'Madness' and Creativity

In this week's readings, I have been covering some familiar territory. However, I still am trying to understand how Foucault's ideas impact a contemporary audience. For example, if the Panopticon Penitentiary never had a guard and prisoners still thought they were being observed is that a bad thing. There is a balance between self-surveillance and societal surveillance. In order to live free of anarchy, we do a 'deal' with the dominant class. How far are we willing to go? Of course, this is a complicated question with no definitive answer.

Just prior to the beginning of photography, Gericault, at the behest of a Doctor of psychiatry, completed a series of paintings depicting different 'types' of madness. (See image at the left)

As I was doing research on the color 'orange,' I found a contemporary psychiatrist that seems to assert that psychiatrists can identify mental illness by the kind of colors, brush strokes, and content a painter uses (Rao, AJP). It would seem that old habits die hard. While we think that some artists live closer to the edges of the Bell curve of behavior, I am not sure that that justifies a label of 'mental illness.'

Now, we have a whole array of 'medications' that are meant to aleviate mental illnesses. Are we 'aleviating' creativity as well? It seems that we endow the contemorary psychiatrist with a great deal of power to deter or determine in this instance.

Rao, Anjali and Matcheri S. Keshavan, "Can Psychaitrists Recognize Mental Illness in Paintings?" American Journal of Psychiatry 143, no. 4 (April 2006):599-600.

Group Colors

Chris and I both took a number of on-line color analysis tests. I likened the tests to a color horoscope. Some tests were meant to be general; some tests were meant to sell you something, and some were redundant. However, I thought some aspects of the tests were useful for providing a sense of introspection.

Chris's test results indicated that he has a 'purple' personality. When I looked at the 'purple' personality my source indicated that, "talent comes easily but 'purples' may lean too heavily on endowment and not enough on endurance. They have great philosophical powers and are tolerant" (Birren 41). He agreed with some aspects of the results and not others as did I. On the other hand, my test indicated that I have a 'white' personality. At first, I had negative associations with this because I think of the world in shades of gray not 'pure' white. However, I realized that in this context 'white' indicated a person who is primarily a 'peacemaker'. That is a pretty accurate assessment of my overall outlook. Chris and I found common ground in our color associations. I think we are different but that that contrast will work well together. We will be able to employ our different strengths and augment each others weaknesses. That sounds like something a 'peacemaker' would say ... hmmmm. Despite having been burned in past 'group' projects, I think this will be a productive association.

However, I don't think that these color tests are a reliable predictor of human behavior. Furthermore, I think the designers of the tests, in some instances, have an ulterior motive. For example, the Pratt and Lambert test site was created essentially to sell you paint. Additionally, there are cultural values that are associated with different colors that these sites do not address. For example, both purple and white are associated with death in cultures other than that of middle-America.

Work cited: Birren, Faber. Color in Your World. London:New York, Collier MacMillan Publishers. 1974. 41.

What do pictures have to say about color?

Memory needs color in order to be vivid (Mirzoeff 83). Nan Goldin, a photographer, said that she was relying on her photographs of her family and friends to keep her memory of them alive. Goldin's skill as a photographer lies in part in finding the intense colors in everyday lives that might otherwise be depicted in the grainy black-and-white style favored by most other documentary photographers (Mirzoeff 83).

This photo Vivienne in the green dress, New York, 1980, places Goldin's places her subject against a green wall, finding color contrasts in a red watch and blue radio to provide a lesson in the effects of complementary color (Mirzoeff 83).

While this example is not directly related to Horton's article on color for the web, I think it is instructive. Goldin seems to adhere to Horton's eight uses of color in her photograph (Horton 167). Perhaps, Horton's advice is applicable to more than web design.

Those eight uses of color are:

1. To direct attention
2. To speed search
3. To aid recognition
4. To show organization
5. To rate or quantify
6. To represent color itself
7. To attract and please users
8. To arouse an emotion

Works Cited: Mirzoeff, Nicholas. "The Age of Photography," In An Introduction to Visual Culture. London: Routledge, 1999. 65-90.
Horton, William K. "Color in Icons," In The Icon Book. 1994. 167.

What is wrong with this picture? The answer depends on when you asked. Until the 1950's stop signs were yellow and black. (source)

Yet, before that the answer was different. In 1915, the stop sign was black and white and not octagonal. In the 1920's, studies conducted by government safety commissions (Aikins 442) determined that black and yellow was a particularly strong color combination. {The natural world would seem to confirm this assessment, especially to anyone stung by a bumble bee or yellow jacket.}

As more research was conducted, red became 'the new yellow' at least for the color of the stop sign. Although people who have red/green blindness may be at a disadvantage, the color red remains a symbol of danger and power. The octagonal shape of the stop sign is meant to help alleviate this problem. Also, most electric traffic signals have red on top, then yellow, then green, to help people who are color blind as well.

What would a local road commissioner do if Stop Sign Red were to be co-opted by Coca Cola and the executives said they owned the color. It is difficult, but certainly not impossible, to imagine the legal chaos that would surround that issue. However, there seems to be plenty of litigation to go around. Pepsi has tried to co-opt a specific hue of blue (and so far failed) but D.A.P. (a company that makes caulking materials) has managed to get their red bucket legally branded. Why one and not the other? Well, maybe one company had lawyers that were better at rhetoric or perhaps one judge didn't like Pepsi products. I'm a Coca Cola gal myself. Either way the importance of color to corporate branding is big business.

