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….as well as quotable quotes from our colorful leader and color expert, Leatrice (Lee) Eiseman. Lee has written seven books on color. She is the Executive Director of the Pantone Color Institute, the Director of the Eiseman Center for Color Information and Training and a color/design consultant to many industries. Fortune Magazine has named her as one of the 10 top decision makers for her work in color and she is widely quoted in the media. Enjoy!!
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JANUARY 2009 ARCHIVES
January 26, 2009
The Moment l Women's Fashion
Excerpt from Bright Idea l The Gap and Pantone T-Shop
By Bee-Shyuan Chang
Bright Idea | The Gap and Pantone T-Shop
The Gap's flagship store in New York
The Gap designer Patrick Robinson has one antidote to the winter blues: a limited-edition line of T-shirts designed in collaboration with Pantone, the fashion industry’s color authority.
The Moment: We’ve been seeing a lot of black on the runways lately — what made you go against the tide and opt for color instead?
Patrick Robinson: At the last show, the word “optimistic” was in the air. We’re all about optimism, and there is no better way to show that than in color.
The Moment: Painters use their palette to convey a mood. Do you think there are mood-enhancing or, even better, anti-recessionist colors in the T-Shop?
Patrick Robinson: We were studying Mimosa, Pantone’s color of the year, and what turns me on about this yellow is that it speaks of enlightenment. It’s also supposed to spark imagination and innovation, and that’s kind of amazing that color evokes that kind of emotion in people.
The Moment: With financial news leaving us in the dark, a bright spot of color goes a long way. Do you think we’ll start to see more color in stores and on the runways?
Patrick Robinson: I do think people do interesting things in tough times. In recessions, people actually get healthier. They start taking care of themselves better, and that’s the mind-set we get into here [at the Gap] when we think about people, color and clothes. People are going to do the opposite and not be in mourning, and they’ll want to be fresh and the more they are thinking about taking care of themselves, and not only thinking of money, that sense of optimism rebalances your life.
Pantone Selects Color of the Year 2009
On Dec 3, Pantone selected Mimosa for the color of 2009 because economic times are hard and Mimosa is bright with warmth and cheers people up. The color of Mimosa is like a type of yellow.
I was surprised when the color of the year was Mimosa because I never knew that they would even come up with that idea. But in the end I thought it was a very good choice, because it really does cheer people up.
I chose this article because we have a friend who works at Pantone. This is an important topic to discuss because Mimosa is the color of the year for everyone and this color will be mostly in stores.
This article relates to me because of all the people are going through rough times and we all need a nice color to cheer us up for the year and the holidays.
Sarah is a 10-year-old who recently wrote the above about Mimosa for her current events assignment at school. We hope you enjoyed it.
An excerpt from Lee's book The Color Answer Book
...most people associate yellow with sunshine, warmth, and cheer, and it is a mood enhancer, rather than a source of irritation. I have recommended yellow as a wonderful substitute for sunshine in geographic areas where there isn't a lot of sun in winter. I have used the happy hue in my own home in the Northwest for just that reason and have always had positive response to the color from friends an visitors.
So, if ou love the idea of a delicious buttery yellow surrounding you and your family, by all means use it and see how sunny your dispositions will be!!
http://colorexpert.com/coloranswerbook.html
The Boston Globe
HOME / NEWS / SCIENCE
NEUROSCIENTIST BEVIL CONWAY | MEETING THE MINDS
Artist's vision: Decode color perception
By Billy Baker
Globe Correspondent
Harvard neuroscientist Bevil Conway, holding a glass box he designed, is looking for the neural basis of our reaction to color. (Joanne Rathe/Globe Staff)
Bevil Conway, an artist turned neuroscientist, was sitting in front of a laptop computer recently at Harvard Medical School showing off one of his latest discoveries. Small squares of color flashed rapidly on the screen - red, yellow, green - until suddenly, as the screen showed a square of deep purple, the computer's speakers crackled with electrical static.
If you ask why an artist would delve into the labyrinthine, and largely unknown, workings of the
brain, the look of satisfaction on Conway's face as he leaned back in his chair said it all. The static on the speakers is the electrical signal recorded from a single neuron in a monkey's brain, a neuron that only turned on when the monkey was shown deep purple on a monitor.
"When you discover something new about the brain, it's intoxicating," said Conway. "That's the first deep purple recording in history. Philosophers have been arguing for hundreds of years whether color is encoded in the brain or is external. What's amazing is that this is in a monkey. They don't have language.
When I learn something like this, I get the same feeling as when I make a painting that does something that would never have been done if I weren't around."
Conway, 34, a native of Zimbabwe who is an assistant professor at Wellesley College and a visiting scientist at Harvard Medical School, started out as a visual artist. In exploring the techniques of art - why certain color combinations work; why line drawings are effective even though they have no external basis in nature; how movement can be conveyed in a two-dimensional media - he found a desire to understand the way vision and perception work in the brain itself.
He was accepted into a neuroscience program at Harvard in 1996, but his graduate career got off to a rocky start when he told his advisers that he wanted to take art and architecture classes as well. "There was an audible gasp in the room," he remembers. "Someone told me, 'You're not here to paint.'"
