Blog

We all identify countries or places by pictures and impressions. All of them leave a certain profile in our minds, and one in which colors play a role.

Think of the warm exotic colors of spices and textiles in the soukhs of Marrakesh; the turquoise of the Mediterranean mixed with shades of terracotta in Italy; or the typical red-blue-white of the tube signing system, the red phone booths, and red double-decker buses which put their stamp on the city of London.

I have often wondered: what really are a place's defining colors and what represents them best?

Of course, country flags and regional coats of arms do exist and help to establish a certain kind of color profile for a place. 

Often, the colors of the typical surrounding landscape inspire a nation's flag. The Ukrainian flag of blue and yellow, for example, resembles the vast fields of golden wheat under a bright blue sky that are characteristic of the country.

Vice-versa, once-defined a flag itself can also make an enormous impression on a place. Typically, state-owned (or formerly state-owned) institutions and facilities utilize the national colors. The Union Jack, for example, has surely been the inspiration for the London tube, the red double-decker buses, and the National Rail.

The Greek flag's blue-white pattern was reportedly inspired by the famed sky and sea of Greece with its clouds and waves, but also by some of the traditional clothing. On the other hand, maybe the blue-white color profile in Greece's scenery—such as the blue rooftops of white houses on Santorini—is an expression of the flag?

Even commercial brands associate with a country's color palette. Airlines are a typical example because they were previously state-owned (British Airways, Alitalia, Air France). In France dairy producer Danone, many TV channels, and supermarkets like Carrefour show nationalistic traits. With Tesco in the UK, it is the same.

Maybe as a German I find this noteworthy as our national flag's color palette has, since WWII, never again moved beyond the official governmental domain.

What I find even more interesting is that many countries have found popular color schemes beyond these nationally-primed colors:

In the past 10 years UK brands have developed a feeble for quirky bright colors like Granny Smith green, lilac, pink, or orange (Marks & Spencer, Paul Smith, Heathrow Express, Orange, BT, Tate Modern, easyJet, Oxfam, the Nectar loyalty card) and did you ever notice that almost all of male British office clerks prefer to wear mauve ties?

In France there seems to be preference for turquoise or green, ample use of white, and very coolish color profiles (RATP—the Parisian metro system, Gaz de France, green plastic bag bins in Paris, green/gray roadwork barriers, the TGV, Volvic, Evian).

So what are your country's unofficial colors? And which brands represent them best?