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Monda 02.22.16 The Propaganda of Pantone: Posted  Kevin Lo Comments: 27 Colour and ucultural ulimation 202 Likes hare

Aesthetics can e understood as the sstem of a priori forms determining what presents itself to sense experience. It is a delimitation of spaces and times, of the visile and the invisile, of speech and noise, that simultaneousl determines the place and the stakes of politics as a form of experience. Politics revolves around what is seen and what can e said aout it, around who has the ailit to see and the talent to speak, around the properties of spaces and the possiilities of time. — Jacques Rancière, The Politics of Aesthetics Questions of representation are central to the practice of graphic design. An understanding of who we are speaking for, and who we are Projects Aout Journal Mile nd Tpe speaking to, is the starting point of an design rief. It is through this role of mediation, expressed as aesthetic form, that design enacts its Archive Contact power and responsiilit. However, this mediation often happens uncriticall, guided  a designer’s intuition, stlistic trends, and the instrumental framework of marketing and PR concerns. A multiplicit of factors, conscious and unconscious, pla into a designer’s aesthetic choices of imager, tpograph, composition and colour. And as much as some might argue to the contrar, none of these choices are neutral.

In the case of colour, Pantone Inc. holds incredile influence with their increasingl marketed and mediatised Colour of the Year campaigns. Purportedl determined through a prescient reading of the cultural zeitgeist ( a select caal of colour specialists), it is important to understand that the compan, and the industr it serves, have their own specific interests and agendas that drive these selections. Pantone’s choice of “Rose Quartz” and “erenit” as the 2016 Colour of the Year is the most insidious move  this colour-industrial-complex since “lue LOKI // Graphic Design &Ir is”o icnia 2l 0C0h8a.n Agse with “lue Iris”, Pantone has once again mined the sucultural landscape and used their monopol within the creative industries to propagate their colour properties to the world.

From IK lue to lue Iris IK lue on Trendlist Projects Aout Journal Mile nd Tpe

Archive Contact Pantone was on point in 2008, presenting a slightl muted version of the IK lue (International Klein)/RG lue trend that evolved out of the Dutch “default design” approach of the earl 2000s. Default design advocated against the smooth surfaces of graphic professionalism, emploing low-res imager, sstem fonts, crude laouts, and the standard we link hex-colour #0000FF. It incorporated a self-referential criticism into its aesthetic, and the prominent use of RG lue ecame a clear signifier of this. The colour was carried forward with the emergence of a vaguel defined “critical graphic design” aesthetic, shifting etween Default, IK, and Reflex lue, and it was often used monochromaticall, in large flat swathes that were oth vivid and jarring.

Though IK lue and RG Default lue are not the same, their intense visceral effect is similar, stemming from the colours’ phsical/digital materialit; Klein’s lue was unique due to the snthetic resin inder which allowed the pigment to maintain its clarit, whereas Default lue is as pure a lue as the RG spectrum can achieve. Referenced in William Gison’s 2010 novel Zero Histor, the character Huertus igend has a suit made entirel of material in IK lue. He states that he wears this ecause the intensit of the colour makes other people uncomfortale, and ecause he is amused  the difficult of reproducing the colour on a computer monitor. Gison, an astute cultural oserver, used this reference to acknowledge its avant-garde popularit while pointing to the inherent suversive qualit of the colour. Jacquemus lue on Google Images Projects Aout Journal Mile nd Tpe

Archive Contact The mainstreaming of “lue Iris”  Pantone softened the suversive punch of IK lue (which  2008 was alread an identifiale commodit in contemporar art and fashion circles), further olstering its popularit amongst designers and the consumer population at large.

