Blue is the world’s most popular color.
But this was not always the case. Originally, it was little used in art and clothing, and in turn, had little symbolic cultural value. In the course of a few key decades, however, blue overcame obstacles of sourcing and production, and its popularity exploded—rising to represent some of the highest values of society. Subsequently, a wave of innovation democratized the color, placing it in the hands of “normal people” and cementing its cultural legacy.
Identity finds itself on a similar path. After a period of relative obscurity, identity has begun its rise over the past decade—but the journey is just beginning. Like blue, it faces challenges to its ascendancy—both practical and ethical. We’ll extract lessons from the trajectory of the world’s most popular hue and seek to apply them to the arc of identity.
The color of the world is changing once more.
