away with the marketing tag lines and color coding?

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When this first went mainstream, I predicted we would be 'over-greened' with companies taking the eco-friendly spin. No longer a specialty niche market, or a passing trend, consumers now expect to find environmentally-sensitive products in every category. Sustainability is now a cultural shift.

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"Reduce, reuse, recycle" was where it all started. But environmental responsibility is evolving, and the new mantra requires one step further: adding back to our world. For the design profession, this means "clients will hire design consultants with the ability to both envision a design solution and quantify some sort of value on a ‘green to blue’ spectrum," explains Janice Barnes from the architecture firm Perkins+Will (source).

Some examples of blue design, include:

fitness clubs where energy used is generated by treadmill and exercise bike usage

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Alice Waters's Edible Schoolyard program in Berkeley; a one-acre garden and kitchen classroom where students learn about, grow, and harvest healthy produce. (source)

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But it goes further than just blue. A recent report, called The SHIFT Report: Defining Sustainability and Selling it to Consumers, report identifies four colors of consumer perception about sustainability:

Orange - Personal (balanced life, feeling connected, personal well-being)
Yellow - Spiritual (higher purpose and meaning to life beyond material possessions)
Green - Environmental (eco-fashion, global warming, pollution, recycling, etc)
Blue - Social (fair trade, treatment of employees, community involvement, etc)
A review of the report determined that the top 5 sustainability issues that consumers associated with sustainability were orange, yellow and blue. Nope, green was not in the top. (source)

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The cultural shift in consumerism has brought to the surface some interesting ideas.
I like how this article puts it: "the solution is not a congratulatory pat on the back of consumers communicated by images of clear blue skies and lush green vegetation. Rather, designers must challenge the status quo and rethink the very core of consumption." (source)

What about this for a theory: “Sustainability is transparent, void of obscuring color. It is clear, open, and visible. Sustainability is naked.” Do you agree? If we need a broader platform than green, where do we go from here?

Stir column: 6 Tips for a Great Client-Designer Relationship

2011-01-11T12:07:00.000-05:00

My latest article for Stir magazine is online and available for viewing and commenting!

Full Spectrum: 6 Tips for a Great Client-Designer Relationship

Well, it was sweet while it lasted … A gung-ho designer and enthusiastic client may work well together during the “honeymoon” stage of a project, but things can often turn rocky — fast. So, with a nod to New Year’s resolutions and fresh starts, I thought I’d provide some practical tips and suggestions to help keep your relationships with clients healthy and enjoyable all year long. Remember: Great design is the result of a great client-designer relationship. More...

Do you have any tips to share on what makes a great relationships with designers or clients?

Colorscripts-a dream job

2011-01-06T09:00:00.001-05:00

Were there to exist micro-careers where you could hand-select any aspect of a larger profession to specialize in, I would have found my calling.

I stumbled upon it just the other day. I went to see Pixar: 25 Years of Animation, at the Oakland Museum of Art.

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It's an exhibit that has been traveling around the world for the past 5 years. Now it's come home to Oakland, just minutes away from Pixar's home base of Emeryville, California. It's only on until January 9th, 2011 so if you are in the area, Do try to get in to see the show. Reservations are required.

The show is amazing; I was BLOWN AWAY by the talent and creativity of Pixar's artists. The storyboards, character development, modeling, and so much more. But one particular aspect of the movie-making process really caught my attention: Colorscripts. Aha! Sounds right up my alley!

"A colorscript is artwork that visually supports the emotional content of an entire story through general color, lighting and mood. It depicts the whole story in chronological format that allows one to see the basic color structure to be applied to the entire film. The colorscript is one of the first opportunities to see the story as a whole. It is a low-resolution view that reveals the full emotional arc of the film. Colorscripts work because detail is removed and ideas are presented in their most concise form." (source)

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Colorscript from the Incredibles

The highly-coveted job is held by production designers and art directors, so their responsibilities extend past determining the film's tone through color palette selections. How cool would that be if this position were for those of us who -just- want to work with color? I'll keep dreaming....

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Dice Tsutsumi is responsible for these two gorgeous colorscript drawings, setting the mood for two specific scenes in Toy Story 3.

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Up colorscript by Lou Romano (here's a link to closer detailed drawings on his blog) The progression of tone and mood from scene to scene is so powerful when you see the entire movie encapsulated in a series of rough thumbnails like these. Color and lighting go hand in hand, so colorscripts are extremely important to the lighting designer for cues.

Toy Story colorscript by Ralph Eggleston (love love love his work...)

Finding Nemo colorscript by Ralph Eggleston

Bug's Life study of underground light and forms by Bill Cone

Don't these little vignettes just blow your mind? In my next life, I'll have to come back as an art director, just so I have the chance to work on colorscripts.

What's the coolest career (or micro-career) you've heard of?

Art for 2011: hibiscus flower painting

2011-01-03T09:00:00.001-05:00

Happy New Year!! To start out 2011, I thought I'd share a recent art project my friend and I completed when I visited her in Kauai. Everything in her house is enormous, so all the art and furniture has to be to scale...very large! She wanted an over-sized hibiscus flower painting for her gigantic mantel.

We painted this four by four foot canvas in a number of days. Alas, the photos just don't do it justice- somehow, fuchsia just doesn't translate to pixels. Instead, it looks very red; weird. Cue new-fangled camera for X'mas?

An in-progress shot. See, it really is quite big!

photo by Paige Green Photography

And speaking of big: due to popular request, here is a current shot of Nina. Wish I had a shot of me painting with her on my back in her Ergo baby carrier- she was a great assistant!

What are your goals for 2011? You know, saying them out loud, writing them down, or better yet, declaring them in public (ie this blog!) is a great way to really commit. Not to mention the encouragement and support we can then lend one another.

All about yellow podcast

2010-12-30T09:00:00.001-05:00

Our latest Color Budz ColorPodz is up, and it's all about the color Yellow! We debunk some myths, talk about origins, marketing, and associations.

My dog Lucy frolicking in the yellow flowers. Ah such joy...

Embracing art in 2011

2010-12-27T09:00:00.019-05:00

A few months ago, a magazine contacted me about possibly featuring my pet portrait paintings in their holiday gift guide. "Huh?" you might be asking, "I thought you did architectural color design?" I do. However, pet portraiture is how, years ago, I first became interested in the psychology of color.

I utilized the personality traits of my subjects to determine the color palette for each piece, painted in gouache, an opaque watercolor medium.

After learning that there were professionals out there who worked exclusively with color, I gobbled up any educational resources I could find, ultimately landing at the IACC accreditation program. This new discovery opened my eyes to the world of architectural color, and I began taking on residential and business clients. My path took a turn as I transitioned away from traditional painting towards architectural design.

While I love what I do now, my hands still itch to grasp a paint brush every now and then. It seems whenever I get together with friends, we end up doing an art project, like the recent Otomi mural. There's a unique voice inside me that needs to be expressed through this visceral medium. So with the renewed interest, I thought, why not put the site back up? I do miss painting pet portraits. I just didn't miss the marketing efforts necessary to spread the word. My favorite entrepreneurial hat is the creative work...I'm sure many of you can relate. (But that's a totally separate can of worms we won't open right now.)

So, my pet portrait site is back up and running, should you want to take a peak, or pass the word along (which I would greatly appreciate!) With a slightly slower pace, now that I have an almost 7 month old baby (!!), I am ready to re-integrate more fine art into my days for 2011.

What are you bringing into your life for the new year?

Festive greetings

2010-12-07T19:09:00.000-05:00

Here's to a joyous holiday season everyone!

Color-Coded Terror Alerts- Everyone Panic!

2010-12-06T09:00:00.002-05:00

Did anyone ever really know what the heck that meant when airports broadcast the current threat level in the form of a color?

