I have long been fascinated with the science, history and psychology of colour. It's something that plays a huge part in all our lives. So I thought it would be nice to share my fascination with you! 

I hope you enjoy reading, and if you like what you see, please give it a share. :-)

purple:  "I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don't notice it.”

- Alice walker from her book the colour purple

violet: wavelength: 455–390 (nanometres)

The rarest colour in the natural world, purple is considered to be the colour that walks the line between the physical and the metaphysical worlds, and as such, is given an almost supernatural status.  It has the most powerful wavelength of the visible spectrum, whilst also having some of the most powerful history and evolution.

A brief history of purple

The colour purple is surprisingly rare in the natural world, it's probably fairly safe to say that our ancestors almost certainly would very rarely, if at all, see a purple fruit or flower.

Throughout history, purple has had a very prestigious and high status. As the most valued and valuable of all of the colours, even above gold, it was sort after by the very rich, powerful and royal. Even in the time of Cleopatra, it's said her sails on her ships were of the most beautiful violet! In fact, during the middle ages, it was even punishable by death to be caught with purple fabric unless you were a member of royalty. Its prestige and expense, at least as a dye, probably comes from how hard it was to create.

The dye known as Phoenician purple was created by gathering up thousands of sea creatures called the Spiny Murex, a type of sea mollusc found mostly off the coast of Mexico, but also in parts of the Mediterranean sea and Asiatic sea. The bright colour dye was said to come from the "tears" of this creature as noted by Pliny the Elder, although it comes from the secretions released when the foot of this creature is pressed. The sticky slime is clear until it is exposed to the air, where it turns a vivid violet colour. To make just 1.5g of this exquisite dye, it takes around 13,000 of the tiny creatures. The secretions are wiped onto a cotton skeen and left to dry in the sun before being carefully brushed off to create the pigment. This huge effort, time, and skill all add to the status and intrigue of this beautiful dye.

But by the late nineteenth century, though, the "crying snails" were far too much hard work, as new synthetic dyes were in wide use, which was much cheaper and less time-consuming.
The young, eighteen-year-old chemist, William Henry Perkin, in 1856, was looking to create a synthetic form of quinine, a treatment for malaria, that was only found in the bark of a certain type of South American tree. After his professor had noticed that the after-products left over from the gas lights used at the time, were very similar to quinine, he asked his students to experiment. William got to work adding hydrogen and oxygen to the leftover coal tar. While washing his flasks after the experiment, he noticed a tar-like substance in his flask, which seemed to be the deepest purple colour. After some more research and experimenting, the new synthetic pigment he called "Tyrian Purple" was born, he later changed the name to mauve, after the flower, which proceeded to make William Henry Perkin a rich man!

The fact that purple, or violet in terms of light, is only a few steps away from x-rays and gamma rays makes purple somewhat otherworldly. It's no coincidence that it's often seen as having supernatural symbolism, of mystery, spirituality and the unknown, all of which only adds to its intrigue and allure.

In more recent history, the colour experts, Pantone, dedicated a specific purple hue to the artist, (Known as, formally known as, then later, known as again!) Prince. The colour “Love Symbol #2,” was inspired by his hit song "Purple Rain" and also the shade of purple of his custom-made Yahamha piano. It seems fitting that his legacy, within this spiritual and other-worldly colour, lives on.

The psychology of purple, and using it in business

Purple has long been associated with all things creative and spiritual. It is a popular colour for artists and creatives and is often used within this type of branding. Purple has its obvious and historical associations with power, wealth, luxury, royalty, extravagance and the divine. It's also considered the colour of psychics and the third eye. In the chakra, it's the colour of the crown chakra, associated with intellect and spiritual and divine connections.

Purple is the colour of dreams and intuition. It's widely used by those businesses of an esoteric nature, such as crystal healers, colour therapists, NLP practitioners, hypnotists and similar businesses. It's also a popular colour in the world of divination and tarot and is a colour of love, intimacy and warmth.

Purple is often used in cartoons and children's products, as it is a firm favourite of the young and seems to be down to its playfulness and huge amounts of variations. Purple is also a favourite colour for women. Purple is widely used in products designed and marketed for the female population, however, the reverse is true in men, as it seems to be the least popular colour choice in male marketed products.

Colour can be used to achieve some amazing results for your business. If you would like us to look at your brand, or see how we can use colour to create powerful branding for you, get in touch.

I hope you enjoyed reading. Please look out for our next post in the "Magic Of Colour" series. If you like what you've read here, please feel free to share on social media.

Thanks for taking the time to read our blog. :-)


Shaun Pritchard - Owntwo Creative