Where does the 'little' guy fit into this picture? All this business is created to get us to buy into a brand or ideology of some sort. From the movie screen, to the small screen, to the closet rack we are bombarded by color decisions every day. I think about this every morning when I choose what to wear for the day. I used to love florals and patterns that reminded me of nature. Now that I have more responsibilities and less time to contemplate what to wear, I go for solids, usually black and one other color. I do this to streamline my decision making about the 'small' stuff. It makes doing laundry, shopping, and morning chaos go very smoothly so I can focus on the things that matter more to me like color theory. Is that ironic or what?

Work cited: Aikins, H. Austin. "Confusing Traffic Signals." Jstor, ISU Milner Library Download .pdf. April 1925: 442-444. (accessed 2/13/2010)

Corporate Color

How do you choose a color scheme? First, you have to ask yourself (or a client) what message they are trying to convey. Are you trying to get attention? Are you trying to agitate? Are you trying to be harmonious? There are many questions to ask prior to picking a color scheme no matter what domain you are addressing.

After you have asked and answered these questions, you may choose to experiment with different hues, values, and intensities to achieve the affect you are seeking. For example, if you are trying to agitate an audience, you may wish to use the complementary colors of red and green. When placed next to each other, these two colors interact visually to create an almost vibrational quality. If, on the other hand, you want to created a sense of calm, an analogous color scheme is the blue/green range may prove effective.

The key to a successful application of color is thought, experimentation, and research. Research your target audience's likes, dislikes, and trends.

I found some information from another source that I thought was useful and would like to share.

COLOR TERMS THAT YOU NEED TO KNOW & UTILIZE

Every color available to us without any varition are called natural hues. Each of these natural hues can have a variation in tint, shade, or tone. The way that these variations come about are by combining natural hues with black, white, and all the grays in between. Even though many of you probably use the following terms on a regular basis, some of you might not know exactly what they mean or how they can help you in your website design.

HUE:

A hue is a pure color with no black or white added. A hue is the feature of a color that allows it to be identified as the color that it is, for example red, blue, yellow, green, purple, etc.

PURE HUE (NATURAL HUE):

A pure hue is the base color at its full intensity level, in other words, no shading, tinting, or tones have been added to the color yet.

SHADES:

Shades are the relative darkness of a color. You create a shade of a color by darkening the pure hue with black.

TINTS:

Tints are the relative lightness of a color. You create a tint of a color by lightening the pure hue with white.

INTENSITY (Also Known as SATURATION or CHROMATICITY)

Intensity describes the identifiable hue component of a color. A blue with RGB numbers Red - 0, Green - 255, and Blue - 0 (0,255,0) is considered 100% saturated and is intense, high in chromaticity, and completely saturated. A gray color has no hue and is considered achromatic with 0% saturation.

In the picture above, the colors are at 100% saturation
at the circle’s edges and get less intense (saturated) as
the colors get closer to the center of the circle.

TONE:

A tone is a hue that has had grey added to it. A tone can also be a hue with a large percentage of its complementary color added.

VALUE / LUMINANCE:

Basically, value is a a measurement of how close to black or white a given color is. In other words, value is a measurement of how much light is being reflected from a hue. Those hues with a high content of white have a higher luminance or value. If you look at the color wheel below, you will see that this whell is full of different color values. The outer band is the natural hue meaning that it is the original color. The 2nd band is a tint of the original hue and has a higher content of white or luminance than the original hue. The inner bands are shaded versions of the natural hue and are closer to black than the original hue.

AN EXAMPLE OF OUR COLOR THEORY PUT INTO USE:

Inspiration by candlelight

Typography Video Link
As I was trying to decide what poem or song to re-design with expressive typographic principles, I read, with fresh eyes, some of my favorite poems.

One about Goya's (Goya - b. March 30, 1746, Fuendetodos, Spain--d. April 16, 1828, Bordeaux, Fr.) candle hat, is a favorite of mine. The unusual hat was an invention of Goya's that consisted of a hat with a special brim that had candle holders attached to it. He placed lit candles on the hat's brim so he could see to paint after dark.

Today, I began looking for typographic sources of inspiration and came across a video. I was not able to embed the video in this format, but you can link to the video above. I think it is worth your time. It was an illuminating experience. {Gratuitous groans are expected.}

Candlelight gutters and provides contrast to a room in a way no steady electric light can. In this way candlelight is like typography, "the idea behind contrast is to avoid elements on the page that are merely similar.... Contrast is often the most important visual attraction on a page-it's what makes a reader look at the page in the first place" (Course Source material ISU Eng. 350).

Candlelight flickers in a repetitive way that can be almost hypnotic; thus, providing a meditative state to a engaged participant. With type you can "repeat visual elements of the design throughout the piece. You can repeat colors, shapes, textures, spatial relationships, line thicknesses, fonts, sizes, graphic concepts, etc. This develops the organization and strengthens the unity" much as Goya did in figurative paintings (Course Source material ISU Eng. 350).

Candlelight enabled Goya to see more clearly. "Nothing should be placed on the page arbitrarily. every element should have some visual connection with another element on the page" (Course Source material ISU Eng. 350). In type, this is the principle of alignment; for Goya, it was careful use of space.

Candlelight is composed of flame, wick, and wax. Goya used this light to create a composition on canvas. In type, "items relating to each other should be grouped close together. When several items are in close proximity to each other, they become one visual unit rather than several separate units. This helps organize information, reduces clutter, and gives the reader a clear structure"(Course Source material ISU Eng. 350).

It would seem that painters and typographers share a similar goal --the attempt to arrest a viewer's attention. An artist tries to get someone within proximity to align with their work in order to create a contrasting view that will repeat in the viewer's mind.