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Kirsten Johnson, "Homeland Security Color-Coded Advisory System with sockpuppets"

I always snickered to myself, mainly because no-one ever bothered to explain the coding! Very hush hush, we were just supposed to be 'on alert' and wander around guarding against who knows what. Not to get too political here, but sounds to me like fear-mongering. I like this description on wikipedia:

"Some criticsworry that the absence of clearly defined, objective criteria has allowed the baseline threat level to be established as elevated (yellow), thus precluding the system from ever dropping down to low (green) or general (blue). This limits the communicative value and options of the system to the three highest values. As persons become habituated to the threat level being perpetually elevated, they are increasingly likely to pay less attention to warnings issued." (source)

According to the Homeland Security website, "Color-coded Threat Level System is used to communicate with public safety officials and the public at-large through a threat-based, color-coded system so that protective measures can be implemented to reduce the likelihood or impact of an attack."

Red, the highest level, meant “severe risk of terrorist attacks.” The lowest level, green, meant “low risk of terrorist attacks.” Between those were blue (guarded risk), yellow (significant) and orange (high). Frankly, orange just didn't seem like a threatening color to me. Blood red, maybe. Black, dark gray, yes.

So it was with no surprise that I recently read in the NYT that the Department of Homeland Security is doing away with the ubiquitous color coding.

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How terrified should you be? Check the Terror Meter!

Our own IACC-NA president Amy Wax, says colors could be an effective part of a warning system if tied to specific action. “How are we going to take those instructions and apply it to our lives?” she said. “Are we going to go to the airport, or not go to the airport?” She said the agency’s use of “childish” primary colors like red, yellow and blue might have diluted the impact. “Purple, orange and magenta might create a sense of something that would get attention,” she said."(source)

A task force was assembled to discuss the new coding system. Calling for more transparency over threat information and “the complete absence of political interest in the decision process,” Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano's panel analyzed the options. No solid conclusions were determined, although the panel did discuss reducing the threat levels to traffic light red, yellow and green. (source)

I close with some light humor:

“The lowest level of threat is condition off-white, followed by cream, putty, bone and finally natural”- Darrell Hammond

“Champagne-fuchsia means we’re being attacked by Martha Stewart.”-Conan O’Brien

“They added a plaid in case we were ever attacked by Scotland.” -Jay Leno
(source)

Fa la la gift time

2010-12-03T09:00:00.002-05:00

'Tis the season of mass consumerism, so let's gather some good ideas to inject a personal touch into your gift giving.

The Working Proof is a great alternative; they seek to promote art and social responsibility. Every week, a different print is released (Tuesdays at 1:30p EST) Each print is paired with a charity of the artist's choice, to which they donate 15% of the sale of each print - creating what they believe to be a product with not just aesthetic, but social value. Besides showcasing emerging artists and great artwork, the intent of the Working Proof is to promote a variety of charities and to expose them to new supporters through the appreciation of art and creativity.

Sounds good, right?

I love the print, Flying Geese, by Sharon Montrose, showcased this week. For each print sold that supports The Pablove Foundation, The Working Proof will donate 20%, instead of the usual 15%.

They have some really beautiful pieces- check it out!

What's on your gift giving list this season?

Fueling the fire- don't rule out dark ceilings

2010-11-22T09:00:00.005-05:00

Now that my radar is set to showing you how dark ceilings can be a viable solution, I just remembered another example I collected eons ago.

Whenever I went to visit my friend Amy in San Francisco (just a hop skip and a jump from me in Oakland), we inevitably ended up at this one little eatery below her apartment.

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The brand new Mission Bay life sciences campus where she lived is all concrete and hard edges. While some see the minimalist architecture as beautiful and elegant, I found it all too sterile.

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To be fair, the campus is still very much under construction, and softscaping is in the works. Anyways, I digress.

Students and their families living in the housing developments above could stroll down for a quick bite to eat before disappearing into their labs and office spaces.

Peasant Pies is one of those eateries. (quite yummy, btw) The retail spaces are delivered to tenants in
“cold shell” condition, aka completely empty with concrete walls, ceiling and floor. So, it's up to each retailer to personalize their space.

The first thing I noticed when entering this shop was the brown ceilings. Can you imagine what this space must have looked like before color was added? Just a big blank box, waiting for it's personality.

Darker ceilings work especially well in industrial buildings like this, where you have high ceilings, often with exposed duct work and so forth. It creates a sense of intimacy where otherwise there would be a sterile over-sized space. The stained concrete floor is nice, too.

I'd like to go back and snap pictures of the other retail shops flanking Peasant Pies to see what they did with their ceilings...

Painting your ceiling dark-why it works

2010-11-18T09:00:00.003-05:00

I have always felt that ceilings could be painted something other than white. Why is it that people are stuck around the idea that all ceilings should appear higher? When did cozy, intimate, or appropriately proportioned go out of style? My theory is that the mad rush towards up-sizing has resulted in McMansions with massive grand foyers, enormous vaulted ceiling family rooms, and oversized everything. Why is bigger better?

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So, when faced with an oversized room that just feels cold and huge, try your hand at bringing the ceiling -down- instead of up! Thank you, deep, rich colors! (and snazzy cool painted medallion)

Throwing away color 'crutches'

2010-11-15T09:00:00.007-05:00

Fantastically-silly interview on the Colbert Report with painting superstar Chuck Close.
Imagine having the opportunity to interview someone of that level of fame? Colbert is rather dorky trying to converse with this amazingly talented artist, but you still manage to learn some interesting tid bits about the man.

When Chuck was painting in the 60's and 70's, portraiture was out. Especially representational painting. 'Cool' was splashes of paint, or messy screen prints. So he didn't have much competition with his large-scale, photo-realist portraits. When asked why he painted so huge, he jokes that he used to say, "the bigger they are, the longer they take to walk by, and therefore the harder they are to ignore."(source) I love that.

I wanted to find out more about the artist, so I did a little more research online to fill in the gaps.

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By working from photographs, he 'purges' himself of perceived crutches, he's been quoted as saying. "The first thing I did was I wanted to purge my work of everything I had done as a graduate student. I threw away all the materials I had, all the brushes. I was told I had a good sense of color which meant I’d learned that certain color combinations looked more like “art” than other color combinations." (source)

Interesting take, right? As though he was aware of falling into habits by using color recipes. Hm, kinda like what I tend to preach here: color design as subject/site/use specific, and refusing cookie cutter color formulas.

While Close's technique for paint application has evolved over the years, the perceptual mixing of value and color has not changed. One variation on this theme was his 3 color process paintings made from 3, 1 color paintings using only cyan, magenta, and yellow layered ontop of each other. (pre-computer generation, mind you!) Chuck explains, " It is just a relative proportion, more red than blue, more blue than yellow that determines the generic color and then the relative density."(source)

Always challenging himself, he continues, "See, just the red nose, you add the blue and you have the purple nose, add the yellow and you get full color. So I learned an awful lot about color by mixing it on the canvas, and I was able to make pictures again without using the pallet, where everything was mixed in context, in relation to pieces that had already been completed and in anticipation of things I'm going to do next." (source)

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His donut paintings (my expression) are the coolest. Hundreds of "cells" filled with colored elliptical and ovoid shapes comprise the painting. Like a pointillist painting with blobs of color placed next to one another so that when you stand back far enough, colors mix, and images form.

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Here's an example revealing Close's process. From the tape down reveals the "first pass" at a self-portrait, using "rather arbitrarily picked colors so that [he will] have to do something different ontop of it [the initial color choices]."

