Postcards From Chromatic Places

Fifty postcards represent pairs of towns named after colors in each of the 50 states. (Yes, check 'em out with your gas station coffee and your vintage Rand McNally road atlas.) From Blue Earth, Minnesota to White Settlement, Texas to Golden, Colorado, road trip through miles of color residue in the American cultural landscape and explores color’s linguistic presence in the geography of the everyday.

Indiana Postcard (above) 

4 x 6 inches. digital file or ink on paper.

Towns of Pimento and Buckskin.

The project—in the form of postcards featuring color fields visually inspired by the works of Joseph Albers and Ellsworth Kelly—presents actual towns on the United States map. The design methodology included (1) combing the atlas to identify every town in the United States named with a word associated with a color, (2) choosing two color-named towns per state, often picking unusual choices from the vast assortment as opposed to the straight-from-the-crayon-box names, (3) pairing each color-named town with a specific Pantone Matching System hue, (4) designing 50 postcards using the colors of the chosen towns, and (5) researching and analyzing the history behind the name of each town.