color

there are few things that will stop me dead in my tracks. things like starbucks (at any time, any place) or ellen lupton encounters on campus. and, most recently, pantone color presentations.

so far this semester has been a lot of color. josef albers color relativity experiments and the color wheel in elements. grids of endless squares (hue, hue + 1 part white, hue + 2 parts, hue + grey, hue +black, hue + complement, compliment, etc.) with oil paint. movies like "the cook, the thief, his wife, & her lover" and ambitious undertakings for assignments (10 colors x 10 objects = 100 things to lug to class) in drawing. it's been some good stuff. but not one mention of cmyk or rgb or pantone colors (color aid is not the same thing.) my graphic design side has loved all of the anal color analyzing, but part of me is still left unfulfilled.

so i was so geeked when i walked into the enoch pratt library tonight to de-install the a neighborhood called baltimore exhibition, and found a huge sign stands before me reading: pantone goe system presentation, 3rd floor.

i froze. and started asking random people around me... what is this? are you going to this? can i go to this? feeling spontaneous, i took myself right on up there, wrote up my own name tag, and grabbed a seat in a room full of professional designers and printers. always a good time.

the presentation consisted of three parts: psychological reactions to color, color trends, and promotion for the new pantone goe system. i learned some new things. like, in 90 seconds 60% of your acceptance or rejection of an object, a person, or an environment is determined by color? color is such a powerful, universal medium.


i came back home and had to do some sprucing in the hall. putting those hp tests to good use. it totally changes the feel of the space. and tara and i can pretend we're in a design studio.