The color-challenge this presents him is fascinating. Here, he describes in more detail:

I have to move the colors from what's on there to what I want, which is, you know, a series of 4, 5 or 6 corrections - correcting moves. It's sort of the color equivalent of a musical chord. If you think about the way a composer would go in a room and score, let's say, the oboe's gonna play this note, the bassoon's gonna play that note, the french horn will play that note, the resultant sound, the combination of those notes makes kind of a chord, and I'm doing the same thing with color. The 4, 5, or 6 colors when seen together will make kind of a color chord, in a sense...

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They're wrong on purpose. One time there will be blue underneath and the next one will have pink underneath and the next one will have orange underneath or green underneath. That's so that the correction moves will be different. I'll have to move from green to what I want, the next time from pink to what I want. I respond to what's already there, and all the decisions are made in context in the rectangle instead of being made solely on the palette. (source)

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"Besides being a face, it's colored dirt on a flat surface," Close demur's.

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Lounging in Luxury

2010-11-01T09:00:00.001-05:00

Some eye candy for you from the Maison Moschino Hotel in Milan, Italy...of course.

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What, you mean by the fashion brand, Moschino? Yup, the very same.

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Who would think within these stately walls, reality would be turned on it's head?

What happens when you step into a dream? Each room answers this question with themed spaces, inspired by the unconventional side of fairy tales.

"The ordinary world, painted with a surrealist brush".
I love that!

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To me, the rooms' success lies in the dramatic lighting and elegant, simple palette. So theatrical, it really sets a mood, don't you think?

6 fanciful settings each different that give name to the 65 rooms of the hotel and that are surrealistic visions obtained by adapting the typical language of fashion to the interior design. The common thread connecting the guestrooms is a fairy tale theme inside a dreamlike environment which tell an optimistic story about a fantasy world and come to three-dimensional life. “Alice’s Room”, “The Petal Room”, “Red Riding Hood”, “Forest”, and “Gold” transform sleep into a dreamy experience, continuously weaving between a fairytale dream and upbeat, optimistic reality. (source)

This is a branded hotel, part of the Moschino empire, "where four stars meet a few clouds– and the occasional teacup table, forest bedpost, and rose petal-covered bedspread". I wonder where the idea of cross-marketing a fashion brand with a hotel first started? I always thought cross-marketed cars were so silly, like the LLBean Subaru, etc. Would you be tempted to go here, just based on your love of a fashion brand?

Very mysterious and dark, not light and fluffy like some iterations of children's tales. The promo video for this hotel reads like a mystery novel.

With gold stilettos and animated bugs of course.

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Even the hotel restaurant serves up branded plates.

Its all about fashion- seeing, and being seen.

In a world where hoteliers are like movie stars, this snazzy place is all about the Experience.

Got your catsuit ready?

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Design: the Battle of Necessity Versus Aesthetics

2010-10-26T09:00:00.005-05:00

Reality is not glossy and perfect like in design magazines. Reality is messy, awkward, and not always beautiful. Those gorgeous photos of baby rooms, pristine and decorated to the nines- without an item out of place? Not real.

All the truth is most likely stashed out of the picture frame, heaped in piles or shoved in closets. Such is my reality at this point. But I shall spare you that picture.

Before my (almost) 5 month old was born, I day dreamed about setting up her nursery.

I'd be creative, witty, and inventive. Oohdeedoh.com would feature her room in their kids tour.

People would swoon.

Then reality hit, (she was born) and her room remains a work in progress.

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Fretting over the rug, I have yet to purchase one that really holds everything together. We've been through 2 already: Anthropologie's Mantadia rug. Gorgeous, but thin and delicate, and much more conducive to being hung as a tapestry.

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Then we tried Company C's Porcelain round rug: also gorgeous, but the brown was too much and the rug ended up being too small for the space.

So, with rugs on hold, (unless you've got a suggestion for us?) we've entered into the territory of window treatments. 'Out the window' goes my idea of flowing sheers, or soft delicate cotton prints. Nope, we're heading straight for budget-friendly, utilitarian blackout curtains.

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Opting for the beige blackouts was nixed as my friend has a pair, and they just don't do the job. Purple was unavailable, or I would have gone with those. Pink was too, well, pink. Fuchsia would have been great, but alas, no fuchsia. The next, least-offensive color was navy. I cringed with resignation. But if they succeed in keeping my wee one down for lengthy naps during the day, this means I can work on professional tasks, (like this blog!), and that's the ultimate goal.

So, now that I have hideously unattractive navy blackout curtains, I figured, might as well dress them up. Here are my ideas:

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Hang ribbons from the top in shades of turquoise and blue. Glue/sew pom poms/pom pom fringe or other doodads to the curtains, perhaps circles of turquoise felt. Maybe hang a sheer overlay of a lighter fabric across the top of the navy, something lacy, iron on appliques of flowers, paint a pattern on the fabric (not sure how it will adhere...) But reality has to rear it's ugly head once more, reminding me that I can't spend a fortune just to put lipstick on a pig.

With a certain someone in the picture now, there is little time for craftiness.

So, how do you view design out of necessity? Are compromises "acceptable"? Are budgetary restrictions a cop out, or a challenge to get creative? What about usage needs- an impediment, or just another challenge to meet?

Behind the paint job

2010-10-13T09:00:00.002-05:00

My latest Stir column is live!
What Will the Neighbors Think

All about public versus private color choices, a favorite topic of mine...

Ever wonder about the back-story behind a building you pass by regularly?

For this Stir column, I finally had a good, credible reason to contact Giovanna Tanzillo, the owner of this fantastically 'out there' house I've been eyeing forever. I left her a note in her fuchsia painted mailbox and crossed my fingers she would get back to me. Luckily, she did!

The houses around it 'pale' in comparison.

In front of the house, there's a sign with a quote on it.

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It turns out this quote hails from the children's book, "The Big Orange Splot" by Daniel Pinkwater (of NPR fame) When the main character's house is splashed with bright orange paint, he decides a multicolored house would be a nice change and one by one, he convinces the neighbors to follow their hearts and make their homes reflections of who they really are inside.

How perfect is that?!

Interviewing Giovanna Tanzillo was so much fun. I met her at her place of business, Uptown Body and Fender. Stepping inside, I thought it might be a design firm, with modern furniture, art prints on the walls, and a shiny espresso machine. Nope, it's a body and fender repair shop! Who knew. Turns out the same architects who renovated her home designed her shop as well.

I like the architects' analysis,

"Among life's more predictably dismal experiences is banging up your car, and the subsequent trip to the body shop." - Ace Architects

Not Giovanna's shop, that's for sure. Her auto-body shop motto says it all; "Smoothing out life's little wrinkles. One car at a time."

Why take yourself too seriously? Take the whimsy behind this tongue-in-cheek concept- steel panels resemble a shiny giant monster, with the mouth opening onto the shop's front garage doors. This structure forms the lounge/office area. The architects call it the happy "car-beast."
I knew I recognized it from somewhere, it's been featured in a multitude of design magazines.

Where else can you find fine art hanging in the "gallery" of repaired cars, waiting for their owners to come pick them up. (The actual bodywork happens at a nearby location) Its no wonder this location is a popular venue for art, music, and culture gatherings.

Anywho, back to my interview. At the risk of sounding new-agey, Giovanna positively radiates good energy. She has sparkling green eyes and was dressed from head to toe in emerald green the day we met. She offered everyone who came through the door a cappuccino. Were it not already late in the day, I would have had one myself...

Really delightful, she was as cheerful as her orange house. Turns out she has thing for oranges. The last paint color of her 1920's house was a lovely terracotta. Her painter patiently put up something like 16 different versions before he finally hit upon the -exact- shade as Giovanna remembered it from her trip to Assisi, Italy. Incidentally, her painter Dean Byington is also a fine artist.

Looks like Ace Architects, who determined the exterior color scheme, really like orange and purple.
These colors are also used on their logo and website.

It was a pleasure interviewing Giovanna for my Stir piece. I just wish more images of her place could have accompanied the article. So I'll leave you with some detail shots I snapped.

