The Writer Who Knows Her Colors

Who needs Pantone when you can create your own colors? A multi-talented artist from Los Angeles recently created a color chart that helps her write better.

Ingrid Sundberg knows color. You might find this statement ironic when presented with a picture of Ingrid. Her hair is currently purple. But an out-of-the-box hair color is only the tip of the iceberg. Ingrid Sundberg really knows her colors and she is sharing her knowledge with the world through a color thesaurus.

Arranging and naming 240 unique colors, Ingrid compiled a seemingly comprehensive thesaurus. However, her purpose in completing this strategic art activity was not to publish a reference manual. Her goal has always been to boost her creative writing. With this lexicon of colors before her, she can create descriptive and intriguing work. “I use it all the time when I write. It really helps in revision as I try to make my work fresh and vibrant,” says Ingrid.

Other writers benefit from this thesaurus, too. Those who read and follow Ingrid’s blog, “Ingrid’s notes,” may have known about the color guide. However, Ingrid wants everyone to know it is not official. “This was something I made for myself based on color words I liked and the colors the words evoked for me…” she tells Board Panda. This explains how inventive colors like bumblebee, tiger and penny made the list.

Now that multiple media sources have reported on the color thesaurus, some haters are emerging, claiming the various shades of black are too similar and pointing out how Pantone already created a comprehensive color chart. Unfortunately, these people overlook what motivated Ingrid to create such a chart in the first place. She was never trying to cut corners or appease the world around her; she wanted to create a tool to help her write descriptive and intriguing passages.

Such a color chart does more than enhance her writing; it may add to her visual artwork as well. That’s right—Ingrid publishes novels for young adult readers and illustrates children’s books, too.

Ingrid credits her broad range of artistic talents to a childhood where, living in Maine, she cultivated a vivid imagination. On her journey from being an engaged child to a lifelong learner, Ingrid received a bachelor’s degree in illustration and a master’s degree in screenwriting.

While we do not know if the color thesaurus helps Ingrid bake better (because yes – she bakes too: http://www.ingridcakes.blogspot.com/), she likes its assistance so much that she is making additional color charts: a hair color chart and “emotions/facial expressions thesaurus” are in the works.

It seems that Ingrid has accomplished what she intended. Better yet, she has proven to be a talented creative writer: her first book, All We Left Behind, will be published in 2015.

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An Art Project For Human Kind

Art mimics its creator.

The art project Humanae has a strong identity and global reach, just like its creator. The woman behind the art has a colorful lineage and resilient sense of self.

Angelica Dass is a photographer who set out on a mission to expose the myriad of identities, cultures and skin tones that exist throughout the world. The Humanae project involves her taking a portrait of an individual and extracting an “11 by 11 pixel sample” of the person’s face. She matches the exact shade to Pantone’s elaborate color system. Then, she edits the picture so that this shade becomes the portrait’s backdrop.

When Dass aligns the pictures, she shines a light on what people often forget: no two people are exactly alike. With over 2,000 photographs, Humanae is revealing that two people might share a cultural heritage but are different in many other ways.

Nobody knows this better than the creator, herself. Angelica Dass is number 7522 C on the Pantone color scale. She is Brazilian by blood but her biography sheds light on the texture that weaves this artist together. “[Dass is] the granddaughter of ‘black’ and ‘native’ Brazilians,” an article in the Latin Post reads, “and the daughter of a ‘black’ father raised by ‘white’ adoptive parents.”

It is easy to imagine how such a checkered past raised a few questions in the mind of a young Dass. Her questions propelled her to seek answers in art. Through the Humanae Project, she is “recording and cataloging all possible human skin tones.”

What started as a final project for her Masters degree in Art of Photography has now turned into a global adventure. She is eager to photograph as many people as possible. But this is not necessarily of her personal volition; the project has taken on a mission of its own.

“Humanae has influenced areas, materials, attitudes, knowledge, human meaning, expression, and communication outside of my control,” she tells Latin Post. The purpose of the project has pursued a greater calling than Dass ever intended. The growing collection of 2,000 photographs represents a sense of equality.

