रंग. Colour. Couleur. Farbe. Michezo. رنگ
RGB
In approaching as fundamental a facet of human experience and cognition as colour, one can only bring to it and take away one's own subjectivity and relativity. As a pragmatist, the logic of colour is critical. Primary colours - red, green and blue - are the bases from which all other colours are derived and defined; these give rise to the verdant world as we know it. In popular semantics, red denotes strength and power. Blue is life and creation. Green, with its many associated connotations, is nature and humanity.
The rainbow appears, often after a rain shower, in proud assertion. Neutrals pose a different set of reasoning and reality in a manner similar to pastels. These are, nevertheless, all part of the same palette of signs, symbols and sense making. Hue and saturation are also a combined artistic ploy. Every community, culture and, indeed, nation holds a deep connection and identity to a set of colours as do artists and as does the creative sensibility. The brand image is also borne out of a colour. "The pale purple even / Melts around thy flight; / Like a star of Heaven, / In the broad day-light"
The modern sensibility
In analysing the design perception, a Greek metaphor comes to mind - the Ionic pillar. Now manifest in sundry makeovers and variations, this design convention can be seen as a definitive example of creative potential. In its finest form, the pillar supports and gives meaning to colour. Similar pillars can be seen strewn around Kathmandu across Durbar squares, homes and public buildings but the Nepali interpretation and innovation is distinctive and rare. The Ionic pillar is predominantly white in colour.
The modern design sensibility has evolved, in both mode and medium, through colour and an understanding of its importance and use in every foundational aspect of modern life. The pillar then is colour and colour itself a design principle. Modern design is indispensable due, in part, to the functional and associative values of colour. Eclectic and sparse, modern design has delinked colour from abundance and bounty and put in place an egalitarian axis in which ‘less is more’.
The Renaissance
A single spark of inspiration and resurgence may not have caused a renaissance but the values of ingenuity and culture, intrinsic in any salient society, re-emerges at important junctures to re-envision and rebuild the world. As in the world of art, design and creativity seek and find a recurrently beating rhythm as expression and, often, as remembrance. A herald of renaissance ideals can be found in all corners of the world while particular symbols are replenished via individual voices and a universal language of creativity. Rediscovery, by nature, is aided and abetted by popular culture and evolving social mores which find both form and fruition in its palette.
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