Detailing of ellipses above front door

Railing painted in auto-body paint

Spiky orange and fuchsia plants, complete with custom-dyed wood chip mulch.

Graphic gate and inlaid mosaic spiral leading to garden oasis.

A sneak peak in the backyard over the gate.

Blog design envy

2010-10-12T09:00:00.000-05:00

My cool color colleague Annie from Bossy Color has moved her blog to Wordpress and I have to say, I have blog design envy.

It's so nicely organized, with sections on color, living rooms, window treatment, and more. Want to look up posts on a particular style? No problem!

These days, my world consists of getting a regular nap schedule down. So when I looked up 'blackout curtains' in her Windows section, I was pleased to find just what I was looking for. Oh so very exciting, I know. But if I have success, this means more time for work, and for blogging so that you don't hear crickets chirping on dear ol' Hue.

Great job, Annie!
Have any of you moved from blogger to Wordpress? Is it worth it?

Otomi textile mural

2010-10-08T10:00:00.002-05:00

My fascination with Otomi hand-embroidered textiles started when I first saw this super cute stenciled dresser by Lena Corwin on Apartment Therapy.

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Accidentally labeled "simple, folky Scandinavian look", someone in comments corrects them with a link to an explanation of Otomi embroidery.

These hand-embroidered textiles are created by the indigenous Otomi Indians from the mountains of Mexico. A tradition in jeopardy of extinction, the craft is explained in great detail on this textile research site.

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The whimsical characters, oh so slightly edgy with their crisp graphic shapes, were really charming. I tucked them away in a source folder for "someday".

Also added to my "all I want for X'mas, hint hint hint" folder.

Then, last week I was visiting a dear friend in Boise, Idaho, and she wanted to do a mural for her little girl's room. She couldn't stand the dingy grey blue wall color and sloppy flowers painted by the previous owners. Our ultimate goal was to create a child-friendly space that might (hopefully!) last her little girl into her pre-teen years. Aha! "What about an adaptation of an Otomi pattern?", I thought.

First we selected a soft aqua color for the walls and mixed a second batch with a little white to get the lighter color we'd use for the silhouettes.

We selected the animals we liked the best, and set to work chalking up the characters. Pardon the poor quality of the photos- we'll have better ones once the room is re-assembled. (okay, Sooz?)

But I was pysched how well it came out, and couldn't wait to share it with you all!

Earning the title "Professional"

2010-09-27T15:03:00.000-05:00

Colleague Kelly Berg of Arte Styling just posted a great piece pondering the merits of how long it takes to make someone an experienced professional. Makes you think, doesn't it?

How Many Years Does it Take to Make a Good Designer?

Here's my daughter Nina, being a professional hand-gnawer. She's got that down pat, and with only a few weeks of experience!

Wall of shame houses

2010-09-20T09:00:00.000-05:00

Without further ado, I give you, (IMO) the hideously-painted house I referenced in an article on private versus community decisions on color.

Those poor, poor neighbors.

Essays on color

2010-09-17T09:00:00.000-05:00

I love compilations, collaborations, group efforts. When you put your heads together, it's always amazing how many different view points emerge, and still come together to create something cohesive, and so much bigger than the individual parts. Maybe that's one of the reasons I have so loved podcasting with my fellow color colleagues...
Anyways, I thought this was cool:

Check out this great collection of essays on color and form.

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Bland Beige- perfect for politics?

2010-09-15T09:00:00.000-05:00

Each President of the United States has put his own touch on the Oval Office in which he works. Changing out drapes, maybe a new carpet

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a different arrangement of the sofas...Obama is no exception. ;-)

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The NYT has a little piece on the renovation in the "Audacity of Taupe".

Want to know more about Michael S. Smith, designer behind this understated update? Here's a 2009 interview with him from our dearly departed Domino magazine.

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His site defines his design style as "a delicate blend of 'European tradition and American modernism'.” There's even a quote or two from color consultant Amy Wax, a fellow IACC member (and current Pres of the organization).

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Care to trace the evolution of the office? Here ya go.

Speaking of pleasing constituents... I've had a doozy of a time fitting in blog writing with new baby and all. My apologies for the sparsity of posts lately.

Becoming a color consultant-what does it take?

2010-08-31T09:00:00.002-05:00

In these challenging economic times, I have seen more and more peers taking their knowledge 'on the road' so to speak.

Maria Killam's True Colour Expert Training

Seminars, training sessions, and workshops have begun popping up all over the place. Some of these colleagues I know personally, while others are new to me.

Teresa Tullio and Ginny Rutherford's The Smart Design Color Consultant Certification Training

Leatrice Eiseman's Colortime Image Training and 4 day Color/Design Course

The question on my mind is, what does it take to become a successful color consultant, and what is it that these experts have to offer people, whether they are self-defined or widely recognized?

Mary-Frances Cimo's True Color Training

Do these courses make you a better designer?

Certified Dewey Color Consultant Class

Do they increase your marketability?

Bonnie Krim's Perfect Palette Color Training

What sets any given course apart from the masses?

I know only a little about a few of these, so I'd like to open the floor to everyone else- have you taken any color "training"? Has it helped your skills, marketability, expertise? Why do you think so many are popping up these days? (instructors, please feel free to add your two cents as well!)

P.s. First please leave a comment here, then for more reading on the topic from a slightly different angle, check out ColorBudz's "Are you a good designer?"

Forecasting color trends- what's going on

2010-08-27T09:00:00.001-05:00

The Los Angeles Design Center recently hosted a series of talks entitled Designers Forum; Business Matters. Session two was on "Color Theory: Forecasting The Impact Of Tones And Hues". Of course, I was thrilled to discover the talk was available online.

The panel consisted of representatives from the art, design, and fashion perspective. "Not oracles of color or trends," as one panelist demurred, but rather why certain colors are influencing trends.

They discussed how social and economic shifts in our society effect color choices.

Michael Berman, interior designer, says younger clients, retaining the services of an interior designer, are much more likely to want something more uplifting. "They don't want yesterdays taupes and gray beiges. They are really looking for happiness and cheerfulness. That being said, a lot of our more established clients, another generation, even clients that have come back to me over the years; they like the status quo. They like the feeling that, let's just pretend everything is hunky dory... They're much happier with the calmness, the sereneness of neutrals and things."

According to Nick Verreos, representing the fashion perspective, there is also a direct relationship between the economic situation and its impact upon fashion and color. Optimistically, he believes we are slowly trying to come out of the recession from a visual standpoint. Whereas a few years ago everything in the stores was black and gray, if you go into a department store now, it's like an Oprah studio, Nick jokes.

What else did the panel have to say that kept this audience clinging to their every word? Check out the video for yourself!

Hurricanes and ocean color

2010-08-25T09:00:00.000-05:00

New discoveries about the color of the ocean and how it can predict hurricanes. Seems to be pretty widely covered online, so I'll just give you a link to the National Geographic site for the details.

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The study utilized computer simulations to look for links between ocean color and strong tropical cyclones, otherwise known as hurricanes or typhoons.

Color consultation step by step

2010-08-23T09:00:00.011-05:00

Want to know how a pro goes about designing a color palette for a project? Great post/case study by my esteemed colleague Barbara Jacobs on the process behind the color design for the lobby in a multi-unit residential building in Boston.

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What had to be considered? What was the time frame like? What were the steps taken along the way? Who made the decisions? How did it turn out? Head over to Barbara's article for all the juicy facts.

Then let's discuss- what sort of process do you follow when you're determining colors for a space (your own or clients)? If you work with clients, do you take similar steps to those Barbara took, or do you have a different approach?

Guest Post: How do Paint Colors Get Their Names?

