Chapter 1
Color Basics

It's a Colorful World

Is color a necessity of life, in the same manner as food, water, and air?

The answer is no, but try to imagine a world without color. Nature would bear no brightly colored flowers, no green grass, no festively colored birds or fish. The blue of sky - rich and deep one day, only to yield a softer sky blue the next - would not be there. How could we call it sky without those colors? What would the word, the idea, "sky" even mean? There would also be no colorful manmade objects: automobiles gleaming red, silver, piercing black; brightly colored newspapers and magazines whose purpose is to give image and substance to ideas, concepts, and actions; children's toys and all that is implied by the joy given by their colorfulness; packaging materials that excite and endorse; the very houses we live in; and countless other objects that make up the world as we know it.

Even though color is not counted as one of life's necessities, it is an integral part of every human being's existence. It is a fact, beyond contestation, that there is color. Color pervades human life on two levels: the visual and the psychological. Visually, it is a welcome companion to human life. It provides texture, differentiation, and emotional value. In addition to the esthetic enhancement of life, color is functional in several aspects. It is used to communicate information. Think of a traffic signal. No matter in which part of the world a person may travel, he or she can, without speaking the local language, understand what the red, green, and yellow lights mean when they are illuminated, and act according to that meaning. Along these same lines, it is possible to determine the terrorist alert level in the United States simply by seeing what color it is. Color, in this case, corresponds to a set of criteria, upon which we may become informed or, if necessary, act.

A fine example of color communication can be found in the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) color coding system (http://www.ansi.org), which can be found in Table 1.1. This system not only assigns a valuation to color, as it is used in the public sphere of everyday American life, but also offers common examples of color function in places such as public utilities, traffic coordination, and general public safety.

Beyond these functional aspects, color brings other dimensions to everyday lives. First, it is a very powerful tool for use in brand identity. There are many large multinational companies that use color as an integral part of their identity, as the following examples will attest. Coca-Cola has used red as an identifier for many years; in fact, the Coca-Cola brand is so deeply tied to this color that one knows the brand identity simply from seeing this rich red accented by the silver wave, regardless of whether the word "Coca-Cola" is present or not. Royal Dutch Shell selected yellow as its brand color and has used it very effectively in its seashell-esque logo. The United Parcel Service not only uses brown as its identifier visually, but has also incorporated the word "brown" into its corporate tag line, "What can brown do for you today?"

Along the same identity lines, companies also use color to brand specific items within their product portfolios. Over time, the colors chosen to represent a given brand, through exposure and consistent marketing plans, become practically inextricable from the product itself. To go back to Coca-Cola, no one picks up a Coke and expects to taste Pepsi, just as no one develops a taste for Coke and then looks for the Pepsi label's color scheme. Other examples of this type of color association are the bright, clean-looking orange trimmed in deep blue and white of Procter & Gamble's Tide, but a white background and the text in blue and orange for the fragrance-free version, or Cadbury Creme Eggs' distinct shiny purple wrapper.

Moving from brand and product identification, color usage is also very much a part of the foods we eat, both overtly and covertly. With regard to the former, each of us, dating back to childhood, has been instructed to "eat our greens," the idea being that green foods bear healthful nutrients beneficial to growth and development. Color is also a very prominent factor in prepared foods such as candies (the chocolatey brown wrapper of M&Ms), bottled and powder-mix drinks (the fun brightness of the Kool-Aid Man), and cereals (the "rainbow" of flavors suggested by Lucky Charms). As for the covert role of color, it is used to enhance the appearance of foods from raw beef to McDonald's golden fried Chicken McNuggets.

Table 1.1 American National Standards Institute color coding system.

One final aspect of visual color use in everyday life is very important to any reader of this book. It is the essential core of the fashion industry, of which decorative cosmetics are a key element. Fashion, whether home, apparel, or other types, would be a three-legged stool missing a leg if everything were black and white.

The second level of color pervasion in human existence is psychological. Colors mean different things on this level than on the visual level, and can significantly affect human moods and attitudes toward events and people. Specifics of this phenomenon are as follows (http://www.infoplease.com/spot/colors1.html):

• Black: Tends to signify power and authority. Ever heard someone associate the term "power" with the color black, for example in an office setting wherein one may wear a "black power suit"? It is used in fashion so pervasively because there is a belief that it makes people look thinner. Black is often used to signify villainy and darkness of character; think Darth Vader, Dracula, or Batman. On the other end of the spectrum, priests wear black to show submission to God, and, of course, black is known as the color of mourning in the Western world.
• White: The color of purity and innocence. It is commonly worn by brides in the Western hemisphere (though, interestingly, it is a color of mourning in certain parts of Asia). It is often used in summer fashions, as it reflects light and is therefore cooler in hot weather. White's popularity in home fashions and clothing is largely due to the fact that it goes with all other colors.
• Red: Heats up the emotions. Commonly the color associated with love or matters of the heart - think Valentine's Day. Red clothing has the opposite effect of black with respect to a person's weight appearance and is not considered conducive as an apparel choice for successful negotiations.
• Blue: Red's...