Keith Recker Takes Us To 'Deep Color'

Author and poet laureate of color, Keith Recker, visits Writer’s Voices to discuss his third book on color, Deep Color: The Shades that Shape Our Souls. For Recker, “The first push into color really came out of my experience as a retailer and trying to decipher what people were thirsty for and how best to satisfy those thirsts with color choices. After a little bit of time working with Pantone, I really started to question more deeply how color operated and why it operated.” The research for his book came from a series of lectures he gave at his daughter’s high school where he was asked to discuss color’s role in advertising, branding, and packaging, as part of their media literacy unit. To prepare for the lectures, Recker had to dig deeper to find answers to the questions asked by the students. This eventually lead to his writing of Deep Color.

When describing his work, Recker explains, “I point out that I do work with the design and retail sector of our economy to figure out the psychosocial, emotional, cultural needs that are coming and how we can satisfy those consumer needs for color. What stories will people need to be hearing? What stories will they want to be hearing? What will they find satisfying, nourishing, supportive, energizing, aggressive, noticeable, glamourous, and really trying to do that 2-3 years out in advance to give people time and make a really successful season for themselves and for their customers.”

Deep Color is filled with Recker’s plethora of knowledge regarding the history and evolution of each color, going back to the prehistoric era, through recorded history, up to modern times. Recker also includes the religious and cultural history of those colors and how particular colors are associated with linguistics. “In order to be very coherent, and very correct, and as accurate as I can possibly be, it has to continue, that research, to make sure that I’m telling the story that needs to be told, that should be told, that are accurate…on the way I find new stories and new wrinkles and new things to dig into.”