Rose Quartz and erenit

Pantone Colour of the Year 2016 release cop

“Rose Quartz” and “erenit” (hereafter areviated as RQ+) present a far more nefarious situation. There’s no dout that Pantone’s trend forecasters/cool hunters are once again on point (much more so than last ear’s Marsala), et anone who has spent a little too much time on Tumlr over the last few ears proal could have seen this coming. The tonal pink and lue palette has een growing exponentiall in popularit online since the emergence (circa 2010-11), purported death (circa 2012), and expanding influence of the micro-cultures of eapunk, and its successor, Vaporwave, as part of a more roadl defined suculture of internet-fuelled art emploing what can e descried as a Tumlr aesthetic. The popular use of these colours, and specificall their comined usage, has emerged out of a tumultuousl contested sucultural space. Projects Aout Journal Mile nd Tpe Pantone’s conceptual framing of RQ+ is disingenuous at est, and once one digs a little deeper, can e seen to represent a clearl Archive Contact reactionar political force.

eapunk #wet #deep #dolphins

eapunk on Google Images

eapunk, an electronic music micro-genre that started out as a hashtag in-joke on Twitter, ecame more identifiale for its online visual aesthetic than its music; pschedelic dreamscape collages of underwater imager (with a clear overrepresentation of cco the dolphin), we 1.0 graphics and gifs, classical roman sculptures, and 90s era rave nostalgia, all immersed within shimmering pastel and neon tones of turquoise, aquamarine, pink and purple. Not quite RQ+, ut we’re getting there.

In late 2011, eapunk graphics and fashion imager exploded on tumlr and the stle was quickl picked up  fashion loggers and online music and culture magazines.  March 2, 2012, the NY Times stle section ran an article, entitled “Little Mermaid Goes Punk”, signalling “la petite mort” of the micro-culture to man of its progenitors. On Novemer 10, 2012, eapunk trul roke into the mainstream with Rihanna’s performance of Diamonds on aturda Night Live, which was Projects Aout Journal Mile nd Tpe descried as a “screensaver performance” efore the frenzied acklash rought the eapunk terminolog into the limelight. Azelia anks’ Archive Contact “Atlantis” video dropped the next da, and eapunk’s co-optation and death was officiall declared.

also, wh aren’t ’all frustrated AT ALL at the rihanna thing? that performance marked the commodification of an aesthetic movement…— ee Zeva (@eeZeva)

…which means all taste-makers have to start all over. it’s a lot of work. clearl ur not doing shit ut consuming if ur not peeved  this— ee Zeva (@eeZeva)

“wow amazing rihanna performance i love seeing m tumlr on NL” wh? that Aesthetic served as an exclusive inder for URL counterculture…— ee Zeva (@eeZeva)

…tomorrow, when it enters Phase Three and Forever 21 puts a price tag on it, it will no longer e exclusive. its purpose is gone.— ee Zeva (@eeZeva)

The eapunk stor is as much aout its co-optation and commodification as it is aout the music or visual stle. It was argual one of the first internet-ased sucultures to e thrust so quickl into the mainstream. Angr responses to its co-optation, and articles mocking these responses flooded the internet in equal measure. For the corporate taste-makers, the stle offered an exciting counterpoint to the wholesome faux-nostalgia and whitewashed elitism of hipster aesthetics, and thus provided a new market to explore, develop and extract value from. This wellspring was short-lived however, as artists and adherents soon jumped ship, no dout seeing where the stle was headed.

Vaporwave: The Jester in the King’s Court Projects Aout Journal Mile nd Tpe

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Vaporwave on Google Images

Vaporwave has een hailed as eapunk’s successor, though it actuall emerged in parallel, with less dolphins, and a more mature theoretical grounding. The dolphins have een replaced  renderings of the assorted detritus of techno-capitalism; anachronistic corporate logos, dead media formats, GUI elements, and perspective grids. Musicall, the genre samples and remixes the corporate soundscape; elevator and on- hold music, the piped-in pop of shopping malls and office loies, smooth jazz, eas listening and motivational new age harmonies. Vaporwave differentiates itself from eapunk through its critical self- awareness, and it is far more intentional in how it emplos its parodic kitsch aesthetics. It is darkl cnical and sickl sweet, exemplified  artist and lael names such as The Pleasure Centre, New Dreams Ltd., Fortune 500, usiness Casual or Condo Pets. Projects Aout Journal FMatimaile n dAl T Qadiripe - Vatican Vibes

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Analsis of the genre points to Vaporwave operating within what can e descried as an accelerationist framework; expanding, repurposing and exaggerating the technosocial processes of capitalism in order to provoke radical social change. Its saccharine caricature of corporate culture engages whole-heartedl with the alienating nostalgia of the post-authentic, plaing the role of the jester in the king’s court, or acting as a hall of mirrors in the funhouse enclosures of capital. Its tactics have aandoned confrontational resistance to instead luricate the smolic ground upon which capitalism stands, and offer it a series of gentle, et insistent, nudges.

