Do we really like Ultra Violet?

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It is now known, it's the Ultra Violet (18-3838) the color of the year for 2018 decreed by the US company Pantone.

Ultra violet is described as a dramatically provocative and reflective color. A color that communicates originality and ingenuity, linked to a visionary thought capable of projecting us into the future.

 

It is a purple nuance on a blue base, which recalls the enigmas of the cosmos, the fascinating mystery of the unknown and all that awaits us. A complex and contemplative tone able to show us the road to the future.

Historically, violet, which is obtained from the red and blue mixture, is both an earthy and spiritual color. It is rich in contrasts. Jung in 1980 described it as a color “between the human and the divine, the union of two natures”. It’s generated by the carnality and the passion of red and by the calm and the spirituality of the blue.

 

Violet is therefore a conjunction of opposites that leads to a transformation. It is extremity and border. It is no coincidence that the violet is located right at the end of the color spectrum, where beyond is another world, the range of UV (not perceptible by the human eye), then the world of the invisible, of the no longer perceptible by senses. Here is the visionary thinking that motivated Pantone’s choices, a true institution for what concerns the world of color.

 

Every creative can not but know the expectation that has been generated for some years (from 2000 to be precise) around the proclamation of the color of the year, which will somehow influence and appear in the creative fashion, beauty and design sectors.

 

The choice that Pantone Color Institute does is not casual, but is the result of a careful analysis of the company, from a cultural, technological, food, style and political point of view. The color that is finally chosen is the visual expression of a collective feeling.

(photo credits: pinterest.com)
(photo credits: pinterest.com)

What about the Ultra Violet applied to the world of product and interior design? We really like the Pantone of the year? Personally I find it a strong color, protagonist. I like the allure of contrast and mystery that characterizes it. I like the poetics that distinguishes it. It is its application, however, that it doesn’t convince me.

 

I do not deny that there are some contexts in which I appreciate it but, in general, it is not a color with a great appeal. It is not a shade that I would insert in my projects.

(photo credits: pinterest.com)
(photo credits: pinterest.com)

Too little sober for my taste, sometimes heavy and cloying and not even particularly suited to those contrasting touches that I like to see in design.

 

A color that certainly does not go unnoticed, but not suitable for the world of interior design and product design. For fashion and beauty is different, because in these fields the nuance can be applied with different dynamics, more transient and playful. As regards the house, an environment generally thought to last more than one season, the Ultra Violet is undoubtedly a color that tends to tire.

(photo credits: pinterest.com)

If you liked this article, you may also be interested in:

> Color palette: rose and green

> Green Interior

> Color palette: white and brown

> Beige for the interior

What do you think about it? Do you like the Ultra Violet or are you indecisive? Did not you really like it? Let me know in the comments.

 

(photo credits cover: James Turrel)

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