Box of 64

What’s your favorite color? It’s a straight-forward question, right? Ask a little kid and you’ll probably get an answer right away – although it could be the color they are currently using on a project. Or the it may change with the seasons – orange for Halloween, red or green for Christmas, yellow, purple or pink at Easter time. Easy question, easy answer.

So, what’s your favorite color? As adults, we may have a different take on the answer. Perhaps you respond with the colors of your alma mater. In our house that would be Syracuse Orange, Johns Hopkins blue or Bucknell blue and orange. (Nice how that worked out.) I remember when we were doing the college tour with our younger son, visiting several southern schools. We walked into the “Dean Dome” (Dean Smith Center) on the UNC campus, and I stopped in my tracks. Everything was baby blue. I mean everything. They call it Carolina Blue – I’m telling you it is baby blue. The seats, the aisles, the walls… I looked at our son and said – you cannot go here. I can’t deal with that much blue! (Besides, what on earth is a Tar Heel?) He ended up at Syracuse – go Orange!

Many folks identify with team colors, their company colors, or a group they belong to (scouts come to mind.) It was not so long ago that men were expected to only wear white or light blue dress shirts to the office – with skinny red ties or Brooks Brothers rep ties! Dark suits were de rigueur for men and women. My how times have changed.

But colors can become part of our identity. When our company was taking photos for our website, we wanted to do a group photo. The first one we did had all of us in bright colors of every sort. Then, we decided we should to the obligatory “creative black” photo in which we all wore black – top to bottom. (Bare feet appeared in both photos as the only company dress code rule we had was that you had to wear shoes when you met with a client.) I’m not sure how the color black became to be associated with creatives. In the sixties, hippies (then considered the creative force) wore tie dye. Poets sometimes wore black as did modern dancers. (The better to showcase their art?) At some point the all black uniform transferred to creative folks at agencies and then to Silicon Valley (Steve Jobs leading the way.)

One of my favorite things is the Crayola box of 64 crayons with the sharpener built into the side. Heaven! All those wonderful colors and those names (currently)– Bittersweet, Black, Potter orange, Blue Green, Blue Violet, Brick, Brown, Burnt Orange, Burnt Sienna, Cadet Blue, Cerulean, Chestnut, Cornflower, Carnation Pink, Dandelion, Forest Green, Gold, Goldenrod, Grammy Smith Apple, Gray, Green, Green Yellow, Indigo, Lavender, Macaroni and Cheese, Magenta, Mahogany, Mauvelous, Melon, Orange, Orchid, Olive Green, Pacific Blue, Peach, Periwinkle, Pink, Plum, Purple Mountain’s Majesty, Raw Sienna, Red, Red Orange, Red Violet, Robin’s Egg Blue, Salmon, Scarlet, Sea Green, Sepia, Silver, Sky Blue, Spring Green, Tan, Tickle Me Pink, Timberwolf, Tumbleweed, Turquoise, Turquoise Blue, Violet, Violet Red, White, Wild Strawberry, Wisteria, Yellow, Yellow Green, and Yellow Orange. Just reach in and go to town! (At least most of these color names make sense. Have you ever looked at the names of nail polish colors…?)

Designers will tell you that colors affect us in different ways. Every wonder why so many banks have blue in their logos? Blue is the color of trust. Green? Balance. Red – energy and passion. But of course, it also depends on the shade of color, where it’s placed, how it’s used. (hence the 64) A designer friend of mine drives a bright blue sports car. You can both see and hear it coming and it’s perfect for him. Think about the logos we know so well - the red Target bullseye, Starbucks green goddess, Facebook blue, Coke red, Amazon with the yellow “smile” from a to z. Colors have impact whether we realize it or not.

Me? What’s my favorite color? Black. If you look in my closet you will see a dozen pair of black pants and almost as many black shoes. It is my uniform. I can grab a pair of pants and any top in the closet and I’m ready to go. Every color goes with black. Even black goes with black and with grey which is another go-to for me. That’s not to say I don’t appreciate other colors.

In the fall I love the changing color of the leaves. I marvel at how nature uses color to promote and protect the creatures of our world. Not long ago, I was watering the flowers outside my front door and I had a visitor. A spectacular butterfly who stayed long enough for me to capture all its beauty. I may have 64 colors in my box of crayons, but Mother Nature’s palette is infinite. Sky blue, forest green and sea green, peach and melon and orange, cornflower, carnation and dandelion. These names will probably always be part of the box of 64. (I’m not sure about the staying power of Macaroni and Cheese - but we all sure know what that color is!)