Add Color….Add Life
It was beautiful- design wise, it was perfect – size wise. But, a brown dress for a bubbly four year old girl, no way; should find something in a brighter color. And then it started all over again, endless rounds of all counters at the shop to find the right color….and finally managed to get one in bright yellow. But somewhere deep down I still feel the brown one was better.
Later in the day, too tired after my weekend shopping excursion the incident got me thinking. Who decides which color is prefect for whom? Who has stereotyped pink with girls and blue with boys? Is it our loved ones, our own upbringing or conditioning to our environment?
I dwelt on the subject for sometime and realized that when our world is so colorful, who are we to decide, which color is prefect for whom. Although, most of us like to follow the ‘accepted way’ for living our lives, we cannot deny that colors have the power to affect us, mesmerize us – so why not add more colors to our lives. And no, we are not talking about another new age fad like aroma therapy or feng shui. But, as of all of us must have experienced at some point in our lives, colors have the power to make us cheerful or sad, pull us down or make us walk on air.
Transition- over the ages
As kids, a six color crayon set is what we owned; a twelve water color box was a luxury. Today kids demand a twenty four color set as their basic tool. The technological innovation over the ages has resulted in millions of shades from the three basic color- RGB. The earlier pallet of 6 basic colors (Including Black and White) has now increased to 256,000 colors on your computer screens and over 16 million colors in the latest LCD TVs. For me personally, at some point, every shade of color had a name and was not defined by digital percentages.
My own ways of adding colors to my otherwise simple lifestyle are – I have a Red Car, I carry a jazzy red color mobile (Very un-corporatish) and recently added a red handbag to my wardrobe. In our father’s era, a car could not be anything but white. I am unable to understand, how can one drive a white or metallic gray car (no offence meant). Times have changed, if the latest unconventional car colors are anything to go by. So, why not change with time and experiment with different colors.
Culturally- colorful
Seeing is believing. You can find the most amazing colors in Rajasthan (India), from florescent turbans to ghagras in red hues. Similarly, Goa boosts of some traditional houses painted in most un-imaginable colors- green, purple, magenta, orange, pink….. Also, colors have different meaning for different countries and cultures. In India, green represents freshness, while in some parts of the world, freshness is depicted by blue color. A married woman in white is not acceptable in India, while in majority of countries the bride’s wedding dress is of white color. So, who defines….
Just the way we loose our enthusiasm and inquisitiveness when we grow up, we also loose our love for color. This stands true for working men and women. We are by nature conformist to the environment. Why not venture on the path less traveled and see what difference it makes.
Unbelievable Definitions of Colors
Earlier, all colors in the palette had a unique name. Nowadays, some adjectives have been added to define colors. Some examples are
Cheerful and Dull colors, Uni-sex colors, Un-acceptable colors, Safe and Shocking colors, Pantone colors (For printing), Day and Night colors, Joyful and Pastel colors, Soothing and Bright colors, Natural and Synthetic colors, fresh colors ….the list is endless. And, goes on to show how important colors are in our lives
Blues and Blues
The color blue is omnipresent; Most of the corporate logos, themes and websites have a higher percentage of the hue blue, or at least a tinge of blue. A blue color shirt is a must have for a working executive. So why blue the favorite color of corporate houses?
Some famous corporate logos that contain blue are:
IBM, HP, DELL, SAP, GE, Walmart, Citibank, Bank of America, Philips, Samsung, Nokia, American Express, Jet Airlines, Pepsi, Ford, BMW, Honda…the list is endless.
This is what www.about.com says about the color itself.
“Calm and Cool: Blue is calming. It can be strong and steadfast or light and friendly. Almost everyone likes some shade of the color blue.”
Personally I feel, the favorite color of men is blue and as most of the organizations are headed by men their obvious choice is blue. But lately, lots of organizations have started experimenting. IDBI, Coffee Café Day and ICICI are just some of the examples.
So, let’s shun preconceived notions about colors and let colors be exactly what they are… colors. Let it be a matter of choice or what one is comfortable with. You can add color to your life by adding color to your wardrobe, crockery or maybe a red color couch in your home.
Question everything e.g. why we use only white paper? Break free- use orange to send out a resume. Go ahead… have fun.
About the Author
Saima Sharif, a Corporate Communication professional in India can be reached at saima_sharif@hotmail.com
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