Colourful Characterization

If you're looking for some interesting way to characterize the players in your story, think about giving them a signature colour.  When readers read our stories and create ideas and images of our character, often they are just as influenced by themes, motifs, and the actual actions of the character as they are by their physical description.  They are not just a physical entity, they possess layers of personality, spirit, whatever you'd like to call it.  So, if we attribute a signature colour to our characters, this colour's mood will add the reader's overall perception of our characters.  For example, in my current work in progress there are three powerful women, each of whom wears a signature gown.  The colours of these gowns were selected with certain moods and emotions in mind; the gowns act as representations of their character.  The repetitious mention of these gowns and their specific colours also helps readers create a unique identity for the women, instead of being confused and mistaking them for one another.  So, if you're looking for interesting and capturing ways to characterize the players in your story, add a splash of colour and I think you'll be surprised by how vivid they become :)

Oh, and a great example of how this was used--Gandalf!  Gandalf the grey, then became Gandalf the white, you know ;)