The people who are photograph come from all walks of life. Not only are they from different parts of the world, they are of different socioeconomic circumstances and education levels. They speak different languages and have contrasting social norms, too. But these differences are not what appear on camera. The differences viewers see go far deeper, exposing the individual.

With individuality front and center, humanity seems to exist only because of differences. Or, as the creator of Humanae would say, her project is as “global as humanity.”

Read more Segmation blog posts about creative photography:

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Photography: Black and White or in Living Colors

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Pantone’s World of Color

The New Year brings about new trends.

The world looks to midnight on January 1st as the dawn of a new year. Similarly, many people look to Pantone® to announce the year’s hot color trend.

Pantone is the authority on color. Much of the world acknowledges this company as the primary source of information on trending and complimentary color systems. Ironically enough, before deciding on the “Color of the Year”, Pantone surveys the world.

Searching for the Color of the Year

Pantone looks to entertainment, popular travel destinations, art exhibits, new artists, and various socio-economic conditions before choosing the color of the year. They also consider technology, textures, and worldwide sporting events before landing on the exact hue. Once Pantone’s decision is published, it influences fashion, interior design, branding, graphic design, product packaging and more.

Communicating with Color

Individuals and companies wait in anticipation for Pantone to reveal its color of the year. Color is one of the most powerful communication tools. Those who want to be seen and heard are sure to consult Pantone before crafting visual messages.

Pantone’s Color of the Year for 2014

Inspire and be inspired by Pantone’s Color of the Year: Radiant Orchid. Radiant orchid is said to be “…a captivating, magical, enigmatic purple….” In order to have a colorful year, however, it is important to have more than a single color option. This is why Pantone publishes entire color schemes that are appropriate for each season.

10 colors have made the cut for Spring 2014, also known as “A Season of Colorful Equilibrium”.

And for those who want to be perfectly color coordinated in fashion, décor, and more, check out Pantone’s color swatch book 35 Inspirational Color Palettes.

Very few aspects of life are black and white. We live in a colorful world. And Pantone is the global authority on color. See what will be trending next. Stay up to date with Pantone.

Semgation celebrates the world of color and is proud to be the world’s only digital paint by number game. Explore the many shades and patterns we have at Segmation.com.

Read more Segmation blog posts about Historic Artist:

Who Creates Color Trends?

What Color Should You Paint Your Home?

Unconventional Color Schemes in Art

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How Well Do You Know Your Colors?

Have you ever wondered how we go about distinguishing color? Have you ever considered why we call a color by a certain name? The world we live in is saturated with color. All throughout the day our eyes work to distinguish the various hues of color we come in contact with.

The human eye can distinguish over one- million colors. Most of us are familiar with basic color classes,

• Achromatic Color terms: Black, gray, and white
• Primary Color terms: Red, blue and yellow
• Secondary Color terms: Brown, orange, green, and purple

However, these eleven color terms only make up a small percentage of the colors we humans are able to see and identify.  Is there any system we can use to name and organize the million plus colors that don’t automatically fall into the basic color classes?

In the 1930’s and 1940’s the British Color Council attempted to create a structure for naming colors.  What they came up with is viewed by some as slightly confusing.  For example, the British Color Council chose to use terms such as squirrel and bee eater blue to name colors.  What colors come to mind when you read these terms?  Do you think that others would agree with you or do you believe they might interpret the terms differently?

Currently, there exists a more scientific structure of naming colors.  A set of 267 colors exists that are named, or described, using familiar color language.  For example, this scientific method combines words such as, light, grayish and red to create a name for a color that we all might be able to identify easily in our minds.  Yet, a set of 267 color names is still only a small percentage of the colors our eyes can see distinctively.  Is it possible to create a more extensive set of color names that can be collectively agreed upon?

Think about the word you might use instead of light yellowish brown.  Did you come up with words like tan or khaki?

Now consider how you would scientifically define some commonly used color names.  Start with the color name puce.  Does purplish brown work?  What about the color name ocher?  Did you come up with a phrase such as, dark yellow or dark golden yellow?

The process of naming over one million colors seems to be more complicated that it appears.  Visit http://www.colormatters.com and take part in their Global Colors Survey to test you own color naming ability.

Images made available by Marian Kraus Photography Inc.

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