2010-08-09T09:00:00.003-05:00

I have a special guest post for you today. Thank goodness, because I can still totally use the help. So if there are any other aspiring bloggers out there who missed out on the first go-around, I am welcoming ongoing submissions of interest. Just shoot me an email at rachel.perls [at] gmail [dot] com with some links or samples of your writing, a wee bit about yourself, and ideas for an article you'd like to write for Hue.

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Today, Jessica Roberts joins us from her blog Verve! color. design. life. She creates art based on paint names and is just starting her journey as a color consultant. Be sure to stop by and check out her blog.

How do Paint Colors Get Their Names?
By Jessica Roberts

Pick up any paint sample and look at the name. How do you react? Does it remind you of a distant memory or is it “What the heck where they thinking?!”

Paint color names also have a habit of being vague. Could you tell me what color family SW6707 Narcissus, SW6022 Breathless, or SW6521 Notable Hue would be found in? Here are the colors above; can you match them with the correct one? (*Answers at end of article)

From a linguist’s point-of-view, English only contains eleven basic color “labels” – red, blue, yellow, purple, green, orange, pink, white, black, and grey. There are obviously many ways to describe a color, but those are secondary describing words that are subjective and abstract. So, this brings us back to it: how do paint colors get their name?

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Well, it looks like it all boils down to marketing a product. The names need to be memorable to leave an impression on the customer. Most paints have numbers to categorize them, but no one really stands in their home and rattles off that part of the paint name.

If you are standing at your local paint store and you see Socialite (a reddish purple hue) and you love having people over, you might pick that shade over River Rouge, which is very similar if you are undecided.

Apartment therapy did a poll on if people picked color based on the name. 54% said sometimes! Names play a big part in being able to sell the color.

To gain some insight on how one might pick out names for products, I asked copy editor Melody Alexander of Deep Group to give a quick and albeit simple run down. Here is what she had to say about names leaving the right impressions on consumers and the way she works:

“When a company comes to my agency to name any product, we try to find the one thing that makes it stand apart from the competition. As a copywriter, my job is to dig deep to come up with ideas that show a deeper meaning. It might be a word that describes what it is in a different language. A god or goddess that symbolizes what it may be in some ancient culture. A word play that hints back to whatever the product is. Or, in this, it might be a playful name that subtly ties back to the color.

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For example, if we’re given a bright yellow to name, I might come back with a list of 30 names that includes Amarillo (Spanish for yellow),

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Helios (the personification of the sun in Greek mythology),

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or Duckie for a playful name.

In any case, we’ll come back with a laundry list of name variations that our team finds best suit the project specifications. We make our recommendations, but it the decision ultimately comes down to our clients, and what it is they want.”

In the end, the paint companies are marketing a product to consumers. They have to be careful not to use a name twice or duplicate a competitor's, while creating a memorable impression. It is no wonder the names range from vague to ridiculous. Just for fun, test more of your naming color power with this online game.

What paint names have left a lasting impression on you? Will you go back to a particular brand because you remember a name from that deck?

*Answer from right to left: Breathless, Narcissus, Notable Hue.

Logo colors sending a message

2010-08-05T09:00:00.003-05:00

In lieu of the horrendous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and ensuing disastrous mess that BP has made of attempting to clean it up, Greenpeace recently conducted a competition to redesign BP's bright green logo.

Greenpeace says, "It is clear that BP's bright green logo has never matched the reality of the company.

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...Since taking over in 2007, Tony Hayward has taken BP back to petroleum, chasing the last drops of oil from unconventional sources like the Canadian tar sands and deep-water drilling in the Gulf of Mexico."(source)

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I'd say BP's attempt to position itself as the "global retailer with environmental credentials" has fallen flat on it's face. Greenpeace spokesperson adds, "“BP stands less for beyond petroleum and more for burning the planet.”(source)

What I want to know, is how on earth does a company get away with such dangerous activity without having to provide a solid back-up plan in case things go horribly wrong?

Making clichéd designs new again

2010-08-04T09:00:00.000-05:00

Every time I think about Extreme Home Makeovers, and the great rooms they always built, I remember the iconic 'wharf lights' hanging in the kitchen, usually above the island or bar.

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Now, a lighting company is branching out into colorful versions.

I'm skeptical as to the usefulness of this vivid palette, as I don't know too many homeowners who would be willing to incorporate this level of saturated color into his or her home. But I'd love to see some examples of how the company anticipates the lights will be utilized...

What do you think? Is there a market for vividly-colored fixtures?

Hue guest bloggers rock

2010-08-02T09:00:00.001-05:00

Many many thanks to my guest bloggers:
Ellen Reed
Kristie Barnett
Kelly Berg
Kelly James
Libby Wilkie
Yasmin Chopin
Sonu
Marie Brady
Barbara Jacobs
Safir Kaylan
Karen Haberstro-Walls

who all so generously shared their thoughts, insights, and inspirations with Hue readers while I took a wee bit of time getting used to my new mommy-status. Okay, so I am still getting used to it. I hope you'll bear with me if my posts are a little erratic for a while. Gotta carve out some time for blogging somewhere!

(photo styling credit goes to my friend's 3 year old who just -loves- pink)

Private versus community decisions on house color

2010-07-28T09:00:00.001-05:00

My lovely residential neighborhood has a charming mix of architectural styles. No two are exactly the same, but the homes all still work together nicely. Then, there is the lime green house. Not even kidding. If I could get organized enough to walk by with my camera sometime, I will snap a shot for you to see. I've never had the guts to actually approach the owner of the house to inquire about his or her "unique" color selection, but I would bet the other neighbors have voiced their displeasure.

So seems to be the case with a home in Atlanta, Georgia that is listed on the Historic Registry.

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Here's how the Henry B. Tompkins House looked in the historic registry. Designed by Atlanta architect Neel Reid, it's an excellent architectural example of Georgian Revival architecture.

Limestone stuccoed; 2 stories modified rectangle, hipped roof sections, interior chimneys, slightly projecting front center exposed limestone pedimented section featuring a single entrance with ornate transom flanked by stuccoed rusticated pilasters and surmounted by open segmental-arched pediment with cartouche, exposed limestone corner pilasters; rear formal garden with pool and garage.

Well, until it's new owner opted for a updated color palette...

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It's been lovingly restored with a bright orange coat of paint across its exterior. T. Ruben Jones, the 80-year-old new owner, says the exterior color, Maple leaf by Behr, is meant to replicate the hue of an Italian villa. It will fade, he assured. (Is this true? I thought the whole point of paint was selecting a color that wouldn't yield to the pressures of mother nature and her elements. Any thoughts on this?)

This raises an interesting question that is postulated in an article I happened upon recently:

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“Where do you draw the lines between private property and the good of the neighborhood?
Do owners of historic homes “have a duty to the community to maintain them in a fashion that is not offensive to the community?”"(source)

Where do you stand on this issue?

Guest post: Why do we love black?

2010-07-26T09:00:00.000-05:00

My name is Karen Haberstro-Walls. Having been formally trained in the studio arts, specifically ceramics, I ultimately found my niche with interior decorating. I tend to operate from instinct more than rules and theory. Over the years, color has proven to be the best tool in my decorating tool belt as it can totally shift the feeling, focus and theme of a room. Regardless of the project I am working on, color is what inspires and informs my process.

Why does everyone love black?
Karen Haberstro-Walls

When Rachel asked me to guest post in anticipation of the arrival of her new little one I was honored and nervous. What about color could I write about? So, I brought it down to basics. I, like most people have a favorite color: black.

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This color choice came to me at a young age. One day I took every crayon I had and scribbled each color over the top of the other. What resulted was a big black blotch. It then occurred to me that black is the sum of all colors. However right or wrong that thinking was, I still embrace that definition.

