The Royal Color Called Purple
For centuries, the relationship of the color purple has had close ties with royalty because it was one of the few more expensive dyes that elite people throughout history could afford. However, there are several different tints and pigments of purple that tend to be associated with a variety of things around the world. Not only does the history of discovery and the naming of this royal color provide us with some idea of the importance of the color purple, but it also demonstrates what it meant to people during the timeframe it was discovered. This color has a rich and vibrant variety of pigments that make purple fitting for the title of royalty. For me, color has always been part of my favorite color schemes. Having light blue, orange, and purple together has always brought a whimsical feeling to any project I have worked on. Using different pigments, tints, and shades helps make any type of purple work and complement almost any color. However, when it comes to branding with this color, there can be mixed feelings with mixed meanings depending on the culture, gender, even your social status. As this vibrant color has grown in popularity and increased access for every walk of people, this color can be integrated into almost anything if used carefully.
The history of purple can not be told without bringing up the origin and meaning behind the word. If you look at Greek mythology, it was Hercules’ dog that discovered the color, after picking up a murex snail from the beach and developing purple drool. While that’s not exactly what happened, the origin of purple comes from the Tyrian purple dye manufactured in classical antiquity from mucus secreted by the spiny dye-murex snail. However, the first recorded use of the word purple dates to the late 900s AD (Foskett, Hannah). The English word for purple can go back to the greek word, porphura, which technically means a purple fish or a fabric colored with purple dye depending on the context of its use (Strongs's #4209: porphura - Greek/Hebrew Definitions - Bible Tools). As for the other tint and shades of purple, like lavender or violet, the names originated from the flowers of the same names, which are also considered rare delicate, and precious flowers in nature (Bourn, Jennifer). While the discovery of purple around Roman times plays a big part in the naming of this color, it also helps that from the beginning, the history of purple has changed the way it is viewed.
For most of the early years of earth, in many cultures purple wasn’t a well-known color. It was a rarity in nature, so most of our history of purple demonstrates that only the rich and powerful classes of Rome, Egypt, and Persia were using it to dye their fabrics for clothing, furniture, and sometimes for entire rooms. In the “Byzantine Empire, the empress’ gave birth in the ‘Purple Chamber’ and honorable emperors were ‘born to the purple’ as a way to separate them from those who won or seized their title.” (Foskett, Hannah). These rooms were traditionally designed for members of royal families born during the reign of their parents. This was later changed to include all children born of prominent or high-ranking parents. This color dye was known as the Tyrian purple dye that was manufactured from mucus secreted by the spiny dye-murex snail. After many years, the dye became more available to the general public to use and the laws about wearing it disappeared for the lower class society. It wasn’t until the 1850s that an 18-year-old English chemist, William Henry Perkin, accidentally created a synthetic purple compound while attempting to synthesize quinine, an anti-malaria drug. He later patented the dye and manufactured it under the names aniline purple and Tyrian purple (Barbieri, Annalisa). Not only was the dye used in clothing, but it was also used in most paintings of nobility around the time of its discovery. Specifically “Purple first appeared in prehistoric art during the Neolithic era. The artists of Pech Merle cave and other Neolithic sites in France used sticks of manganese and hematite powder to draw and paint animals and the outlines of their own hands on the walls of their caves.” according to art historians (Purple in History and Art). While most consider Tyrian purple to be the more traditional pigment of purple, however, it seems to have varied from a reddish to a bluish-purple and the variety of different amounts of blue and red would change depending on what side of the world would produce the dye. Roman writer Vitruvius stated that the murex coming from northern waters would produce a more bluish color compared to those of the south waters (Purple in History and Art). Knowing the history of the discovery of purple has helped in many ways to have it associated with the feeling of wealth and power because as a rare dye, few could afford this luxury around its time of discovery.
For purple, even though it is known as the royal color, it is only a secondary color on the color wheel. For a solid purple, mixing blue and red equality is all you need. The relationship of these two colors mixed to make purple can make a difference in someone's palette depending on the amount of both colors someone would add in. For example, red tends to be more of a warm tint, so having more red when making purple can bring a more warm feeling to a palette that might need that contrast. If someone is wanting to make something pop while using purple, colors like yellow and brown work well together to bring in more of the warm tints that appear in purple. Since purple is a mix of both red and blue, it also has an excellent ability to work well with cool types of colors as well. (Chagall, Marc). When purple is placed together with green it can make a big difference to the mood of a room of a brand color scheme. There is even a color scheme called Aubergine that is a great example of mixing the different tints of green and purple to make anything pop. On top of that, when adding blue to the combination of purple and green will showcase a cool palette that is easy on the eyes, and deeply relaxing for any brand looking to bring some calm and coolness to their business. There are plenty of combinations of the traditional purple palette that can work for any type of branding that someone could be looking for. However, changing the pigment of the purple can accent specific designs. When making a more lavender-type purple, it can be helpful to have some more shades of blues. This can help to provide a more abstract type of feeling to the color palette needed (“Mastering Color Series”). Whatever the color used with the palette, there’s no doubt that purple would end up being the dominant color because of its wide variety of pigments.
