This is probably the longest I have gone without posting since I started plenty of colour 10 months ago! Some decidedly uncolourful things have sprung up but have no fear, I will be posting an avalanche of hue-filled items soon. There are few seasons as colour-inspiring as Christmas.

In the meantime and if you are interested in retail branding, take a peek at a post I wrote for Rena Tom’s website on the topic of gift certificates. So many shops and makers use boring plastic swipe cards or fill-in templates which is a missed creative and branding opportunity in my mind. There are a million small but impactful details that can make the buyer feel like their purchase is important to the seller and make the recipient feel like they got a really special gift. Oh and make your shop or company become a beacon of gift certificate attractiveness and fantastic branding! Take a look here if you are interested…

(images via hyperkit, boomkat, september industry, habit of art, present and correct, ncf studio, creature comforts, sweet paul, rie elise larsen and martha stewart)

Today is a bit like the Academy Awards for colour as Pantone announced their Colour of the Year for 2012. Who took home the top prize? Meet ‘Tangerine Tango‘ otherwise known as PANTONE 17-1463. An exotic and provocative reddish-orange with what feels like a pink undertone, this hue is anything but subtle. The inspiration for Pantone’s Colour of the Year is found across every avenue of design, technology, style, sport and world events. The economic and world uncertainty was captured in a series of more dark and muted colours over the last decade but in 2009, more optimistic hues took the spotlight as consumers looked for positivity and encouragement in products and clothing. Last year the colour was a summery coral-pink named ‘Honeysuckle’ that “encouraged us to face everyday troubles with verve and vigor” and this year’s Tangerine Tango continues the trend of warm, uplifting hues with a tropical soul that is meant to “provide the energy boost we need to recharge and move forward”.

Orange in general has grown wildly in popularity and the Spring 2012 Fashion Weeks demonstrated that trend as it was a focal point in many collections. Orange seems to be all over furniture, branding, retail design and homewares as well. I’ve never met a boring person who’s favourite colour is orange. They have been, without exception, the most creative and intriguing individuals you could ever come across. Do a short ‘favourite colour’ survey at your upcoming holiday parties – I guarantee the orange-lover will be the most interesting! My grandmother had a completely Tangerine Tango apartment and I thought it was the most magical place ever. According to colour theory, orange is the hue of creativity and stimulates creative thought. That might explain why so many innovators and creative types love it so much (and why I could have sat and coloured in my grandmother’s apartment for days on end). It looks like she was about 20 years ahead of her time with her obsession with Tangerine Tango!

Oops – I digress from the Pantone Colour of the Year. I think Tangerine Tango is a bold choice and a great one. It is not a safe pick as orange is a pretty polarizing hue – you either love it or hate it. But I think it captures the recent trend and love affair with orange perfectly. It truly has been ubiquitous and it looks like that will continue far into summer. It is undeniably uplifting and positive. I love how designers have mixed the colour with neutrals, neons, and bold dashes of jewel tones. I also love the Tangerine Tango seems to have a pink element undertone to it. It can easily be softened into a sherbet colour or kept bold and neon-like. You may have preconceived notions about orange but maybe give it a try in 2012. Perhaps we won’t all be rocking a Tangerine Tango dress or lipstick shade but you could try a bag, shirt with an orange collar, throw cushion, jar of flowers or maybe just a random desk accessory. It’s a happy-inducing and creative colour and that’s pretty good goal for the year ahead.

Oh, I also love Pantone’s description of their Colour of the Year: “Sophisticated but at the same time dramatic and seductive, Tangerine Tango is an orange with a lot of depth to it. Reminiscent of the radiant shadings of a sunset, Tangerine Tango marries the vivaciousness and adrenaline rush of red with the friendliness and warmth of yellow, to form a high-visibility, magnetic hue that emanates heat and energy.”

(photographs from top left: Derek Lam Spring/Summer 2012, Matthew Williamson Spring/Summer 2012, Nanette Lepore Spring/Summer 2012, Elie Tahari Spring/Summer 2012 and Matthew Williamson Spring/Summer 2012 all via style.com; all quotes via Pantone)

I haven’t posted anything about the upcoming holiday season thus far but expect some festive entries on the horizon as December knocks on the door (tomorrow? eek!). On the topic of colour and the holidays, I wrote a piece on Rena Tom’s website today pondering the many unique colour palettes and swatches beyond the famous holiday pairing of red and green. From icy vintage to bright yellow to neon details, there are endless modern possibilities. Please take a look here if you are interested in the colours of the festive season. Do you have a favourite holiday colour scheme? I would love to hear…

(photographs via rifle paper co., shop sweet lulu, martha stewart, emmas designblogg, hey look, 101woonideeen, the sweetest occasion and emmas designblogg)

Bottles, bags, crazy foil envelopes – there are a million types of packages and even more reasons to love their niche of design. Now more than ever, companies and designers are using minimal packaging so how do you get your brand across in an impactful and creative way? I wrote an article for Rena Tom’s site on that very topic so please take a look if you are interested. There are plenty of inspiring images if you are looking to brand your product or yourself!