I have read a few books on the history of color and its place in our culture and it has dawned on me that color is a social phenomenon. Our feelings about and reactions to a certain color change with the times. Let’s take a look at how our culture has more recently used the color black both literally and conceptually.

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In fashion, black covers a lot of bases. It is so widely regarded as sophisticated that the term "the new black" is often used to describe and give merit to a color trend. Perhaps Chanel's branding with the 'little black dress' can take the credit for that. (and since it’s black that dress would be very slimming!)

Branding with the color black is very effective for high-end products but less expensive items branded in black statistically do not sell as well …… Black is polarizing; it exudes power & authority. Think of tuxedos and limousines. Or have you ever seen a judge wearing mauve robes?

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The black leather jacket will forever be associated with the cool aloofness of Marlon Brando's biker role in the “Wild One”. Johnny Cash is known as “The Man in Black”. He chose black as his way to honor and connect with the downtrodden. And in every “B” movie ever made in Hollywood what color did the tough guy wear? Yep; black.

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Being “in the black” is a financial positive in today's world (think Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, which is considered the best shopping day of the year) But earlier in that same century the term Black Friday referred to the day following the devastating 1929 crash on Wall Street.

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In decorating our homes, black has traditionally been limited to utilitarian or functional pieces. Nowadays, black-painted walls, though still used very judiciously – are making a place for themselves in what are usually considered our more formal rooms.

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Black sheep, black humor, black list….it seems like all doom & gloom. But, then there’s the undeniable feeling of potency & confidence when wearing your favorite black suit. Black gives off an aura of mystery and possibility.

Whether good or bad, black makes a statement.

A social phenomenon indeed! What’s your take on black?

Guest Post: Harmonizing colors

2010-07-22T09:00:00.000-05:00

Today, my guest blogger is Safir Kaylan. She is a color specialist whose work has encompassed major home appliances, counter top appliances, stand mixers, furniture and textiles. She has worked for Whirlpool Corporation and its subsidiary brands such as KitchenAid, Kenmore, Maytag, and Jenn-Air. The full spectrum of color subjects, from science to art and design, is her passion. Recently, she has
been supporting, communicating, and advocating color education, color relativity and the recognition of color by contributing feature articles to various media, namely Decotime and Maison Francaise. She also has a blog, colorineverdaylife.wordpress.com

Inspired by The Mediterranean colors
by Safir Kaylan

Recently, I have been focusing on harmonizing colors with free studies based on Josef Albers' methods while traveling back and forth between Turkey and Michigan.

The idea of East and West combined with the Albers' intuitive approach to color inspired me to write a few words about the colors of Mediterranean.

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Josef Albers was a teacher, writer, painter and color theorist. In his print series of Homage to Square he examines the interactions of colors using the simplest form squares arranged concentrically. He also developed a pedogogical method to teach color for design and art students. He says that color has many faces and can be deceptive. Albers also points out that “Color is the most relative medium in art”. Alber's course was not a theory of color, but a method intended to sharpen the eye and provide some understanding about how color behaves in different contexts. (source)

The Mediterranean sea is surrounded by twenty one countries and three continents. It is where east and west mingle.

The Mediterranean region has a pleasant climate, rich history, plenty of vegetables and fruits, beautiful nature, healthy kitchen and a mix of diverse cultures. The use of colors in interiors, for objects and in art represents the richness of this region's characteristics.

Some interiors have a mystical quality about them, as if two unlikely elements have come together to form a composition. This reminds me of Albers' encouragement to use any colors and to make them work. Also, the quality of the Mediterranean colors originates in its rich natural resources. The quantity of colors used in spaces create dramatic sensations and interesting visuals. The use of materials is natural. The finishes also reflect the authentic textures of the environment.

Some of the Mediterranean colors are rough and earthy. Some of them have evolved from the beautiful nature of the region. Others depict the climate and the farmland. They include colors like warm terracotta, buttery yellows, corals, eggplant and lavender.

Yellows, oranges and deep reds represent the fantastic sunsets of the area. Yellow, pink and greens are found along the coastal areas in lush countryside. Seaviews are breathtaking. Blues are inspired from the sea ; they bring splashes into spaces. Nature provides a great sense of color harmony. Surrounded by this fabulous natural palette one could not consider using any other tool for selecting colors but his or her own intuition and senses.

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This “hard to explain” sense of color balance that exists within each of us grows more complex as we explore new places. For me, discovering Albers' approach to colors as well as my various travels have brought me to this new place where seeing colors become an inspiring and delightful experience. Colors give us a large amount of possibilities. As professionals in the field of design and art, exploring in the magic of color with the hopes of bringing its subtlety into our projects can be a strong starting point.

Guest Post: Thinking “faux?” Reading Color

2010-07-19T09:00:00.000-05:00

Today's post comes from Barbara Jacobs, of Barbara Jacobs Color and Design .
An IACC-accredited color consultant based in the Boston, Mass. area, Barbara has worked locally and nationally for over 20 years. Her focus is to help people create supportive environments for their homes and businesses. Barbara's IACC thesis subject was on using color in elementary schools. In addition to advising clients on the best colors for their home and work environments, her extensive experience, coming from her fine arts background, includes actually mixing paints and pigments, whether in glazes, plasters, wall paint, or fine arts and pastels. Barbara also has a blog, ColorViews, you should check out.

Thinking “faux?” Reading color and looking at your space
By Barbara Jacobs

If you’re thinking of doing a “faux painting” project (or…is it a “real” project you want to do?) you will no doubt be making some decisions about color. Technically, a decorative finish will fall into one of these very basic categories:

1. Using applied color that’s opaque: Paint only

2. Using applied color that’s semi-opaque: a glaze base mixed with paint as the colorant
3. Using applied color that’s translucent: a glaze base mixed with tint as the colorant

This multi-colored layered glaze surface includes a variety of reds and earth hues to create the sense of depth.

In any of the above, you will have to make some color decisions, starting with…what color do you want to see as the result? To do this, you need at least a fundamental understanding of color mixing and how colors interact to produce a particular result. But that’s not why I am looking at this subject at this time. What I want to share are a few tips on looking at your end-result color to break it down into components that you can work with.

1. Base, and applied colors

2. Base: decide if warm or cool. Your applied color layers can even include colors that have opposite qualities, to have a toning effect and give a more visually interesting result.

Samovar Tea Lounge, San Francisco

3. Pattern: smaller scale pattern for a more ‘blended’ and uniform look;

larger scale for more contrast of shape (not necessarily contrast of color).

The more contrast, usually the greater the drama. Smaller scale pattern will usually pull a space together better than a larger scale.

Samovar

4. Contrast of light and dark/warm and cool: yes, back to that again: more contrast, more drama, more “look at me” with walls being the focus of the space

Look through the color—like rose-colored glasses

Here’s one example of thinking through to your end result and how to get there:

Let’s say you want a soft green, not too saturated but not a pastel either.

Do you want a yellow-based green or a blue-based green? (you already know that green = yellow + blue)

If you want a stronger-color green you might use brighter, more saturated blue and yellow

If you want a toned-down green you might use a more subdued, orange-based yellow.

In this image, for example, we’re looking at a blue base with yellow over glaze. Result: the green.

The 2nd image gives you the idea of a result when a different yellow tone is used.

Use a pattern scale that emphasizes the color type you want to pitch toward
Use the base color that establishes the color direction

More examples of seeing color as layers

Here's another one.

In the images, we’re looking at a various base and over-glaze colors. Of course, these are just digital examples for the purpose of illustration, and as such are nothing like paint!

My personal disclaimer: the colors noted are just examples, not instructions.

For more about this subject, check out 11 tips for Decorative Finishes

All images copyright Barbara Jacobs

Guest Post: What does your car color say about you?

2010-07-15T09:00:00.000-05:00

Marie Brady is an architectural colorist based in Oakland, CA. She has a background education in interior design and is a member of the IACC-NA. Her website is ColorMarie.com and a great blog.

