Colors and Branding: Technology Evangelist

Colors and Branding: Technology Evangelist:

I was at Yahoo! HQ earlier this week and noticed that the sprinkler heads are purple



It turns out that a LOT of stuff is purple at Yahoo, including a cow at the reception desk.

While Yahoo uses a lot of purple on its campus and as one of its primary corporate colors, the reason the sprinkler heads are purple is not because Yahoo is that anal about color branding…….

It’s because purple in plumbing indicates that the water in that system is recycled. They’re irrigating their landscape with water recovered from the wrong end (or maybe the right end!) of the sewage treatment plant, which would otherwise flow out into San Francisco bay. While that water is “drinkably clean” if you ask any of the sewage treatment experts, for some odd reason most people have a problem with actually drinking it, so cities have been installing piping to take the outflow from the plants and schlepping it off to companies to use in landscapes and other situations where non-potable water can be used. It’s one of the ways cities are trying to stretch the supply of drinking water to avoid having to build more plants and find new sources.

Technically, the recycled water is non-potable, so all of the plumbing and fixtures that carry is are signed to show that and they use purple pipes and fixtures to warn folks that the water coming out here isn’t from the main (i.e. “safe”) water supply.

Sometimes, the color purple is simply the color purple. In this case, it just happens that Yahoo is near the water plant and shares the color with the water folks, for very different purposes….

You might also want to read:

  1. Why I’m Not Worried About Steve Jobs’ Health » Webomatica – Technology and Entertainment Digest Why I’m Not Worried About Steve Jobs’ Health » Webomatica – Technology and Entertainment Digest: Because Apple has managed other, daunting transitions expertly, I fully...
  2. followup: Truncated RSS Feeds Kill Conversations and Long Term Traffic: Technology Evangelist Chuqui 3.0.1 Beta: Truncated RSS Feeds Kill Conversations and Long Term Traffic: Technology Evangelist: So, I want to toss this out. Once you decide you...
  3. Truncated RSS Feeds Kill Conversations and Long Term Traffic: Technology Evangelist Truncated RSS Feeds Kill Conversations and Long Term Traffic: Technology Evangelist: I am so tired of truncated RSS feeds. Why do you continue to work...
  4. A Better Way to Manage News Comments: Technology Evangelist A Better Way to Manage News Comments: Technology Evangelist: For those who don’t want to invest in proper moderation of things like discussion boards or...
  5. April Fools Day at Google: Technology Evangelist April Fools Day at Google: Technology Evangelist: There is a long tradition of April Fools gags in Silicon Valley, especially at Sun Microsystems, where engineers...