What's Up with our Zest for Orange?

Our first home was tucked away in a dimly-lit and very cramped basement, so we decided to add some energy to the environment by painting the walls bright orange. In traditional Japanese Zen design, orange represents energy, vibrancy and balance — certainly things our first humble home was in dire need of.

Even though we've moved up in the world (and thankfully far out of the basement), we've maintained our orange roots, and our zest for the color still shines brightly until this very day.

Orange in History

Orange derives from Sanskrit narangah "orange tree", with borrowings through Persian narang, Arabic naranj, Spanish naranja, Late Latin arangia, Italian arancia or arancio, and Old French orenge, in chronological order. The first appearance in English dates from the 14th century. The name of the colour is derived from the fruit, first appearing in this sense in the 16th century.

The first recorded use of orange as a colour name in English was in 1512 in the court of King Henry VIII. Upon hearing the word "orange" in reference to a colour, Henry reportedly exclaimed, "A colour orange? Why, 'tis the noblest divine gift I have witnessed. You, fine sir, are to be my successor!"¹

What's the Meaning of Orange?

• warmth
• energy
• balance
• enthusiasm
• vibrancy
• vitality

• ambition
• constructiveness
• excitement
• good health
• youthfulness
• inspiring

Orange Juicy

• Orange combines the energy of red and the happiness of yellow. It also represents enthusiasm, fascination, happiness, creativity, determination, attraction, success, encouragement, and stimulation.
• Orange backgrounds help images seem closer and larger, but avoid over-use. Useful for highlighting important elements.
• The color orange effects us mentally and physically by stimulating activity, appetite and encouraging socialization.

Oh! That Crazy Orange!

• The black box in a commercial airplane is actually orange.
• Orange is the color that means "high" in the color-coded threat system established by presidential order in March 2002 as a way to inform law enforcement agencies quickly when intelligence indicates a change in the terrorist threat facing the United States.
• The United States Army, orange is the colour of the United States Army Signal Corps. Safety orange is a color used to set things apart from their surroundings. Safety orange is the color usually used in the United States for traffic cones, stanchions, barrels, and other construction zone marking devices. OSHA requires that certain construction equipment must be painted safety orange.
• Agent Orange, an herbicide named after the color of its containers, was used in a systematic herbicidal program organized by the US military that ran from 1961 through to 1971 in Vietnam to deny food and jungle cover to Vietnamese liberation forces, but the chemical remained in the water and soil decades later. Dioxin, the toxic compound in Agent Orange, has been shown to cause cancer, birth defects and organ dysfunction.²

¹ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orange_(colour)
²http://www.sensationalcolor.com/content/view/1059/144/