I was talking today to a friend who does "color research". As it so happened we soon got talking about the choice of ink color and the personality of the person who uses it. He asked me what my favorite ink color was and I said "blue black" which he claimed meant that I was "old fashioned, conservative, and boring" three things which I most certainly am NOT. At this juncture, another friend stated that his favorite ink color was purple, to which the color expert stated that it meant that he was "gay" or "gay curious". Okay, this was all in fun, so no harm done. But it got me thinking. Is there really any psychological connection between our favorite color and our personality?

What is your favorite color, and what do you feel it says about you?

This is smells like a cousin of phrenology.. lol

I like subdued colors, because they are humble.

-Hana

Not necessarily a fair question, as so many of us write in colors appropriate to their use, particularly on the job. Being medical, I have used black for decades because we are required to. I don't whip out a different pen with a different color for personal writing.

Having said that, I'm really partial to rich, saturated blues.

I think it would be interesting to see if someone has tied the plethora of ink colors to color therapy theory--

hmmm... this sounds really... interesting. Orange. Whatever....

I'm an INFJ who considers Diamine Maroon ink as a signature color. What does that mean?? Oh, and I'm a Virgo.

Anyone who thinks that liking purple ink means you're gay is, well, not very smart.

My two favorite ink colors at the moment are Aircorps Blue-Black and Golden Brown. Maybe that means I'm military-minded and like toast.

I agree. I LOVE purple ink. duuuude......

Hannah Rose Mendoza's Pale Intrusions into Blue, a master's thesis in Interior Design, has a chapter on the psychology of the color blue. This essay is fascinating from beginning to end, with breathtakingly beautiful illustrations.

If red's your color, Amy Butler Greenfield's A Perfect Red is out in paperback. A gem.

/:)

My favourite color is the one that says that I'm smart, creative and adorable :bunny1:


I think you can't generalize this. Colors don't mean the same to everyone. Someone might write with purple ink because it reminds him of someone who used purple ink as well (Virginia Wolf, I heard somewhere), another one chooses purple to match the flowers on his desk. There might even be people who don't really care what ink they're writing with.
The point is, everyone has different stories and associations with an (ink) color, so users of purple or blue-black or red ink can't all be conservative/gay/bipolar/boring/polygamous. Besides, there are probably more types of people than there are inks.

I'm quite sure I could name five gay friends who wouldn't use purple ink if you paid them one hundred dollars.

OT, I think I should put "conservative/gay/bipolar/boring/polygamous" in my sig, just to keep people guessing.

The 3 inks I use the most of would be Noodler's Black, Aircorp BB, and Walnut.

So, I would be a nutty dark airplane.

I can live with that!

I love purple, blue and blue-black. Oh, and my PR Copper Burst. I think I'd make your friends' head explode!

Green and purple are pretty much interchangable in my mind. I don't know what that says about me.

<Dr. Ruth voice>Verrrrrrrry interrrrrresting.</Dr. Ruth voice>

You're color-blind?

I admit that I like turquois ink what does that make me. Just would like to know so that if I don't like what is said concerning me then all I have to do is change inks and I'm a new man.

I like Turquoise and Purple and , so far, I'm not a crossdresser, nor do I have gay tendencies. But one never knows where this might lead....thats a good question to ask the color expert. Perhaps its my sensitive side showing.

I have an article somewhere which discusses the importance of color on how people perceive colors on web sites. I'll provide a link the moment I can find it. But I do remember that the article claims that shades of yellow (and related colors) can anger the reader while red makes us more hungry. What will the quacks come up with next.....

BTW I like green too, including the gawdy Spearmint by PR.

Here is the article. Its in Pdf format and uneditable so I could not just edit out the portion that discusses color.
The color information is on Pages 293 and 294.

Hi,

I like Turquoise ink, but I don't know what that means...

Dillon

The idea of an absolute favourite colour and that says something about your personality is bumkum. I, for instance, love PR Chocolat as an ink - but I doubt I'd wear a suit that colour. I like blue, but tend to avoid blue inks because they are too ordinary (although I will use unusual blues like Supershow and Navaho.)

I like faded, less saturated inks that remind me of things like watercolors, faded jeans, worn leather. In Bill's vintage ink thread, phthalo described vintage looking inks as having a "weathered"
quality. I like that description too.
I love quiet - a solitary hike in the mountains, paddling on a lake at dawn,
a monastery retreat - somehow i view this kind of ink as quiet. Highly saturated inks
are generally too loud for me to use long term.

Hmmm... I wear colors that I don't select for inks -- and what I select for furniture, wall colors, etc., is different from that. Does this mean I'm conflicted, or just normal?

My fondness for any one particular color of ink can be pretty volatile. One minute PR lake placid is my favorite, the next Green Marine and (right now, this very second) I'm especially fond of Navajo Turquoise. I plan to get a couple new inks over the next several weeks, so this will (I have no doubt) all be in flux again.

I love bright saturated ink colors, but have beige carpet, black leather couches, and lots of white cotton slip covers, sheets, and drapes. I think this means I have a huge laundry bill and need to get my carpets cleaned.

Purple = Gay? How did all those royal dynasties manage to reproduce?

I love R&K's Alt Bordeaux. This may well make me an old wino.

Yes, but at the rate that people are introducing new inks ...

Stephen

I tend to use inks seasonally.

I am finishing my Private Reserve Plum which is a sort of purple I use in October to signify autumn colors. I also use Plum at Easter because of the theological significance of purple. I am now switching to Noodler's Antitiem which is appropriate for November where I live. Turning brown but still some color. Antitiem is about the same color as the leaves of an oak tree which is being illuminated by the afternoon sun as I write this.

For December, I switch to either Private Reserve Spearmint or Noodler's Gruene Cactus. Other times of the year, I change to whatever I like at the moment.

Kathy likes Noodler's Navajo Turquoise and Levenger's Pinkly (Kathy is an artist and retired elementary school art teacher so vivid colors are her choice). Navajo Turquoise looks good in her Sheaffer Selangor pen. Pinkly works well in a Sheaffer Targa.

PR Black Magic Blue is a conservative color with an understated flair that catches the eye. My Bexley Parkville Pen special frequently uses the Black Magic.

You might suggest to Kathy that Levenger's Always Greener looks great alongside Navajo Turquoise and Pinkly--I use those three to keep household notes, and it is a wonderfully cheering combination.

And some colors may not even be different in some languages!

According to the March 2006, Scientific American English speakers' talk of the colors blue and green may help us to differentiate between them.

The article says, "Most of the world's languages actually use a single word for the two, siggesting that for English speakers, language influences the discrimination between the two." It goes on to say that in experiments native English speakers were faster at distinguishing bluish squares from greener squares.

Source: Scientific American, March 2006, p. 32, "What You See Is What You Say," by Charles Q. Choi.

I havn't tried too many inks so far... but my favorite is definitely purple. Currently I really like the Levenger Amethyst. I also really like their Cobalt Blue. I'd say that I agree with an earlier poster that normally I'd call blue ink ordinarybut the Cobalt Blue seems to jump out.

Of course all this could change once I try other inks. Right now thats all I've tried besides Quink Black and Always Greener. Thats hardly a large enough sample to determine personality traits.

I'm thinking of getting a few bottles of Private Reserve or Waterman inks next.

Wasn't that Sgt Shultz?

-Bruce

i like dark inks that create variations on the paper that are close to black. i like the pelikan brown, though, which is not too dark. but i really like the deep rich magenta that i created from mixing two different montblanc inks together.

and i have a friend who has this really dark green that is almost black. i love that color.

i guess it means i have a dark personality?