The pigments of purple, like violet and magenta, have some history behind how they were found and made for the general public to use in their dyes similar to Tyrian purple. For violet, there are quite a few different varieties of this pigment that are made from chemicals and formulas. Cobalt violet was the first modern synthetic color in the purple family manufactured in 1859. It was created along with cobalt blue, by Claude Monet, Paul Signac, and Georges Seurat. It is a formula made from solutions of cobalt and phosphate salts. However, the original formula from this pigment is a highly toxic compound and hard to afford, so it is now rarely used. Instead, most current cobalt violets are nontoxic and are made from either cobalt phosphate or cobalt ammonium phosphate (“Cobalt violet”). While the name violet came from the flower of the same name, magenta had more of a depressing origin to the name. Magenta is a color that is purplish-red, reddish-purple, or mauvish-crimson. At first, magenta was originally called fuchsine and was made and patented in 1859 by the French chemist François-Emmanuel Verguin. However, the name was changed to magenta after the Italian-French victory at the Battle of Magenta which was fought between the French and Austrians on June 4, 1859, near the Italian town of Magenta in Lombardy (“Magenta, when history becomes color”). The history of magenta just adds to the dramatics that purple already has with the history of royalty cemented into how people view this color.
While most of the cultural significance of the color purple is related to its origin of royalty like in western culture, Africa, and some places in Asia, it changes more from place to place. Western culture relates it to fame and high society. In Africa, it is used more to highlight and emphasize wealth and royalty (Shutterstock). However, the relation to royalty isn’t the case everywhere. For example, in many places in Asia, like Thailand, purple has a completely different meaning. It is meant for mourning and death. “Thai widows wear purple, as do devout Catholic mourners in Brazil. Italy also strongly associates purple with funerals. Therefore, Italians consider wrapping a gift in purple paper poor taste, and brides avoid the color when planning their big day. It’s even considered bad luck to wear purple to an Italian opera.” (Shutterstock). In Thailand, every day has a lucky color and purple is the color of the day for Saturday. It is the color of Shani, the Hindu god of justice, however, wearing it on Thursdays is considered bad. The color is also often linked to bisexuality, due in large part to the bisexual pride flag which is combined with pink, a representative of homosexuality, while blue suggesting heterosexuality (Wilber, Jennifer). The list of meanings and uses for purple around the world can switch from good to bad depending on the culture you’re in and when you wear it. Regardless of its meaning, it still manages to be a stand-out color for any palette.
For the branding of purple, most companies seem to stay away from it. This is because purple isn’t well-received visually for men as much as it is for women. A study from Newcastle University in England stated that most born-females prefer more reddish blues and like different shades of purple compared to just plain blue or red (Swaminathan, Nikhil). This could be caused by the gender binary that most cultures have lived with. However, there are plenty of examples of branding using purple regardless of what gender it’s marketed toward. The Yahoo logo for example is a light purple-like lavender type that has been in use since the beginning of the blog and news website in 1994. The color chosen for this website logo was originally vastly different. When the website first started, co-founder Jerry Yang sent out David Filoto to get grey paint to paint the yahoo office, but once on the walls, it ended up drying lavender (Vega, Nick). The decision to keep this accidental purple palette promoted the direction of the founders. Yahoo! called its logo “whimsical, yet sophisticated. Modern and fresh, with a nod to our history. Having a human touch, personal. Proud.”(Barrell, Jen). They ended up sticking with this color scheme and since 1994, it has been a well-known color regardless of the study shown above. Another company using not only the color purple for branding but also the name and the origin of purple with royalty is Purple Mattresses. Using the color purple as a name and as the color scheme for their logo, they have noted that they want to make a clear connection with the production of making mattresses to the theme of royalty because they desire to make the customer feel like royalty whenever they use the product (Barrell, Jen). Overall these techniques have worked well for these companies regardless of the gender division it could have because they manage to pick the color that can be easily connected to their product or company.
The discussion of the psychology of using purple has been well researched throughout the years. The examples regarding gender identity and the impact purple can have when looked at through the eyes of culture have been noted in previous paragraphs, however, there are more details to the psychology of this color. Purple can have multiple meanings within psychology depending on how it is to be used. For example, studies have shown that wearing purple can change the way people look or judge someone. “Wearing a purple or violet color probably speaks of an inner-minded person, and self-satisfaction prevails. They are not too interested in what others think when it comes to clothing or fashion.” stated by Arshpreet on Newshare.com. They go on to say that “Wearing a violet color may indicate that someone wants to stand out, perhaps attract attention. Wearing purple would mean a more reserved person with a desire to express themselves.” (Arshpreet). In addition to the feeling wearing purple can give off, people often describe it as mysterious, spiritual, and imaginative when used, because of the rarity in nature that it is (Cherry, Kendra). Some more positive psychology of purple can be bravery or independence, due to the association with the Purple Heart that is awarded to members of the armed forces who are injured in the line of duty (Smith, Kate). However, some negative feelings can be in someone's mind with the color purple. Using purple could be seen as unstable or off-putting because of its non-traditional color and its relation to royalty and it can be seen as arrogance and condescension in a professional setting (Smith, Kate). With the use and feeling it can bring people, purple is still considered a stand-out color whether you use it in your clothing palette or for branding purposes.
The image of wealth and royalty has been implanted into people’s minds through the years. Branding, word meanings, and even the feeling of using purple in everyday life reflect this. Through the history and development of purple dye, purple has been a symbol of wealth and helped people to stand out. The restrictions and roadblock against lower-class people being able to use this color is evident around the time it was discovered. For every color, it’s important to understand and know where it originated to better use it in the branding and development of a project. In addition, the meaning and feelings people have whenever they see that color can directly impact how the product or project is viewed. That feeling can change depending on the cultural impact that someone might have grown up with or through overall use in branding. The royal color of purple can be a strong asset in almost any color palette. No matter the use of purple through branding, history, cultural impact, and psychology, it is important to acknowledge all aspects and outcomes that purple has on someone whether for graphic design, typography, and even for the many uses in multimedia.