Naming Colors: An Exercise in Perspective

For centuries, artists have explored, used, and attempted to understand colors. Abandoning the belief that shadows were purely brown or black, the Impressionists incorporated other colors, such as blues and purples to depict shadow. Artists like Rothko pushed the meaning of color further, painting giant squares of stained colors. 

In this creative exercise, we will seek to understand colors in a new way, by naming random colors based on our own experiences and perspectives. 

Let’s begin by going to this link: http://colormind.io/ 

This link will take you to Colormind, a random color generator. Press the generate button to the left to generate a new random color palette. When you find one with colors you find interesting or striking, keep it by taking a screenshot, leaving the tab open separately, or printing it out. 

Look deeply at each color, and using your creativity, try to come up with a unique name for it based on how you feel, or what it reminds you of. Try to steer away from anything too cliche or explanatory. For example, if you are looking at a blue, instead of simply naming it “sky blue”, ask yourself: how does this shade of blue make me feel? Does it feel calming? Perhaps it reminds you of how the sky looks in the morning. Combine the two attributes together, and you have Calm Morning– a much more unique and creative name than the stereotypical Sky Blue. 

When you’ve settled on a name, write it down (if you’ve printed your color palette out, write next to the color block!). Reflect on how the colors made you feel, or what you associated them with. Everyone has a different life experience/perspective, so the same color may strike two distinct feelings with two different people. If you’re feeling particularly creative, try using these color names in a work of poetry, or other modes of creative writing! This exercise is also great to do in a group– simply have all members of the group come up with their own color names based on the same palette, and compare at the end to learn new perspectives.

Here’s an example exercise we’ve done for inspiration:

(From Left to Right)

Mrs. Levy’s Garden: I chose to name this purple after an old neighbor of mine, Mrs. Levy whose entire garden was a giant patch of lavender. This shade of purple reminded me of her lavender garden. 

Lonely Carpet: This one was fun to think of. When I was a child, my parents let me choose the color of the carpet that would go into my room. I chose a very similar blue to this one, but grew tired of it as I got older. When we eventually did redid my room later, we put in a new carpet, and now my old blue carpet sits in a roll in the garage, alone. 

Compromise Pink: This pink reminded me of one of the prettiest dresses I had ever seen. However, while I absolutely loved the design of the dress, I wasn’t the biggest fan of the color, which resembled this pink. This pink reminded me of a compromise I had to make. 

Animal Cracker: I named this tan color after one of my favorite childhood snacks: the animal cracker. Despite being more self-explanatory, this name steers clear from cliches, offering a more personalized take on a light tan color. 

Cherry Water Ice: Again, I think it’s very natural to associate colors with the visual presentation of some foods. This red was practically spot on with the color I associate with cherry water ice, another childhood favorite food of mine.