This week, we had to come up with a color palette that represented us as well as compositions for the palette. I’ve never done compositions before, so this was a fun exercise for me and helped solidify my understanding of Illustrator too.
Color Palette
The first color is a pastel yellow I chose to call Duck Island. I chose it because it feels really warm and comforting, like the sun. I always grew up in really warm, sunny areas (India + California) and this color association really connected with me.
The second color is my favorite, green. I wanted to choose a shade of green that really embodied how soothing green can feel when it’s in nature. I named it Prospect Park for that association as well.
The third is a shade of blue with a hint of green that makes it look like sea foam. I always loved this color when I was growing up, also because I grew up (mostly) in California, where I interacted with the ocean often. The sea is really comforting to me.
The fourth color is called She, Activated. I named it that because I use she/they pronouns, which I’ve only recently started to tell people. There are times when it’s hard to connect with my femininity as a queer Indian woman, often feeling distant from what a traditional Indian woman looks/feels like. There are certain colors I use in my outfits to try to enhance the connection to my feminity when I do decide to present that way. Deep red is really symbolic in Indian culture, often used in the context of marriage and female maturity. Usually, when I put on a deep red lip color or outfit, I feel much more connected to my own Indian femininity. I make a joke with my friends that “the she pronouns are out tonight”. That joke sparked the idea for the name, She, Activated.
The last color also relates to my identity. I grew up surrounded by diversity, and have always found comfort when I see people of color in my adult life. I live in Bed-Stuy now, which is a primarily Black and brown community. When I go home at night, I feel familiar and safe. In majority White communities, I don’t feel that way, and instead am acutely aware of my skin color at all times. I chose this shade of brown because it makes me feel comforted, and named it Safety because that’s truly what it means to me. The word Safety is so charged with regard to skin color, and I wanted to represent a different understanding of what brown can mean to non-White people.
Compositions