MTV 2015 reranding In 2015, in a desperate attempt to sta relevant, MTV (a Viacom Projects Aout JoIunrtnearnlatio nMail eIn cn. dco Tmpean) reranded with a full-on Vaporwave aesthetic and the Orwellian tagline “I am m MTV”. Undoutedl Archive Contact counselled  agenc customer-engagement experts it was as transparent as it was latant. Their VMA campaign promos featured Mile Crus gesticulating in front of a green screen, enticing the pulic to fill in the lank(ness) with their unpaid laour. The crowd-sourced results feel tepid at est, with a significant percentage of the content created  agencies and design studios, most-likel commissioned  MTV. And within all of the internet- visual chaos, a smooth and uniform surface reappears. In spite of this co-option, or perhaps due to it, the Vaporwave aesthetic continues to evolve and expand, within the not so hidden corners of sureddits, and to mutate and accelerate, parading on the front lines of fashion.

MIA's Arular (2005) and Kala (2007)

It is not m intention to ascrie an sort of authorial/authoritative origin stor to this recominant aesthetic. Popular stle emerges from a confluence of tendencies and cultural currents. The lineage of afro- futurist visual culture and contemporar afro-punk fashion have had a significant influence on the development of this aesthetic. ingular artists such as MIA, with her groundreaking 2005 alum Arular and the entiret of her oeuvre since, also provides a prescient cultural touchstone. Japanese kawaii purikura (photoooths), and their viral app counterparts, exemplif how software tools are often indivisile from the aesthetic culture the create and contriute to. And within graphic design, the trajector of Metahaven's work (and that of their Werkplaats acoltes), with its disordered and distorted forms, photoshop filters and Projects Aout Journal Mile nd Tpe powerpoint laouts, alongside health doses of IK lue and digital deris, can e read as a palimpsest of the overlapping laers that have Archive Contact come to define the look and feel of these times.

oftness as a Weapon

Radical oftness, Lora Mathis

Contemporar radical feminist and queer aesthetics are also central to the emergence of the pink and lue colour palette within the sucultural zeitgeist. imilar to the linguistic reclamation of derogator gender slurs, this femme-positive aesthetic contests the gendered nature of these colours and reclaims the “soft” and “prett” as critical tools to deconstruct, suvert and contest the patriarchal framework.

As a cis male, I’ve kept m presentation of the following artists rather cursor. It is not m intention to speak for, and I assume I will lack nuance and depth in m descriptions, et I feel including their work directl within this argument is useful for an understanding of the roader aesthetic context. Projects Aout Journal Mile nd Tpe

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Often operating within the spaces of commercial fashion and art, the work of photographer and model Arvida ström is emlematic of a criticall “soft” and “prett” aesthetic approach. mploing pastel colours, intimate and unfiltered self-portraiture, and motifs of ‘girl culture’, her work explores identit and gender ideals, while pushing against the conventions of fashion imager and challenging normative expressions of femininit. The concerted use of this aesthetic  ström and her peers criticall highlights the social construction of gender while simultaneousl celerating it as a source of empowerment and agenc. Projects Aout Journal Mile nd Tpe

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Night Out, Lora Mathis

Lora Mathis’ poetr and photograph explore the concept of “radical softness as a weapon”, a concise and powerfull illustrative idea that descries the re-centering of emotion(alit), self-care and attention to the micro-political within radical activist circles.

“Radical softness is the idea that unapologeticall sharing our emotions is a political move and a wa to comat the societal idea that feelings are a sign of weakness.“ – Lora Mathis, interviewed  Hooligan Magazine

The softness advocated for here is a far cr from Pantone’s “connection and wellness” or “soothing sense of order and peace”. orn in response to the patriarchal characterization of the overl-sensitive female (and the complementar idealisation of the demure, soothing, and peaceful), it calls for the collective affirmation of the full-range of emotional and mental states as a means of empowerment and resistance, as a feminine presentation of resilience and strength.

