Kermit the Frog once said it’s not easy being green. But at least he wasn’t chartreuse.
Chartreuse tends to be a controversial color. Some love the greenish-yellow shade because it’s seen as energetic and enthusiastic. Others feel it causes high anxiety. Subjectivity aside, everyone agrees that the color is hard to ignore. Which is why you’ll see it used on firetrucks, safety vests and fishing lures. It’s also why every decade or so you’ll see it trending in fashion, interior design and marketing. But what you may be surprised to know is the history of this color.
In the early 1600s, Carthusian monks at a monastery in France distilled 130 plants and flowers to create a tonic described as the “elixir of long life”. The tonic was about 55% alcohol and was a distinct green-yellow color. Many years later, it was marketed as a liqueur under the name Chartreuse after the monastery where it was made. The connection to my story is that of all the 16 million+ colors in our world, chartreuse is the only one named after a liqueur.
Why is this interesting? Because as a gardener, knowing that this color comes from plants and flowers makes me love botany all the more. I want the liqueur that those before me who loved gardening as much as I do took upon themselves to create. I associate the color of the liqueur with growth, happiness and health, which are the same qualities I associate with my garden.
As a marketer, I also know that color plays an important psychological role in brand design. It can encourage a consumer to reach for one product over another on a store shelf. It can resonate with them emotionally, drawing them like a beacon to a deeper connection with your brand. Color alone, as a matter of fact, is known to increase brand recognition by up to 80%. In a survey, 93% of shoppers said they focus on visual appearance when considering a purchase, and close to 85% claim color is a primary reason when they make that purchase.
This is not an argument for using chartreuse. In fact, colors in brand marketing should never be used without an alignment to your brand personality, story and value proposition. But this is a statement about the importance of understanding and using color effectively and strategically.
Now, back to the garden. Here’s a gallery of some plants and flowers in the chartreuse color pallet that I absolutely love. You’ll see how they mix well with other plants, and how your eyes are pulled towards the color. Of course, the electric versions of greenish-yellow wouldn’t work for Kermit the Frog since he probably never wanted to stand out. Lucky for him, he was a quieter shade of green.
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