Maggie Maggio

Smashing Color for the 21st Century

Olympic Google Doodle

The Olympics start today and this was the google doodle on the homepage. As soon as I saw it, I wanted to change it. 
Google RTBI wondered what it would look like in RGB+CMY colors so I changed the red to magenta, the orange to tomato red, and the yellow to a lemon yellow. I kept the green the same. I switched the original blue to more of a cyan and left the purple alone since it is close to the violet blue of the RGB system.

I didn’t have time to switch all the shading colors in each block but here’s the quick revised version.

GoogleCMY2I was so obsessed with expanding the traditional rainbow that it didn’t occur to me that Google was protesting the Russian anti-gay laws. (How could I have missed that?) A good friend pointed it out to me. Head slap! Google rocks!

After doing a little research, I decided I still like my new version. The original gay pride flag had 8 colors, including a hot pink (magenta) and a turquoise (cyan) along with the usual 6 colors.  According to Wikipedia, the design of the flag was soon modified due to unavailability of hot pink flag fabric.

Rainbow flag (LGBT movement) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia-4

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The original 8 colors stood for:

Rainbow flag (LGBT movement) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Isn’t it fascinating that the colors added to the traditional rainbow represented sexuality and magic/art? Its too bad they were buried again in the name of easier manufacturing.

When I’m teaching, I like to expand the traditional three primary concept of Red, Yellow, Blue to include six colors – the Red Green Blue of the additive (light) system and the Cyan Magenta Yellow of the subtractive (colorant) system. RGB+CMY = Full Circle. I believe its a more integrated and inclusive way to think about color. Not an either/or but a both/and system.

Since over 30 years have gone by, I wonder if magenta and cyan flag fabrics are easier to get.  I would so love to see the flag in RGB+CMY colors.

2 Comments

  1. Maggie Maggio

    February 9, 2014 at 3:31 am

    Thanks Moyra – I’m glad you like it. I had to laugh at myself. I was so focused on shifting things from RYB to CMY that I missed the big picture!

  2. Love this Maggie! I much prefer the original design of the pride flag and much prefer your version of the google doodle. They should hire you!

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