Purple and Radiant Orchid, Color of the Year [DYOB Color Series]

Image credits: top left, top middle, top right, lower left, bottom right

Purple

Pantone’s Color of the Year for 2014 is Radiant Orchid so I thought it would be appropriate to cover Orchid and Purple before we got too far into the year!

Ahhhh Purple. The color of creatives, mystics, royals and little girls.

Purple elicits mystery, spirituality and sophistication. Eccentric and creative types tend to favor this blend of warm red and cool blue.

Associations with Purple

Purple is a mystical color that conveys creativity, imagination, spirituality and magic because they say that it is rarely found in nature. I don’t know how true that is though: What about orchids, irises and post-sunset skies?? But I digress…

Purple is also the color of nobility as it symbolizes wealth, extravagance, luxury and ambition. It’s associated with wisdom and independence.

It’s a feminine color preferred by adolescent girls, but purple can also be used as a color of mourning as it can be sad and gloomy.

Color of the Year

Pantone’s Color of the Year 2014 – Radiant Orchid

According to their website, Pantone is the “world-renowned authority on color and provider of color systems… The PANTONE^© name is known worldwide as the standard language for color communication from designer to manufacturer to retailer to customer.”

This is how Pantone describes Radiant Orchid: “An enchanting harmony of fuchsia, purple and pink undertones, Radiant Orchid inspires confidence and emanates great joy, love and health. It is a captivating purple, one that draws you in with its beguiling charm.”

The reason Radiant Orchid was chosen as this year’s color is because, as mentioned previously, it encourages creativity and originality, traits that are more and more becoming valued in today’s hand made, DIY society.

The Affect of Purple on Age and Gender

Purple is the second favorite color of women as 23% of women favor it. But as you would expect, only 22% of men find it to be their least favorite color.

Among children however, it’s not just females that prefer the vibrancy of purple: Almost 75% of pre-adolescent kids prefer the color to all other colors. Now that I know that, I won’t be so amused when my 2 year old son keeps asking for the purple crayon. 😉 Seriously, he does!

Tints + Shades of Purple and What They Usually Mean

Lighter purples like lilac or lavender are soft, flirty and feminine. They bring about romantic, sentimental and nostalgic feelings. They also give a feeling of peace, trust and serenity.

mayflourconfections.com – lilac is soft and feminine

Goop.com – the light purples in Gwyneth Paltrow’s blog are comforting + peaceful

Bright purples are ideal for promoting children’s products.

Babies R Us uses bright purple to emphasize it’s children’s products

Dark purples create a sense of power and mystery. Sometimes they even cause frustration. They are heavier and moody and can feel uneasy. This is why you’ll see it used in a lot of Halloween decorating.

Reddish purples are warmer and have more energy than bluer purples, which are calming.

Pairing Purple with Other Colors

Because purple is bold and inspiring, it can invogorate most color palettes. Here’s how it combines with other colors:

Purple with blue evokes a spiritual and/or new-agey feeling…

brigittemars.com – Purple and blues are mystical or spiritual

…this combination feels serene, as does purple with light greens.

myinnocentia.com – purple and lighter greens are serene

Olives and hunter greens compliment purple and give it a more earthy feel.

Saffronavenue.com mood board shows that purples with olive greens are earthy

Purple and bright yellow or orange create a combo that emits energy and flair, even luxury. But light yellows and light to medium purples can be very pretty.

The orange in womantowomangyn.com brings energy to the serene purple and blue palette

Pair different shades of purple with white or black for contrast. Purple with white is clean and modern…

lovelyheroku.com shows that purple and white can be clean and crisp

…while purple with black is moody or mysterious.

Dark purple and black in Cavera.ca appears dark and mysterious

Combined with red, purple becomes seductive, and combined with pink, it becomes girly and playful.

Kylaisinspired.com shows that purple and red can be seductive yet girly

sewbon.com’s soft purple and pink scheme is girly and sweet

Purple can also be used to wake up neutral palettes with beige and gray.

Mood board by imbreannarose.com shows how purple can liven up a neutral palette

Should You Use Purple in Your Blog?

I wouldn’t normally recommend purple for a business color scheme, unless it’s a creative business or you’re trying to draw a young or modern audience.

That said, light purple is a great choice for a feminine design! It’s an ideal color to use when you’re wanting to attract female customers because it’s feminine, but not as blatantly girly as pink! Try it out with some of the combinations above depending on the mood and audience you’re going for.

If you’re looking to redesign this year, stay trendy with the beautiful Radiant Orchid and try out one of these suggested color combos:

Pantone’s color picks for spring 2014 show what colors to combine with purple.

Your Turn

So what do you think? Would you use a purple hue in your own blog design? If you’re currently using it now, please leave a link in your comment so we can go check it out!