(image via miss design and retail design blog)

God bless the blade sign – a gem of a retail signage and brand. If you are interesting in going a virtual walking tour of store sign trends and inspiration, please pop over to Rena Tom’s blog where I wrote a post on the topic. Time to find a real life job where I can go on daily field trips to ponder shop and store design…

(images via the society inc, armas, the dieline and damon styer)

In the nerdiest way possible, I love looking through the colour archives of Vintage Printable. Curating out-of-copyright scientific illustration, the site has a large collection of fascinating old paint and textile swatches, book scans and pretty much every other colour relic under the sun. If you are working on a project with a specific era colour theme in mind, this site would be a wonderful resource for finding hues that dominated the time period. Notice how the late 1800′s/early 1900′s swatches are focused on warm oranges, yellows, greens browns and pastels? I think some of these pieces would look great framed on a studio wall (particularly those American Ornithology and Gemstone charts at top). Looking through the collection highlights that colour may sometimes be pure decoration and beauty but many times, it also serves a substantial and vital scientific role.

From top:
1.) American Ornithology Chart, 1901.
2.) Colour chart of gems and minerals, Lewis Feuchtwanger 1867.
3.) Tertiary colour details, no year.
4.) Town and Country paint colours, 1872.
5.) Textile dye scans, 1907.
6.) Textile colour dye information, no year.
7.) A color combination chart for layered clothing, no year.
8.) Text Books of Art Education, 1905 Prang Educational Company.

As a colour-obsessed person, I am enamoured with all things Pantone. As the world leader in colour, I imagine visiting the Pantone headquarters would be my version of going to Graceland? Pantone added 175 new colours to Fashion + Home system today bringing the total number of available shades for fabric and interior goods to 2,100. It’s also the first time new hues have been added since 2003. On a project not so long ago, I was so eager for more blue Pantone fabric options, I was ready to try mixing dyes myself! Overall, it is a huge boost for anyone trying to translate their vision to product. I love this ‘behind-the-scenes’ video by Pantone that shows the process behind creating this complex system and features colour experts like designer Jonathan Adler and Kate Spade creative director Deborah Lloyd. I love the great quotes shared about colour and its importance in design, products and creating a happy life overall.

Created by designer Derek Chan, Front Page Fingerprint is a visualization of the formal elements of the New York Times front page such as white space, headline size/length, body copy, imagery and overall colour palette. Each column is one day of February 2011 newspapers. A fascinating study of colour and design elements. I really want to view the colour palette element close up to see what trends emerge! From these images, you can see the more colourful papers are definitely weekend editions. Wouldn’t it be interesting to see this idea applied to a years worth of papers or even notable periods of history?

(images via uw design)

I would love to go to lunch with artist Arthur Buxton as he looks at colour in a truly fascinating way (you may remember my post about his Van Gogh pie graphs.) His newest piece focuses on British Vogue magazine covers from 2001 to 2011. In reverse chronological order, from left to right, each block is a separate cover. Within each block, the strips of color that vary in width, represent the five most common colors proportionally found within that specific issue. The larger bands represent the years, starting in May and moving backwards. (If you’re like me, you will need to read those instructions a couple of times!) While there is the expected influence of skintones, it is interesting to see how similar the colours stay across soft tones, pinks and some fall hues. Even though a variety of colours became popular in each of those years, the covers don’t really deviate from a feminine palette. Other than two issues of blue, there is very little from the yellow, green, blue or purple colour families. I would love to see Arthur use this method in different eras. I imagine the 1960′s are full of vibrant powdery hues, the 1970′s are a blend of warm tones and the 1980′s are bursting with colour and neon. A really fascinating commentary on what colours are used to sell magazines.

New York-based artist Tattfoo Tan created the Nature Matching System, a Pantone-like set of colours that highlight the hues that should be part of your daily nutrition. Extracting the colours of 88 fruits and vegetables, Tattfoo has applied his healthy food swatches to placemats, colouring books and public art pieces. The images above are of a striking mural Tattfoo created in DUMBO, Brooklyn in 2008. I love that Tattfoo’s swatches not only create an attractive colour scheme but bring attention to healthy food choices. For the Brooklyn mural, Tattfoo had children paint each square of colour which undoubtedly sparked fruit and vegetable interest. There are plans to create another mural on the grounds of a Brooklyn school – a brilliant idea and foil to the endless junk food advertisements that children see. The intense colours of fruits and vegetables highlight their naturally occuring phytochemicals and valuable nutrients and I love that Tattfoo’s swatches not only create an attractive palette but inspire healthy, colourful eating. As Tattfoo says, “it’s the idea that colour plays such an important role in nutrition.” I say we throw out the food pyramid and just eat according to colour palette!

