September 2021
The world through kaleidoscope eyes
Fall is in the air here in Canada and new colours are appearing everywhere. From choosing the shades of your new season getup to picking the tones of your latest campaign visuals, the colours we choose say a lot about us. We don’t need experts to tell us why red is sexy, but delving into colour theory can reveal a lot more than we think. Here are a few autumn reads to accompany the autumn leaves.
MUST-READS
Kickin’ it new school
Marty McFly’s version of 2015 wasn’t quite what we ended up with, but the Nike kicks immortalized in 1989’s Back to the Future II weren’t far off. Today’s sneaker makers have kicked (yup) their footwear game up a few notches. From hot pink to neon green, the biggest names in apparel have imbued our cultural landscape with every shade and tone imaginable. Here’s why it’s not just a fun experiment.
And how does blue make you feel?
You’d be hard-pressed to find someone who doesn’t recognize the golden arches on a McDonald’s sign. Or the red and white of Coca-Cola. Line them up side by side with some of the world’s most recognizable logos and you’ll see every colour of the rainbow… and more. Just as important as the name and the catchy slogan are the colours used by the brands we trust. Colour theory has a lot to say about what those shades mean to us.
He sees trees of green, red roses too...
Porfirio Gutierrez sees the world as his colour palette. In the age of synthetics, the Zapotec weaver uses insects, plants, and nature’s multitude of offerings to create his colourful dyes. But for him, it’s more than proving the old school is just as good as the new school. It’s his way of telling stories through colour.
SEIZE THE DAY
BTS with Transitions
The leaves are not the only things changing colours. Here are a few behind-the-scene shots from our recent photoshoot with Transitions.
BY THE NUMBERS
7
It’s the number of colours in the “modern” rainbow. But before Newton came along, it was generally understood that the glorious arc in the sky had only five colours. Some 500 years later, we’ve got a lot more to say about where those two extra colours came from.
EARWORTHY
A different kind of colouring book
Remember when life was simpler in 2015, and all we had to argue about was whether a dress was gold-and-white or black-and-blue? Wired science writer Adam Rogers recently wrote a book titled Full Spectrum: How the Science of Color Made Us Modern. This episode of the 99% Invisible podcast features Rogers explaining how organizing, understanding and creating colours has been one of the driving forces shaping human history, starting with the story of this hotly debated piece of apparel.
