Magenta—color of the year

Pantone announced the color of the year for 2023 and I don’t hate it! (I’m looking at you yellow and gray—the worst combo ever, right?!) Magenta is not a color that I use as a main color in my work, but I do like to include it (or a version of it) in almost every piece in small amounts to add depth and vitality. I tend to like a more muted/darker version (like a merlot) of it or a brighter hot pink. To me, magenta is kind of like chartreuse; I’d never make a full chartreuse quilt/artwork, but a splash of the color always enhances the final product. Test your magenta knowledge below with the Magenta Quiz and find the answers below the line. Leave a comment letting me know your score!

1. True or False: Magenta is made from the plant magellanica esculenta.

2. Where did the color magenta get its name?

   a) The name is derived from the Latin magenis, the worm which produces the color.

   b) The color is named after Giorgio Giovanni Magenta, the scientist who discovered it.

   c) The name is honorary after Ferdinand Magellan who discovered the plant in the Philippines.

   d) The name comes from the town Magenta, where a battle occurred that was so bloody that the land was covered in the color magenta.

3. True or False: Magenta is exactly halfway between blue and red on the color spectrum.

4. True or False: We cannot physically see the color magenta.

5. When printing, what color appears if you combine the CYM in CYMK together?

6. On a computer screen, what color do magenta and green make?

7. What color is the complimentary (opposite) color of magenta?

8. True or false: It is impossible to make red by mixing other colors.

9. Name the three primary colors.

10. Match each color with it’s Pantone name:

    Magenta

    Raspberry Wine

    Fuchsia Rose

    Honeysuckle

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Answers:

1. False, it is man made

2. d

3. True

4. True, our eyes pick up equal amounts of blue and red which our brains translate into magenta.

5. black

6. white

7. green

8. False, magenta and yellow make red! And magenta and cyan make blue!

9. This was a trick question. The primary colors for pigments (like paint or ink) are cyan, yellow, and magenta. The primary colors of visible light are red, yellow and blue.

10. From left to right; fuchsia rose, honeysuckle, magenta, raspberry wine