(thanks Elisabeth for the inspiration!)

(images via good)

I am always intrigued by Pantone’s Colour of the Year selections. They are almost always great indicators of colour trends ahead. Pantone’s ‘Blue Iris’ in 2008 was an insanely popular colour. I remember sitting in a meeting with seven other people wearing that exact hue! It wasn’t until I saw this image of the last 10 years worth of colour choices together that I realized how many have been similar. The shades selected for 2003, 2005 and 2010 are very alike but understandably so considering the popularity of turquoise-based colours. Pantone’s Colour of 2011, Honeysuckle, is a major departure from what has been selected in the past. It is a bold choice given some people’s automatic feelings about pink-based colours. However it is undeniably captivating and uplifting and I really love its tropical warmth. Hopefully Pantone keeps up the unique, inspiring and outside the box colour selections! (p.s. love this chart made by Pantone. It is interesting to read a little bit about the thoughts behind each choice.)

I love watching the Oscars and especially the Oscar fashion. Among the hundreds of gowns, there always seem to be colour trends that emerge. Last night was no exception as bright red, shades of purple and sparkling metallics took centre stage. While a black dress will always be an elegant Hollywood classic, it was nice to see so much vibrant colour showcased. My favourites colours and gowns on the red carpet were Natalie Portman in fuschia Rodarte, Sandra Bullock in scarlet Vera Wang, Cate Blanchett in lilac Givenchy, Mila Kunis in lavender Elie Saab, Helen Mirren in metallic taupe Vivienne Westwood, Halle Berry in sparkly champagne Marchesa and Hilary Swank in silver ombré Gucci. I loved the mix of lilac and yellow leather pearls and crystals on Cate Blanchett’s high fashion gown. In addition to an unexpectedly gorgeous colour palette, it really stands out as a work of art. What were your favourites?

(images via elle, styleite & just jared)

One of the most vibrant holidays, Valentine’s Day is bursting with bright shades of red and pink. Red is the warmest of all colours. As such, it represents the height of every emotion – extreme anger, violence, passion and in this case, love. As pink is red with white added, it often represents a friendlier and sweeter approach to l-o-v-e. Roses are the traditional Valentine’s gift and what colour roses one is given has been used as a symbol in many plays, movies, books, songs, etc. Red roses are the ultimate symbol of romance and passion. They are an unmistakable symbol of “I love you” so buy them only if you mean it! The price and demand for red roses during Valentine’s Day increases every year – cementing their place as the true symbol of Valentine’s Day. Pink roses have several traditional meanings depending on the shade but overall, they convey gentler emotions than red roses including admiration, joy, grace and gratitude. Whether you are buying flowers or not, Valentine’s Day colours feel full of love and happiness because they are the warmest colours in the spectrum. It is a day full of red and pink eye candy for those who love colour!

(images via pj taylor, alex pinto, mayalee)

Breaking colour news! Pantone released their Fall 2011 Fashion Colour Report today. Twice a year, to complement the start of New York Fashion Week, Pantone releases the colours that will dominate that particular season. I have found it to be very accurate in predicting colour trends across fashion and all areas of design. Honeysuckle, a coral-pink that is Pantone’s Colour of 2011, makes an appearance in this list. Although an unorthodox Autumn hue, I think it will look incredible against the warm colours of Fall leaves.

A description of the palette inspiration from Pantone: “taking cues from the great masters, sepia tones of old Hollywood, Chinese opera, cityscapes and countryside, designers are paying close attention to texture, contrast and color for fall 2011 — pairing menswear with feminine twists, warm prints with cool metals, incorporating both old and new influences, and creating an intriguing balance between colors.

(read the report here)

The colour lavender has always confused me. In fabric, products and furniture, it is almost always a pastel or light shade of violet. In nature, its namesake flower lavender is brilliant royal purple. The description on wikipedia doesn’t clarify much – “a wide range of pale, light, medium, or greyish violet colours, as well as some pale or light pinkish, magenta, or purple colours as well as some pale or light blueish-indigo colours.” That definitely doesn’t help! In any case, it is a beautiful shade in all of its many forms. In particular, lavender fields are stunning expanses of bright purple that must be incredible to see in person.

(images via national geographic, travel vista, charlie waite)

Call me a nerd but I find this chart created by Data Pointed fascinating. It captures the evolution of the number of crayons produced by Crayola over the last 107 years. At the heart of the chart is the original eight created in 1903 while the outer rim showcases how those colour categories grew into 133 crayon colours available today. The only thing missing is the intoxicating smell of opening a fresh box of crayons!

(image via data pointed. click the link to mouseover the crayon names)