#aesthetic Projects Aout Journal Mile nd Tpe

Archive Contact Tumlr Aesthetic on Google Images

Tumlr has proven to e a nurturing (though certainl not safe) space for the circulation of sucultural and counter-cultural interests, and the ideas and imager of these feminist currents run in parallel, overlap and intersect with the aforementioned micro-cultures on the platform. Of course, the diversit of content posted on Tumlr is inherentl limitless, et nonetheless cohesive aesthetic tendencies emerge, reflecting the interests and aspirations of its most avid users. The term "aesthetic" itself has come to represent a specific genre of imager on Tumlr that can e easil identified as the sucultural inspiration for RQ+.

We are presented with a visual landscape of soft pinks and lues, a post-ironic poetics articulated through memes, digital art, selfies, and threaded "ask me anthing" conversations. Taken as a whole, there is an undeniale eullient softness to it, ut roiling just eneath the surface is a crstalline anger directed at the wa things are, e it gender normativit, the surveillance state, or good old-fashioned capitalist alienation. The emergence of this Tumlr #aesthetic represents the reclamation of smolic vocaular from the realm of commodit production, placing it ack into the hands of the oung, the feminine, the marginal. Projects Aout Journal Mile nd Tpe

Archive Contact ucultural ulimation

In pscholog, sulimation is descried as a tpe of defence mechanism where sociall unacceptale impulses or idealizations are unconsciousl transformed into sociall acceptale actions or ehaviour, resulting in a long-term conversion of the initial impulse. This definition provides a clear analog to the processes, goals and ramifications of the practice of cultural appropriation. Within this framework, Pantone’s co-optation of the pink and lue colour palette can e seen as just another salvo in the smolic warfare etween official and unofficial culture, etween the sociall acceptale and the sociall unacceptale.

However, unlike more commonl understood practices of cultural appropriation where the semantic range of the appropriated aesthetic is somewhat limited (initiall at least), Pantone’s isolated focus on colour creates a dangerousl free-floating signifier to which meaning can e aritraril inscried.

In MTV’s example, the appropriation of Vaporwave aesthetics is elaorated using a full range of formal signifiers; colours, iconograph, tpographic treatment, thematics, and channels of distriution. Though meaning is distorted and diluted through this process of commercialization, the semantic value of MTV’s appropriation is still rooted in the original cultural context and draws from its aura of “cool”. It acts as an attempt to co-opt a resistant market demographic that is Projects Aout Journal Mile nd Tpe alread attuned to the aesthetic, while simultaneousl shocking new audiences into paing attention. The semantic references to the Archive Contact suculture remain more or less intact, and though MTV ma capitalize on this in their umpers and on specific channels/shows, it cannot redeplo the aesthetic throughout all of their properties, where its specificit prevents it from conforming to the content. ven on their wesites, visual evidence of the reranding is minimal, perhaps simpl due to the UX challenges emracing Vaporwave aesthetics would entail.

With Pantone’s RQ+, colour is appropriated as an astract design element in an attempt to sulimate the counter-cultural impulse ehind its use, and to make it palatale and profitale for Pantone and the multitude of its allied creative industries. Though Pantone is forced to partiall acknowledge RQ+’ origins  riefl referencing ”societal movements toward gender equalit and fluidit” in their release cop, the thrust of their recontextualization positions RQ+ as “emracing, reassuring, secure, gentle, weightless, air, relaxing, soothing, peaceful and calm.” All of this admittedl “even in turulent times." The aim is to full divorce the colours from their specific cultural context in order to generate a mass market commodit.