What does your car color say about you?
By Marie Brady

We put so much thought and effort into our color choices for our homes and wardrobes.

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One choice that is not often on our radar until it's buying time is our car color preferences. Just as in color marketing and trending for fashion, household goods and other retail items, automotive color palettes evolve and shift yearly. The car industry is kept on it's feet guessing what we will want next.

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Ford Motor Research has shown that 39% of consumers will leave a dealership if they don't see the color of their choice. One of the biggest trend predictors for the automotive industry is DuPont.

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Each year they publish their Automotive Color Popularity Report. Car companies use this research as an authoritative baseline for color trending.

DuPont reports that as many as 40% of people would switch vehicle brands to get the color of their choice! Determining color palettes is not simple process. Designers seek to create harmonious interior and exterior color packages that will appeal to customers and enhance the design of the vehicle. GM rotates it's colors and tries to anticipate our color preferences each year. They introduce 3 new colors yearly while 3 colors get kicked out of production.

I recently was thrilled to find a stash of old 1960's Sherwin Williams/Ford car guides at an antique store. I wish I came across these little treasures more often! I purchased one from 1961 and one from 1967. It's startling to see how different the color palettes moved from the early to late 1960's! Experts say that the leading position of white in the 1960's and early 70's coincided with economic expansion.

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Later into the 70's, of course, we saw an explosion of earth tones.

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Did anyone have a parent driving around a lovely mustard yellow Corolla or avocado Plymouth?

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Boy did I want a LeCar in 1980 even though I was 3 years away from getting my license!

The 1980's was seen as a period of color while the 90's was an era of neutrals. Color started reappearing in the new millennium in a big way. For Asia, Europe and North America, silver is still the most popular color for cars. North America, says DuPont, is starting to lead the way in trends with rich shades of medium to deep metallic gray along with cooler reds and other high-chroma colors. This hints at a major shift of what's to come for automotive palettes.

Look at the change in color choices over the decades! Remember, paint technology evolves as well with each decade.

Color preferences become more distinct when you look at different lines of cars. White dominates 25% of the truck and SUV market.

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The higher end cars such as Mercedes-Benz tend towards more conservative colors such as silver, gray, black and white. The couture cars of the world, Rolls Royce and Bentley, are often custom ordered so it's not unusual for a customer to ask for a specific custom color. They will even match a fabric or color sample the customer provides.

Black is still perceived as upscale and classy so it is the most popular color in the luxury class. Yellows and blues are becoming quite sought after in sports and compact cars, while darker greens are receding. In fact blues across the board are gaining fans. For retro lovers, limited editions are advertised by some companies in unique palettes.

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This year Chevy Camaro is offering it's own version in the form of “Synergy Green” which hearkens back to their “Rally Green” color from it's first edition Camaro.

How much does color influence YOUR car buying decisions? Would you give up certain options to get the color of your choice?

Guest post- How Old is that Color?

2010-07-12T09:00:00.001-05:00

Today, we welcome back Sonu, better known as slowburn online. You might remember her from the super informative post on Caste versus Colorism, here on Hue. Sonu is a South Asian emigre who's lived in the US for twenty years. She is married to her much beloved American husband who is upfront about being fairly clueless about color and attire unless something's hideously off. Mother of two, writer for hire, and rapidly approaching 40 she's less worried these days about "what goes" - between keeping it together it's all about not scaring the kids or alarming passersby. She cleans up well and figures stylists will show up with the producers if she ever makes it to the big show.

How Old is that Color?
By Sonu

You're probably familiar with Jenny Joseph's poem, “Warning,” the one that starts:

When I am an old woman, I shall wear purple
with a red hat that doesn't go, and doesn't suit me

The poem is primarily about getting to a certain age and no longer giving a hoot what other people think. But I always found the idea of purple and red behind those lines kind of baffling. Because where I come from purple, as in deep rich eggplant purple, is totally an older woman color! It's a color of maturity, of someone who is no longer young, someone who runs things such as a household and budgets.

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It says matriarch. It's something young'uns, they who are still in the fresh bloom of youth, do not age themselves by wearing. And red, oh red.

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Fire engine red is a classic wedding color for a blushing bride,

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and deeper reds, everything from vermilion to maroons, are the color of matrimony,

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from sindoor in a married woman's part,

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to bangles on her wrists.

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The only women who don't wear red, or tone it down heavily, are widows.

Before I go any further, I should mention that although I'm still technically an Indian citizen, I've now lived outside India for the majority of my life. And my memories of India, and of Indian wardrobes are heavily informed by the fact that we usually went home for vacations, aka, wedding season!

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Where no one is dressing soberly or normally. Can you say “My Big Fat Indian Wedding”? So if you're Indian and you're reading this post, you may well disagree, but you have to admit, there are young colors and there are the, um, not so young colors. But I digress....because the point is, who decides what ages should wear certain colors? It's up there with the other Indian idea of how people with certain (read: darker) complexions shouldn't wear certain colors.

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Imagine my epiphany when I arrived in the U.S. to find African American women, many much darker than yours truly, wearing precisely all those colors – bright blues, hot pinks, bright reds, and yeah, pastels of every sort. And they looked great! Which goes right back to one of my firmly held beliefs, that beauty is an utterly social construct. And like humor, especially the culturally specific kind, those constructs do not always travel well. Once again, I digress....

I do understand that as we age, we should dress appropriately, or rather, in ways that do not make us look silly. I'd say that's a fairly universal idea. But in the west, where dress has changed drastically in the last 150 years, dressing appropriately – even in a society where the definition of “older” has changed drastically, (thank you baby boomers!) has meant retiring objects of clothing, not colors of clothing. It means dressing tastefully as you age in terms of how much skin you show and how the clothes are cut.

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Exhibit A: Helen Mirren at the 2010 Oscars, where she looked good wearing something that was sexy and sensual. But she looked like herself, an older person who wasn't trying to look a minute younger than her age. Her clothes were not young and would have aged a younger woman. But the gorgeous Ms. Mirren was wearing a lovely steel gray,

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which was also worn by Kathryn Bigelow, who is a few years younger, and Kate Winslet, who is fully 30 years younger.

The color didn't matter. The clothes weren't defined by them. And I say this because gray turns out to be another older lady color in India, and I learned that one the hard way while sari shopping. Because the sari and the salwar kameez in everyday garb hasn't changed all that very much in the last century. Blouse styles, prints, and fabrics certainly go in and out of vogue. And how you drape the sari may get finessed a bit. But it's still a five-yard long length of cloth, wrapped artfully regardless of age or figure. And what separates the maiden from the mother and the crone seems to come down a little bit to print, a bit more to fabric, and a lot to color.

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I ran right into the brick wall of “aging colors” when I was not quite 30. It was my first trip back to India in a long time, and I was finally in a position (aka, making real money for a change) to build my own collection of saris. I wanted more than the two I'd married in (standard red, and an un-standard very lavish cream), the two “little black dress” work horses I'd worn over and over (both black, one plain, one very embroidered), and the random assortment of “young debutante” saris I'd been gifted over the years (apple green, creams with colorful borders, busy prints).

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Certainly, approaching 30, not yet a mom but much married (whole other blogpost!), I was starting to look a bit long in the tooth in the bandhanis and garhwals. They were perfect when I was in my early twenties what with their light weight and colors and big and pretty borders, but married and approaching 30? In weight and color both, they lacked …. gravitas.

