Color Palette

Blue (Hex: 0077C8): The Blue of the Saint Lucian Flag that represents sky and sea

Green (Hex: 088004): The green of Saint Lucian trees, representing nature and island living

Yellow (Hex: FFD100): The yellow of the Saint Lucian Flag that represents the sunshine

Brown (Hex: 905F50): The color of my skin, representing my identity and how I am seen in the spaces that I take up. Also a representation of the earth/being grounded

Reflection: 99% Invisible: The Secret Lives of Color

Listen to this podcast: 99percent invisible, The Secret Life of Color and post a 100-200 review of it to your blog.

When we look at colors today and how ubiquitous they are, it doesn’t ever cross our minds how these colors came to be. Yes, the obvious colors we see in nature are a result of evolution and chemical structure of these things, however, we look at paint, print, ink, fabric and other materials that we’ve grown accustomed to and are oblivious to the fact that color had to come from somewhere. 

The 99% Invisible: The Secret Lives of Color podcast episode is an interview with Kassia St. Clair about her book, “The Secret Lives of Colour”. During the interview we find out how much work went into finding color and recreating it for use in everyday life. Insects and shellfish were brought to the edge of extinction to satisfy the crave of the colors they produced. The rarity of some of these colors, like Tyrian Purple, was reserved for royalty, and use of the color outside of that has been punishable. There’s also the idea of how difficult it was to make green, and how one of the methods contained arsenic and thus, poisoned many before the cause of death was discovered. 

As I look at everything around me right now; the red and blue book colors, the glue, yellow, black and white flag that hangs in the corner of my room, the multicolored figures I have on display above my monitor, I can’t help but wonder what went into discovering these colors for my pleasure and how we got from that point to where we are today.