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Pantone’s cultural influence shouldn't e underestimated. ver da countless designers reference their products, and this ear’s announcement was particularl well mediatized. This has resulted in RQ+ eing marketed within a multitude of product categories, all Projects Aout Journal Mile nd Tpe released with Pantone's inscried meaning, with man products directl profiting the compan through partnerships and licensing. eond filling Archive Contact corporate coffers on the acks of sucultural laour, the trul grievous effect is the erasure of a critical aesthetic tool from the suculture and its associated social movements. It lunts the critical teeth of the colours’ usage within these contexts and undermines the visual self- representation, self-determination, and autonom of these sucultural groups. Joous, reellious anger is eing cnicall muted into a gentle, weightless calm  designers everwhere, lindl following the authorit of Pantone’s proclamations.

Form as edimented Content

Art negates the categorial determinations stamped on the empirical world and et harours what is empiricall existing in its own sustance. If art opposes the empirical through the element of form, (…) the mediation is to e sought in the recognition of aesthetic form as sedimented content. What are taken to e the purest forms can e traced ack even in the smallest idiomatic detail to content. – Theodor Adorno, Aesthetic Theor

The limited discourse on “sociall responsile” graphic design usuall revolves around working with “sociall acceptale” clients, platitudes aout design thinking, and the choice to use reccled papers. ut ideolog is emedded within the mriad of formal and smolic choices designers make, and our responsiilit lies equall in these decisions. No signifier is trul aritrar, and though the meanings of colours are not permanentl fixed, the contain, and are in fact formed through the laering of contested, ideological histories of content. ocial, economic, and political pressures coalesce into form, and at some point petrif into a generall accepted vocaular. The question of who gets to define that point is central to how aesthetic histor is told, and graphic designers pla no small role in when and how this moment arrives. Projects Aout Journal Mile nd Tpe

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In choosing what content is laered into the forms we use, designers can aet or contest the colonization of aesthetic territories. These choices are not astractions, and their accumulated effects have real- world impact. We can choose to contriute to a dnamic and chaotic culture that challenges the naturalization of neolieral capitalism or we can reinforce the narrative of its calming consumer comforts. We have a critical responsiilit to decide which side we are on. At the ver least until next ear.

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Comments (27) Oldest First uscrie via e-mail

Preview POT COMMNT… 3 ears ago · 1 Like Projects Aout Journal Mile nd Tpe Perhaps "insidious" and, to a greater extent, "nefarious" are not Archive Contact the est was to descrie Pantone's choice for color of the ear. Aren't we all well aware that an compan will appropriate anthing to make a uck?

3 ears ago · 0 Likes

I elieve this is the first "Critical Theor" article I have read in three to five ears, that, quite eloquentl I might add, has something to sa aout the modalities and vomits a little in mouth "Dialectic" involved in the production and consumption of mass media culture. Ver well done. Gives me a lot to think aout.

Paul d'Orléans 3 ears ago · 0 Likes

Capital sulimates 'reel' forms for profit; it's a ver old stor. ut, I enjoed the read, as I was out of the loop from whence m periwinkle and rose impulses had sprung...

3 ears ago · 0 Likes

I took a reak from reading Lacan for this and I'm glad I did.

ingo 3 ears ago · 0 Likes

i dont get it ingo 3 ears ago · 0 Likes Projects Aout Journal Mile nd Tpe i dont care i just like the colors, feel free and have fun, stand up Archive Contact for what ou elieve in, I LIV IN PANTON 2016 and i am a feminist

3 ears ago · 0 Likes

This is everthing I've een feeling, summed up. I've een osessed with pink & lue for over 10 ears now (even own the domain luep.ink/ ). Although it means that the comination is eing commodified, potentiall, 'no longer a statement'... we can also take a look at it as potentiall queer culture, femininit, & man things the have een used to represent as eing accepted in that sulimation, which I for one, am willing to give up the 'punk alternative aesthetics' aspect of it for.

3 ears ago · 0 Likes

Read with gratitude, shared with hope.

3 ears ago · 0 Likes

the need to put things in oxes

3 ears ago · 0 Likes

This is a fundamental part of human ehaviour, and coherent language relies on it. vetlana D. 3 ears ago · 0 Likes Projects Aout Journal Mile nd Tpe What does "coherent" mean in this context? Their Archive Contact are multiple languages that don't have categories for colors for example.

dne Allen-Ash 3 ears ago · 1 Like

This is so well written. ummarizes everthing I have een thinking aout tumlr, internet culture ver eloquentl.