So there I was at the sari store. And I fell head over heels for two grays. Steel grays. Sophisticated grays. I'd seen my mom wear both (which should have been my first hint), and although she's lighter in complexion, I didn't see why I couldn't pull it off. At least not in the US where no one cares about such things – here I just look Indian, know what I mean? Anyway, I had this vision of me as an Indian lady who lunched, and it would be perfect if I was ever invited to some fancy sit-down embassy dinner where they would be thoroughly appropriate (and that should have been my second hint). Then we got home and Mom, trying to be supportive, said something to the effect of, “You seem to have shopped strategically, not just for now but for later!” Huh? “Well you don't know when you'll be able to shop for saris next, so you've got a good variety, including some for when you're older. Like the grays”

Oh.

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Grey, regardless of print, was apparently for the older set. And yet I'll bet that is not something you'd think here in the West – where grey, particularly in a well-cut suit at work that makes you look grown up, but not over the hill by any stretch of the imagination!

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And then of course, there is black. I've already alluded to the two black saris I owned. They were my mouthiness made apparel. Even the heavily worked up one had the lush grandeur of a lacquered Chinese wall hanging. Dressed in it, I noticed that people didn't walk up to me so much as they approached, carefully. (Could just be the shock of seeing me nicely turned out for a change, but work with me....) Thing is, my black saris were not for the faint of heart, and neither was I when I wore them. Important data point: For years, at any Indian party, I was nearly always the “feminist!”, and the confusing one at that. Because I looked the part of a conservative in a sari, after all I learned to wear one from my grandmothers who saw no reason to change how they dressed, regardless of what they thought. But they were far from conservative too. And you couldn't pay any of us to be demure or soft-spoken. So not happenin'. So not in the black sari. Which is when it hit me – they were my version of rebellion.

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They're what a modern Indian danseuse would wear to announce a departure from tradition before taking a single step. They're very … Martha Graham. Not that I looked scary or anything. But I wasn't a docile traditionalist in them either. Which is highly ironic because I really am rather traditional in how I wear my saris. Meaning, I love Bollywood, but for the love of God, it's entertainment. Not real life, where the pallu is meant to cover your chest, not show off your cleavelands.

I do have other colors in my sari collection, by the way. Because the two grays were part of twenty-five saris I picked up that afternoon. (No, I don't do anything by half measure.) And I have added to them since then.

So I have bottle greens, deep fuchsia pinks, mustards, saffrons, brick oranges, and many many grown-up creams, the kind with intricate borders and gold embroidery. Young women could wear these saris, and indeed I do remember wearing some like that when I was a teen, borrowed from The Store of Mom.

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But I distinctly remember looking as many think Miley Cyrus did at the same 2010 Oscars. A bit nervous. Like I was trying very hard to fit in at the grown-ups table. Because while they're bright colors, they're grown-up colors. And I like to think that when I wear them now I look like I've come into my own, elegant, soignee.

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I look like someone who can make witty banter at a cocktail party, someone who can go from Sandra Bullock to Cap-and-Trade to Eyjafjallajokull without skipping a beat. Heck, I look like someone who can actually say Eyjafjallajokull. Operative words, “look like.” But it occurs to me that even in my child-free days, when I was a newshound, I didn't wear certain colors.

I've always refused to wear lime greens, aqua blues, canary yellows, or fresh oranges, even when they were what a young person was supposed to be able to wear –

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I am from a tropical country, I'm not an Actual tropical country.

And then there are beige, pastels, and soft pinks. Beige is …. beige. 'Nuff said. I was never a beige girl. I have no desire to disappear into the woodwork. There are other ways to be a quiet and dignified presence. And pastels and pinks? “For babies and good girls,” as my equally arch sister puts it. I sneered at both as a kid because I wasn't that nice or well-behaved. I'm better behaved now, but I avoid them anyway because well, I'm an adult. And it wouldn't make a difference if I wore a medium weight pastel kanjeevaram or a light weight organza pastel.

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That whole section of the store always seems to me the equivalent of a …. snow cone, a cotton candy confection, a frilly A-line Easter confection. Complete with big bonnet. I'm staring at 40 and I would rather wear a paper bag over my head in public. And yet, pinky beige, and soft pinks of all sorts are precisely the color I have seen on many a mother-of-the-bride in the US. Here in the U.S. they're colors just about anyone can wear. They do not say older, or younger. They just say sweet on a good day. Innocuous in general. And no, I refuse to be put into that box because I've gotten older.

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Funnily enough, it is precisely that palate – beige and pale pink – that I was gifted by my grandmother when I was married. (The same grandmother who wondered at how classically – aka boringly – all my sari blouses were cut. “Don't you want to show off any skin at all? You're not even 30! You still can!”) It's a lovely, incredibly elegant, beautifully woven, and very expensive number sari. Every time there is an important event, I take it out of my cupboard, look at it with great affection and promptly pass it up for something brighter, something hipper, something with a bit more oomph, something more me. I don't think it's an age thing. I think perhaps I'm just not mellow enough to wear it yet. Meanwhile I have yet to wear my two beloved grays and equally “old lady” aubergines – oh yes, bought a couple of them too! Because between young children, life, budgets, Eyjafjallajokull, and life in general, there just haven't been that many opportunities. But that's the upside of saris. They never go out of style and my boring cut blouses will still be just fine when I finally have some of my life back. I will even be age and color-appropriate for some of my collection, collected back in my late 20s. But I will wear what I because I want to. Just like the lady in the poem. It's a very nice thought.

Guest post: How color communicates with the customer

2010-07-05T09:00:00.004-05:00

Today, our guest post comes from Yasmin Chopin.

Yasmin Chopin is an Honours graduate with a degree in the History of Art and Architecture. She undertook post-graduate study in Interior Design and Decoration and gained her Diploma with the Inchbald School of Design, London. Now she works with domestic and commercial customers in the UK mainly in and around the cities of Cambridge and London. She's fascinated by design in general but particularly interested in colour and how design can help a business communicate with its customers.

How colour communicates with the customer
By Yasmin Chopin

As a commercial Interior Designer I am particularly interested in how design helps a business communicate with its customers. And in this article, I want to show you two examples of how colour is used in the retail environment. An important element in interior design colour can affect, or be affected by, the light and shadow in a space, and the shapes, textures and patterns surrounding it. Get it right in the commercial environment and colour can prompt customers to buy.

In Casa Hogar, a housewares store in Valencia, Spain, you can see that the items displayed on the shelves are in colour groups rather than functional groups. So if it’s an orange cutlery tray you are after, you go to where the orange items are displayed. But here you will also find everything else the store sells - if it comes in orange.

This is more than mere colour blocking - it shouts louder and further. What does it say to the customer? I think it celebrates colour in a joyful and fun way. It shows how the retailer takes great care in merchandising its products. And by bringing diverse items together under one colour banner it offers a range of goods in one place, another take on one-stop shopping, providing many opportunities for impulse purchases. It says to the customer, ‘we care about your time, we know you like to match things in your room scheme, we know you like orange, so we will save you time searching for other things in your favourite colour, here they are! And we love orange too!’

The Ollie & Nic store in London sells handbags and other accessories and is another example of how colour is used to sell. This time we see a mixture of colour, which in itself is not very different. But this store is using a variety of coloured patterned wallpaper backgrounds on which to display the goods! This is a very brave use of colour which exudes confidence. This says, ‘we love our store, we are sure you will love the store just as much as the product, and we want you to feel at home’.

So this experience is reinforced with a fireplace mantelpiece and retro domestic furniture used as display cabinets which makes you feel like you are in a friend’s lounge. You could spend quite a bit of time in here! I wanted to stay in this store for a while and just enjoy the experience of being surrounded by gorgeous pastel. Womb-like maybe?

Whether it’s bright and brash, like Casa Hogar, or delicately pastel like Ollie & Nic, colour affects our emotion and our impulse to buy. Can you remember a time when colour persuaded you to buy? Or maybe you can recall an experience where the retailer got it wrong and colour turned you off?

All images copyright Yasmin Chopin Interior Design