But his goal was to understand vision and perception, and Conway felt that you had to go at the mystery from both sides of the campus, and, as it were, both sides of the brain. And it is this dual approach that, his champions in neuroscience say, has allowed him to breathe some new ways of thinking into the field.
"He has a deep understanding of our vision from the fact that he's an artist," said Jay Neitz, a neuroscientist at the Medical College of Wisconsin. "A normal person who's never thought how our vision is operating on a scene would never ask the kinds of questions he does. He's brought a novel and creative way to think about how the brain is breaking down information into a code that we can use."
In 2004, Conway's novel approach kicked up a storm in both the art and neuroscience worlds when he and Margaret Livingstone, a Harvard neurobiologist, published a controversial paper that said Rembrandt was "walleyed" because his eyes pointed away from each other in self-portraits. They argued that the condition, which Conway himself has and leads to poor stereo vision, may have helped the Dutch master to powerfully render a three-dimensional world in two dimensions.
At the moment, Conway, who still spends half his time making art at his Cambridge studio, is fixated on color. Many artists go through such phases - Picasso's famous "blue period" was followed by his "rose period" - but Conway is going deeper. He's looking for the neural basis of color, the answer to how it happens in the brain.
By studying the behavior of Castor and Pollux, his two monkeys, he's made an argument that color, which is accessible only through vision, is encoded into the brain. He's found that not only are certain cells designated to respond to certain colors, but that those cells usually form in clusters. Within that, he's found that the cell population is biased - the largest population cares about red, followed by green then blue.
Conway says the goal of his neuroscience is not to make himself a better artist, but it has changed his art in subtle ways and has prompted him to observe himself in the act of creation, asking himself why he makes certain choices. "If you look historically, every artist comes up with a theory as to why what they're doing works or doesn't work," he said. "Picasso wrote voluminously about it. Kandinsky had theories about color. DaVinci really wanted to understand the mechanisms of vision.
"I'm interested in how we see and how we make images that are effective. When I see something, I want to know what's going on in my head. Doesn't it make sense to probe why?"
January 15, 2009
Excerpt from
Cosmopolitan
Fashion & Beauty
Get luscious lips
“Colors that remind us of foods at their peak of ripeness stimulate the senses on a number of levels,” explains Leatrice Eiseman, author of More Alive With Color.
A TASTE OF GRAPE
Of all the fruity hues, grape is the most mysterious, according to Eiseman. "It has a darkness to it that can be incredibly exotic and intriguing," she points out.
VERY BERRY
Tropical-berry pink looks pretty without trying too hard. “Guys love it, because the color isn't intimidating,” says Eiseman.
WILD WITH CHERRY
Cherries are the happy fruit—we associate their ultrabright red hue with energy, passion, and liveliness. “It's one of the most upbeat colors out there,” says Eiseman.
January 15, 2009
Excerpt from
SheKnows.com
by
Kori Ellis
Why doesn't this lipstick color look good on me?
LOVE LIPSTICK? GET
THE RIGHT COLOR
It happens to all of us. You spend an hour at the store, glancing over every
lipstick color, every shade, and every texture, only to bring it home and
discover... well, it just doesn't look right. Elke Von Freudenberg, editorial
makeup artist and hair stylist, shares with us the secret to finding the right
shade.
IT'S ALL ABOUT THE UNDERTONE COLOR
Why doesn't lipstick look good on you, the same way it does in the tube? It's usually not
the color that you saw in the tube that looks bad (otherwise, you wouldn't have bought it!),
but the underlying or undertone color in the lipstick that shows its true colors after you've
applied it.
How can you tell what your undertone color is? Run a tester lipstick onto a piece of white
paper (we do this for photo shoots all the time to find the right color, because on film,
those undertones can seem off), and look: What color do you see besides the main shade?
It's easier to see on white paper, but harder to see on skin tone... until it's too late.
What are you looking for? For example, let's take your favorite brown-toned lipstick.
The basic lipstick undertones that you might see would be:
RED/PINK
Makes the color seem warmer, but harder and deeper as well. Can also bring
out all the red tones in your skin as well, so be careful!
YELLOW/ORANGE
Makes the color warmer, and softer. Looks great on warm skin tones, but if
you're really pale, can bring out the green/blue undertones in your skin. To be
on the safe side, go towards the yellow side, rather than the orange. Too much
orange can make skin look gray and sluggish.
GREEN/BLUE
A way to make a lipstick more dramatic -- deeper. Try to stay clear of these if
possible, they can make you look like you're still standing under fluorescent
lighting.
SILVER/GRAY
Adds shimmer, softness, depth. Easy to spot in those light shimmer lipsticks
that are so popular now. Adds light and softness to the lipstick, just make sure
that it's not too much on the blue/gray side. Can make those under eye circles
stand out.
GREEN
Huh? Green? Yep, sometimes. The trendy colors have them, and it's usually
paired with a yellow tone as well. You'll look cool and hip, but you'll also feel as if you need more
color on your face. (Hint: that's why the big blush trend is also prevalent... just check out the lip
color!)
