Sunday, January 25, 2009

Stripes Make Me Happy

Stripe - (as defined by wikipedia) - a long, straight region of a single color.

That long, stright region of a single color, when standing alone or combined with other colors in a pattern makes me happy. When don't stripes make people happy? Maybe this is why jails had to stop issuing black and white striped clothing to their guests. They didn't want to fully ruin the reputation or happy connotation of the stripe. (*Orange was recently on thin ice because of this, but has made a major comeback in fashion. I also love orange.)

Stripes are their own language. They are not symbols, they are not words; in fact they are a combination of color that conveys a message to people in a non-threatening manner. Stripes denote ranks in the military, they are found on countless flags and burgees, NATO and the UN uses them to silently communicate which branch someone is serving in (even on their watch bands), and even the stylish French and Russian Navy has used them as a part of their uniforms.

There is this great thing online for graphic designers called Stripe Generator . A little hard to use as an amateur, but only proves my point about stripes being a wonderful thing - so much so that there is an entire site dedicated to creating them!

Get out there and celebrate stripes and all that they have to offer. Below is a list of my favorite striped items.

I love:
2. French Navy shirts (and Russian)
3. Zebras
4. Racing stripes on cars
5. Candy canes
6. Red Stripe Lager
7. "Stripes" the movie
8. The Stars & Stripes
9. Striped watch bands
10. Fruit Stripe gum
11. Rugby stripes

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