“If everyone is thinking alike, then someone isn’t thinking.”

George S. Patton, General U. S. Army

"It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt."

Mark Twain

"The ancestor of every action is thought."

Emerson

"All that we are is the result of what we have thought."

Buddha

"When you are not told what to do you begin to think what to do."

Roger Cohen, Op-Ed Columnist New York Times

"No problem can withstand the assault of sustained thinking."

Voltaire

"Never be afraid to sit awhile and think."

Lorraine Hansberry, A Raisin in the Sun

"You and I are not what we eat; we are what we think."

Walter Anderson, The Confidence Course

"Did you ever stop to think, and forget to start again?"

Winnie the Pooh

"Time to think matters ─ at least if we’re interested in getting the answers right."

Stephen L. Carter

"Thinking is always out of order, interrupts all ordinary activities and is interrupted by them."

Hannah Arendt, Life of the Mind

"Too often we…enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought."

John F. Kennedy

"The trouble with most people is that they think with their hopes or fears or wishes rather than with their minds."

Will Durant

"Thinking is like living and dying. Each of us must do it for himself."

Josiah Royce

"Some people get lost in thought because it's such unfamiliar territory."

G. Behn

"The world we have created is a product of our thinking; it cannot be changed without changing our thinking."

Albert Einstein

"Pursuing our thoughts in silent contemplation takes an investment in time that few can spare."

Stephen L. Carter

"A moment’s thinking is an hour in words."

Thomas Hood

"Sometimes I think and other times I am."

Paul, Variete: Cantiques spirituels 192

"To think is to differ."

Darrow

"To think is to live."

Cicero

"A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices."

William Jones

"What we think, we become."

Buddha

"Our job is not to make up anybody’s mind, but to open minds and to make the agony of the decision-making so intense you can escape only by thinking."

Anonymous

"The person who thinks before he speaks is silent most of the time."

Anonymous

"Think ─ and you will be very lonely."

Anonymous

"Thought is action in rehearsal."

Anonymous

"We live in a world that leaves very little time to contemplate."

Anonymous

"Don’t worry too much about what people think because they seldom do."

Anonymous

"Invest a few moments in thinking. It will pay good interest."

Anonymous

"One cannot think crooked and walk straight."

Anonymous

"Think Differently + Do Things Differently = Better Results"

Anonymous

May 15, 2017

Train Your Eye on Millennial Pink

Tags: Business, Branding, Design,

I’m thinking I’ve been in this business too long. When discussing design and branding, I remember a time when the mantra of every male client was, “Any color but pink!” Now it seems that both men and women alike are saying, “Any color, as long as it’s ‘millennial pink!’” At least that’s the word coming out of last month’s Milan Design Week. So it must be so.

Start looking around and you’ll begin to notice this muted shade of color — described as somewhere between beige and blush — appearing in furniture design, commercial office interiors, bathrooms, houseware products, cosmetics, toys and fashion.

This over-the-top island sofa from Spanish furniture brand Sancal is a perfect example of how millennial pink is making the design world unhinged.

As one who once painted their kitchen walls Pepto-Bismol pink (great complement to anything black), I may not qualify as an arbiter of good taste, but I do think I know a passing fad when I see one (i.e., women’s “cold shoulder” blouses).

But this is no Pepto-Bismol pink or Barbie Dream House pink. One confused reviewer described it as “sort of a grapefruit shade of apricotty salmon.”

Make no mistake about it: it’s pink, and the design community is breathless.

An early adopter piece in New York Magazine had millennial author Veronique Hylan describing millennial pink as “a non-color that doesn’t commit, whose semi-ugliness is proof of its sophistication.”

(I’m sold...)

She questioned her attraction to the color by asking:

“Do I like this because I like this or because I’m buying back my own re-packaged childhood in the form of blush-toned lip gloss and stickers? Because the Pantone industrial complex is direct-marketing to my generation?

Fortunately, in the end, the author had the good sense to question if she was overthinking things a bit...

And what’s the male “take” on this indescribable (don’t call it a pastel) color?

When it comes to men’s fashions, Esquire Magazine deemed millennial pink “an emblem of an age both ostensibly post-gender and at the same time, obsessed with gender politics, a palette of ‘wokeness’ and a soft-hued sign of the times.”

(I will save you the trouble of looking up the word “wokeness.” I did it for us. It means a measurable state of awareness about what’s happening in the world.)

I think it’s fair to say that on balance, pink shirts and ties are OK with most men; pink motorcycles and island sofas are not. Other than that, I don’t think men think-pink while daydreaming (I could be wrong).

Sadly, while you’ve been reading this blog, millennial pink has started inching its way over-and-out.  Once the hoi polloi — you and me — latch on to a trend, it’s so over.

Perhaps a good time for olive drab to start making a comeback...?

Anita Alvare (bio)/Alvare Associates/610-520-6140

Millennial Pink   Milan Design Week  Sancal   New York Magazine   Esquire Magazine

Since establishing Alvaré in 1981, Anita has guided the agency through 38 years of steady growth and success. A marketing communications entrepreneur who has done it all, she remains deeply involved in strategic planning and creative direction, bringing extensive knowledge and insight to each client project.

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Comments (3)

05.16.2017
Susan Sauro

lol!

05.16.2017
Rich Robinson

Light red may come and go.  Olive drab never left.

05.17.2017
Joan Rychalsky

Dear Anita,
I absolutely love & enjoy your articles; they are so “right on.”  Thank you for sharing them with me.  Hope all is well with you.  Blessings, Joan