THE LIPSTICK RULE
Whatever skin color you have that you don't like (like blue or gray under eye circles, redness, pink, etc.), try not to copy in your lipstick color or undertone as well. It's like wearing a red dress with sunburn -- it just makes the problem appear worse than it is.
Kori Ellis is an editor and writer based in San Antonio, TX, where she lives with her husband and two labs, Yogi and Deuce. At SheKnows, she contributes articles to the Beauty & Style and Food & Cooking channels. Additionally, Kori has been published in dozens of magazines, newspapers and websites worldwide, writing about everything from wedding planning to fantasy sports.
To learn more about your personal colors and style and to transform the way you look visit Lee's other site More Alive With Color.com! Her online Image Colortime Training can enhance your image consulting business or get you started in the world of image consulting. Enjoy the Visit to More Alive With Color.com!
January 13, 2009
Excerpt from Color Your World
Midwest Home
BY SARAH MORAN
A guide to picking the perfect colors for your mood
The walls of this Wayzata living room are a cool shade of Laguna Beach green sprinkled with a sandy tan that reminds the owner of the Caribbean, where her family has vacationed often. With walls dressed in a warm sandy hue with a terra cotta glaze, the bright kitchen evokes the Southwest. Tiles in shades of sapphire, boysenberry, and sea green form the backsplash, and a dusky sunrise stretches across the ceiling. In the owner’s bedroom, leopard print carpet from Spain greets your feet, Chinese red molding outlines the room, and vibrant paisley print fabric dances across the walls.
“I put my personal stamp on everything,” the homeowner says. “The colors make me feel happy. It’s self-expression to create a warm, happy environment to come home to.”
Our reaction to colors are indeed personal, design and color experts agree. That’s why it’s important to do some internal investigation to determine which colors make you feel best and then use them to create a true sanctuary in your home. Using color randomly can muddle its impact and even make you feel uneasy. Likewise, lack of color can leave you feeling cold or flat.
Uncover your hue
Reaction to color is often influenced by childhood, explains Seattle-based color consultant and author Leatrice Eiseman.
Finding colors that resonate with you can be as easy as following your gaze in the paint store, Eiseman says. If your eyes float immediately toward blues, that may be a sign that you’re emotionally attracted to water or another “blue” element. For most people, though, this takes time and reflection. “Nobody else can climb inside your head,” Eiseman says.
To start, look for color repetition around your home and in your wardrobe. “If it’s repeated in your home, you already have a predisposition to like it,” she says. “You can feel fairly confident that it does resonate with you.”
Notice how you feel when you walk into rooms or flip through catalogs and magazines. Think about what certain color schemes remind you of. Products aimed at helping you choose colors may be nothing more than gimmicks, Eiseman says. However, you may find designers, color classes, and books to be helpful guides.
From Wikipedia:
In psychology, the Stroop effect is a demonstration of interference in the reaction time of a task. When a word such as blue, green, red, etc. is printed in a color differing from the color expressed by the word's semantic meaning (e.g. the word "red" printed in blue ink), naming the color of the word takes longer and is more prone to errors than when the meaning of the word is congruent with its ink color. The effect is named after John Ridley Stroop who first published the effect in English in 1935. The effect had previously been published in 1929, but only in German. The original paper has been one of the most cited papers in the history of experimental psychology, leading to over 700 replications.
The effect has been used to create a psychological test which is widely used in clinical practice and investigation. The test has also been further modified to investigate very different phenomena.
January 6, 2009
Excerpt from the 2008 DuPont Automotive Color Popularity Report
WILMINGTON, Del., Dec. 9, 2008
White Is Most Popular Color – Again –
in 56th DuPont Automotive Color Popularity Report
“Conservative Differentiation” Among Consumers May Be Sign of the Times
The 2008 DuPont Automotive Color Popularity Report says white is the top vehicle color choice in North America for the second straight year, and is a strong player globally, with “white effects” allowing consumers to differentiate cars subtly to express their individuality. Black and silver with effects also turned in a strong performance globally. The term “effects” refers to special pigments that lend a pearl or iridescent appearance to coatings.
White and white pearl scored 16 and 4 percent, respectively, black and black effect scored 11 percent and 6 percent, while silver, which led the pack for six consecutive years, garnered a 17 percent share of the North American market.
North American color choice highlights several trends. First, there is a continuing convergence of color choice globally with color preferences becoming more homogeneous across the globe. Additionally, DuPont continues to report white as a “palette cleansing” color signaling a pause after a long running trend and in advance of a new trend. The 2007 DuPont Automotive Color Popularity Report
announced the end of silver’s seven year reign.
“While black, white and silver continue to remain strong, we are seeing interesting trends developing,” Surcina continued. “The popularity of true chromatic colors such as blue and red are on the rise, with blue growing worldwide as consumers look to more environmental themes and lifestyles.”
“Blue is being utilized as the “new green” because it is well understood by people all over the world that blue can also represent the preservation of nature,” said Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute and author of Color: Messages and Meanings. “Imagine a clear blue sky mirrored in a pristine blue lake and you will get the picture. It is a universal favorite.”
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