Chris Dickman 3 ears ago · 0 Likes

As the Marquis de ade once said, "Those who define are the masters." The design industr needs to start thinking out of the Pantone ox. It could egin  paing no attention to the pompous Color of the Year and moving on from that.

Dominic 2 ears ago · 0 Likes

I know I'm super late, ut I'm prett sure the colour of the ear is chosen AFTR the design industr has launched numerous products using the same colour(s). It's not so much that designers are 'paing attention to the pompous Color of the Year' so much that the Color of the Year is chosen to reflect the trends of the design industr.

John 2 ears ago · 0 Likes

It's now Januar, 2017. Alread we've heard from on high: https://www.pantone.com/color-of-the-ear-2017

Projects Aout Journal Mile nd Tpe

Archive Contact vetlana Dworkin 3 ears ago · 0 Likes

I reall enjo this ut to e clear most radical feminists have NO interest in reclaiming femininit. Radical feminists tend to elieve that femininit is an oppressive force imposed on women on the asis of their sex.

3 ears ago · 0 Likes

Minion ellow

3 ears ago · 0 Likes

Good description for people who are unfamiliar. I alwas wonder though, "what's next?"

i_aku 3 ears ago · 0 Likes

The Aufheung of countercultural aesthetics into the gaping maw of semiocapital predates the 20th centur. The artistic avant-garde’s long running jihad against stale categories of identit (including, most recentl, gender) is not unrelated to the cultural/smolic needs of a mode of production fundamentall incapale of aiding what one prominent dudero once called “fixed fast-frozen relations.” Celerate it or lament it, ut don’t e surprised when corporations capitalize on whatever radical indictment the new generation of trendies has loed at ourgeois societ. That’s what the’re there for. Rose Miller 3 ears ago · 0 Likes Projects Aout Journal Mile nd Tpe Isn't this part of the endless appropriation of sucultures  Archive Contact mainstream cultures? I rememer when seapunk and vaporwave egan, ut it didn't take long for the appropriation to egin, especiall in the music world with Rihanna mainstream-jacking the fashion and visual smolism of seapunk. It's not surprising that along with fashion and music mainstreamers looking for the next fringe movement to exploit, we have an institution like Pantone getting in on the act. As soon as this happens, the aesthetic of the fringe will react and change. Great article.

Ju 3 ears ago · 0 Likes

Though reading was a it hard for a non natural orn english speaker as I, I want to pa respect from the ottom of m heart to our article. Didn't read something so valuale on aesthetic since Aristotle poetic. The light and clarit it rings to the political involvement in a content creation make this ver process appear less exhausting.

Maja 3 ears ago · 0 Likes

rilliant essa!

Heloisa 2 ears ago · 0 Likes

Amazing essa! o happ I found it! RLD 2 ears ago · 0 Likes Projects Aout Journal Mile nd Tpe Ver insightful, thank ou! Archive Contact

 Pthon 2 ears ago · 0 Likes

Radical softness and anti-neolieral capitalism are hot, four-lines sentences are not. Great article with a lot of heart, soul and hard work poured into it, ut I wish the writing could have een made more accessile for the non-native nglish speaking folks like me.

Kevin Lo 2 ears ago · 0 Likes

Hi , thanks for our comment. I've received similar feedack concerning the writing stle. This isn't something I've done ver much of, so I'm still working out the appropriate tone and approach for complex articles like these. I'll definitel keep it in mind for the future.

David Williams 2 ears ago · 0 Likes

Kevin, thanks for our article. Ver nicel written. I actuall thought ou did a good jo of not eing didactic and largel avoiding the use of jargon. And thank ou for quoting Jacques Ranciere up top. Apart from eing a most interesting contemporar philosopher, I find his ideas most relevant to the U..'s current political challenges. In all the emoaning of the impending loss of cultural funding  the Trump administrations, nowhere do I find a defense of art as a defense of free speech, as Ranciere does so emphaticall and rilliantl — it is a far more compelling justification to resist the Administration's arts gutting tendencies than that which the art world and cultural institutions have thus far offered us. Projects Aout Journal Mile nd Tpe

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