The aesthetics of the metaverse
Here’s an experiment for you to do: Google ‘metaverse’ and head over to images. You’ll probably find a mix of visuals with video game-like avatars, VR goggles, a grid pattern, people reaching into a void or digital universe, sometimes touching some kind of network of lit up nodes.
And apparently, the metaverse is tinted predominantly in violet & pinks (magenta mainly), with a dash of blue and red. Due to the metaverse buzz in 2022, there is a possibility that this palette has simply been copied a lot, resulting in a similar aesthetic. However, there’s probably more to it than that. Why were these colors chosen in the first place, and why does it feel right?
The palette
Color plays an important role in whether or not you’ll like a product or brand. In about 90 seconds, you’ve made your decision. Besides the aesthetic appeal of this palette, there is something to say about the subliminal message it brings along. Let’s take a look at the ideas that the metaverse palette converts.
Violet
Violet and other variants of purples have long been a powerful color. Historically, purple dye was rare and expensive, so it became associated with royalty, nobility, and wealth. Purple was often reserved for monarchs and rulers, symbolizing power, luxury, and prestige.
It’s also commonly used in modern religions and ceremonies. In the Catholic church, it’s used during Lent, the period before Easter and also symbolizes the kingship of Jesus. In Judaism, the color signifies a renewed relationship with God and the spiritual journey towards redemption. Also throughout Eastern philosophies and practices, purple is often associated with spirituality, mysticism and a higher consciousness.
In pop culture - e.g. purple rain, purple haze -, the color can be linked to spiritual and/or psychedelic experiences (for Hendrix, it was also a reference to a science fiction novel). In visual arts and graphic design, it is often used as daring or even unconventional applications and is generally associated with creativity, imagination and innovation.
Mixing the calm of blue and the intensitiy of red, violet can also be viewed as an ambivalent color, as it sits in between both. Being ambigue, it represents mystery, complexity and uncertainty.
Let’s sum it up as mysterious, potent, spiritual & prosperous.
Magenta
Magenta - firstly called fuchsine in honor of the German doctor and botanist Leonhart Fuchs, who also lent his name to the fuchsia flower - has been prized for its cost-effectiveness (because it was chemically derived instead of harvested from nature) as well as its hyper-vibrancy. Pantone crowned Viva Magenta color of the year in 2023 (with coincidentally a very fitting title to their blogpost).
In art, magenta was a popular use of color in the late 19th / early 20th century art nouveau movement, and later got associated with the phychedelic art movement in the 60s. It is also often used in representations or the context of universal love.
Neither warm nor cool, magenta has become a symbol of balance and harmony. Its strong character is associated with rebelliousnes, audacity & empowerment, encouraging experimentation, self-expression, resilience and bravery. It surely lifts the spirit. As Laurie Pressman, Vice President at the Pantone Color Institute said: “Magenta is assertive but not aggressive.”
Some people argue that magenta does not really exist as a wavelength on the color spectrum - and that is in fact true. In essence, magenta occupies a space between blue and red. Our brains struggle to process this, resulting in the perception or manifestation of magenta.
Blue
Blue has been an important and prominent color in art and decoration throughout times. Jewelry, porcelain, glasswork, … In traditional religous paintings, the Virgin Mary almost always is portrayed in a blue gown or veil (she even had a shade of blue named after her, Marian Blue). In both the United States as well as Europe, both men and women tend to choose blue as their favourite color.
Blue connects us with a sense of harmony, confidence, security and authority that is non-invasive. It’s heavily present in business, religion, sports and politics. It also tends to invoke a sense of calmness, stillness and serenity, reminding us of the vastness of the sky and the depths of the ocean. Blue is even said to lower a person’s heart rate (yes, the background of this website was intentional ;)).
It is also the color of creativity, since it produces a slow psysiological response. Where light blues help with concentration, darker blues nurture thought processes. Invoking a sense of intelligence and infinity yet also coldness & objectiveness, it is often an color used in depictions of technology.
Red
Historically, red was one of the first colors to be used, as seen in prehistoric art, face paints, ceramics, architecture and constumes.
Being the color of blood, is has widely come associated with sacrifice, danger and courage. Modern surveys in both the USA and Europe show that people link red strongly to heat, passion, anger, love and joy. In Asian countries, red symbolizes good fortune and happiness.
In nature, red is often linked to dominance (in e.g. reproductive success); in sports and competitions, it’s associated with increased performance - although this seems to be more a psychological assumption rather than actual better statistics.
As an intense, extroverted, energetic color, it for sure attracts attention and is used frequently in advertising.
The color theory of a virtual space
Given the color symbolics described above, the dominant metaverse palette seems quite accurate in conveying its ideas. Ideas, because the metaverse is to a certain extend still a concept, if you apply the definition of it being an uninterrupted virtual space, connecting multiple digital realms seamlessly. Most depictions of the metaverse need to convince the viewer to step into an imaginative world with them, a world that is partially there but not completely accessible yet. Visualizing a virtual space that someone might not have experienced themselves yet surely needs the right colors to describe what it’s like in there.
And what is that world to be like? Potent, energetic, infinite and with that, also still mysterious for a large part. The metaverse is a concept promising incredible potential with virtually (pun intended) no limits.
And quite visually pleasing as well, if it looks anything like its carefully assembled palette.