PURPLE – MORE THAN A MIXED-UP COLOR
Every little kid knows that red + blue = purple. One of my granddaughters’ favorite books is “Mix it Up! by Herve Tullet. This interactive book is all about how paint colors mix to make other colors. If you have read my other blog posts, you might think that almost every post is about mixing it up. I think that life (and construction projects) is not a straight line, yet sometimes it is the detours and mix- ups that make life worth living (and projects more successful), but I digress. Let’s agree that purple is a mixed-up color.
I was driving back to my office last week, when I heard the NPR article about how Iowa is a “purple” state, but that both the legislature and the governor’s office are all Republican for the first time in a long time. The democrat running for Governor could win and bring Iowa back to its “purple” status. I come from what used to be an extremely “red” state, Ohio, with the exception of Cleveland, that has always been “blue”. Now Cincinnati, my home town, has become “blue” as well. Ohio is now a “purple” state.
Perhaps I’ve always been a little “purple”. My logo was designed 25 years ago. As you probably know, it is a purple square with an orange dot. The color of the square is purple, but it really is closer to navy blue than it is to proper purple. I suppose my “blue” roots must be showing.
When I got married, I told the women in the wedding party that they could wear any style dress as long as it was in any shade of purple that pleased them. It was so much fun to see what people chose. My husband’s grandmother chose a pale mauve, almost pink, and my sister chose a deep eggplant color – and we had every color in between. We bought the men purple ties. The cake was decorated in purple pansies. It all worked so well together (and so do my husband and I: we are about to celebrate 40 years of purple wedded bliss)!
In design, I often use purple as a neutral. Whether it is a pale grey with a purple cast (Benjamin Moore’s Misty Memories 2118-60), a medium purply-gray (Benjamin Moore’s Sea Life 2118-40), or a deep purple that is almost black (Benjamin Moore’s Toucan Black 2115-20), these “purples” are so much more interesting than their counterparts of grey or black, yet they still function well as neutral “colors” that work well with any accent color in a project’s palette. At one point, a long-term client said that they always searched for the “purple” on each project. I confess, I do love purple!
You too may learn to love purple. Whether you identify as “purple”, “blue” or “red”, let us know if we can help you with your next design project, no matter your color persuasion! After all, don’t we all just want to get along?