What’s the Best Color? (Hint: It’s Purple)

With so many colors to choose from, how can we ever hope to know which one is the best? You might feel that this is a subjective question and/or hopelessly too broad to answer, yet I offer you a singular, objective answer here:

Purple is the best color. With its connection to harmony of the mind and emotions, peace of mind, imagination, creativity, intuition, wisdom, high ideals, spirituality, sensuality, mystery, wealth, royalty, fantasy, and to the future, it is hard to argue that there is a superior color to purple.

If you agree, I salute and respect your superb judgement in determining what the best color is.

Yet I suspect that there may be some of you who disagree with this choice. That’s OK! I am open to hearing your counter-arguments and starting a good-spirited debate/discussion with you. But first…

How Many Colors Are There?

Did you know that we are capable of seeing about 10,000,000 different colors? While impressively large, there are many, many more colors which we are incapable of seeing.

According to Why Is Color, the total number of possible colors is essentially infinite. If scientists were forced to put a number on it, the best mathematical guess would be:

18,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 different possible colors!

That is an incomprehensibly large number. To put it in perspective, Jeff Bezos has over $100,000,000,000 in personal wealth, give or take. We generally consider him to be the richest person in the world. Yet compared to the number of possible colors, this number looks incredibly small.

Despite an infinite number of colors to choose from, purple still reigns supreme as the best color.

If you are a doubter, this next section is for you. Read on, and let the awesomeness of purple sweep you away.

So Why Is Purple the Best Color?

According to my least favorite reference source of all time, Wikipedia, purple is not a color on the visible spectrum, and it does not have its own wavelength of light. It exists, but it does not exist in optics. It is what’s known as a non-spectral color. Simply put, purple is a combination of red and blue, both of which are primary colors.

That means purple is so awesome that it can exist and not exist at the same time. Nice!

With this information in mind, let’s do some simple math. As you will see later in this article, blue and red are probably the two most popular colors in the world. Follow me closely here, because I am about to blow your minds. If…

Purple = Blue + Red

…then purple must be greater (better) than each of its sub-units!

BAM! I just mathematically proved that purple is the best color in the world! This is irrefutable mathematical proof. Will Hunting, how do you like them purple apples?!?

I could stop here, but you should know by now that I won’t. So, let’s continue to examine the top-notch qualities that make purple the best color of them all. Consider this list from Very Well Mind:

Purple symbolizes royalty and wealth.
Purple is rare in nature, making it unique and exotic.
Purple is a color for the wise and spiritual. It has a mysterious and rare nature to it.
Purple has the strongest electromagnetic wavelength. Hear that? THE STRONGEST! Beat that, magenta!
Purple is sensual. Need I say more?
Purple is calming and soothing.

My Favorite Fun Facts About the Color Purple

There are many awesome facts about the color purple. These are my favorites:

1. Carrots Were Originally Purple!

According to the Tree Hugger website,the first cultivated carrots were not orange; rather, they were purple, yellow and white!

I currently live in the Netherlands. I’m ashamed to admit that carrots became less purple thanks to William of Orange.

His successful revolt against the Spanish led to the creation of the Dutch Republic. Many years later, Dutch farmers developed a new strain of high beta carotene carrots which turned them orange. Society then honored William of Orange by focusing on these new orange carrots and tossing away the non-orange ones.

2. Only Two National Flags Contain the Color Purple!

According to the World Atlas website, there are only two national flags that contain the color purple. They are:

Dominica: You can see a parrot on the flag which has purple feathers and a purple crown.
Nicaragua: There is a small rainbow on the flag which does have the purple stripe on it.

With purple being the best color ever, it’s a wonder why more countries did not adopt it for their flags. World Atlas claims that this was due to the rare and expensive nature of producing purple dye. It was just too expensive to have a flag with purple on it.

3. The Archbishop of Cyprus Can Sign Official Documents in Imperial, Purple Ink!

In a word of formality, business etiquette, and signing documents with black pens, it is so refreshing to discover that certain purple privileges still exist.

So back in 488 AD, the Archbishop of Cyprus was granted certain rights. One of which was the right to sign official documents using an imperial, purple ink. This right still exists. You can read an excerpt about it at this link.

4. Mace Windu and the Purple Lightsaber

I am a big Star Wars fan. Say what you will about the first trilogy, it did showcase a purple lightsaber in the very capable hands of Mace Windu, played by none-other-than Samuel L. Jackson.

I found an article on the Screen Crush website which reveals the origin of the purple lightsaber. In a nutshell, Sam Jackson wanted to be able to easily identify himself during fight scenes. An easy way to do that is to have a unique lightsaber color. While traditionally colored red or green, the decision was made to give Sam Jackson what he wanted, thereby gifting the world with the glorious purple lightsaber.

Does a Generic “Best Color” Really Exist?

I hope it is clear by now that this post is more of a sarcastic homage to purple than a firm declaration of its superiority over all other non-purple colors.

Everyone has their personal favorite color. I respect that. Still, some colors do, in fact, seem to work better in certain situations and for specific purposes than others. Some of that is scientific, some of it is cultural. Irrespective of reason, here are a few examples from Info Please to ponder over:

Black: common in fashion to make people appear thinner. Sneaky!
Blue: often used in bedrooms for its calming effects on the body.
Green: promotes calmness, thus “green rooms” on TV sets are green.
Yellow: enhances concentration, which is why legal pads are yellow.

It is also interesting to cite a study done on the impact of color on marketing which I found on the Emerald website. Among other things, this study concluded that:

When people first interact with other people or products, they usually develop their opinion within 90 seconds.
During that 90 seconds, anywhere from 62-90 percent of that opinion is based only on color!

That is mindboggling to me! It is a statistic that I do not know if I will ever be able to get out of my mind again. Just like I will never change my mind on the awesomeness of the color purple for all things!

Purple is my favorite color. I like it, for no other reason than I just like it.

I would love to know what your favorite color is, why you like it, and some fun facts about your favorite color. Leave a comment below to share your preferences.

NOTE: There are no right-or-wrong answers, unless your favorite color is not purple. Then you will have some serious explaining to do!