Has the world become less colourful? • Hacker News Board

Re: Has the world become less colourful?

#41

Post by notfromhere » Thu, Jul 28, 2022, 10:00 AM UTC

Macha wrote: post #31

ThePadawan wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It might be a self-perpetuating problem. Maybe people prefer (red, green, bright blue), but they fear that they won't be able to sell their car because of its color. So they buy white. (I read somewhere [so take this with a grain of salt] that this effect happens with marble kitchen countertops: not that many homeowners actually like them, but they believe that potential buyers might, so an overproportional amount of…

> Maybe people prefer (red, green, bright blue), but they fear that they won't be able to sell their car because of its color. So they buy white. There's definitely location/cultural variety here, people would worry a white car wouldn't sell, due to the increased visibility of dirt and scratches, so only gets 5% of sales here. The top colours here are silver (24%), black (22%) and blue (17%, mostly darker shades). I'…

The white car thing in California might just be weather related. White won't heat up as fast

Re: Has the world become less colourful?

#42

Post by thematrixturtle » Thu, Jul 28, 2022, 10:01 AM UTC

thoweriu34234 wrote: post #3

It's not just colours. The world rapidly turning into a real-life "borg-world": same kinds of buildings; same kinds of dresses; same kinds of "world models; same philosophies; and now the same language too. The world is for all real purposes has been gobbled up by the Anglosphere. It's all but dead; I'm sure many people realize how drab and low-entropy our world is today.

Having visited East Germany before the wall came down, I assure you some parts of the world used to be far more drab than anywhere today. Even North Korea seems to like pastels.

It's also rather Anglocentric to assume that the "generic world" you describe is an "Anglosphere". Today's modern aesthetic is often described as Japanese/Zen or Scandinavian, and indeed, its biggest purveyors -- IKEA, Muji, Uniqlo, H&M -- are not from the Anglosphere.

Re: Has the world become less colourful?

#43

Post by tintedfireglass » Thu, Jul 28, 2022, 10:02 AM UTC

Macha wrote: post #31

ThePadawan wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It might be a self-perpetuating problem. Maybe people prefer (red, green, bright blue), but they fear that they won't be able to sell their car because of its color. So they buy white. (I read somewhere [so take this with a grain of salt] that this effect happens with marble kitchen countertops: not that many homeowners actually like them, but they believe that potential buyers might, so an overproportional amount of…

> Maybe people prefer (red, green, bright blue), but they fear that they won't be able to sell their car because of its color. So they buy white. There's definitely location/cultural variety here, people would worry a white car wouldn't sell, due to the increased visibility of dirt and scratches, so only gets 5% of sales here. The top colours here are silver (24%), black (22%) and blue (17%, mostly darker shades). I'…

steel is naturally silver so I guess that's the reason no one cares much?

Re: Has the world become less colourful?

#44

Post by sebastianconcpt » Thu, Jul 28, 2022, 10:06 AM UTC

Fantastic. One thing that can be added is that since 2021, everything became 50 shades of purple.

And I mean annoyingly forced things that should never be that color.

Example: the other day I saw some youtube video of upcoming videogames and many of them have, somehow, parts of purple smoke in fire explosions, the engine exhaust of the Millenium Falcon going from its classic light blue to purplish, lights and shadows that do not match the natural environment forced to subtle purplish.

Not to mention the mandatory login screen of macOS Monterrey.

Re: Has the world become less colourful?

#45

Post by sebastianconcpt » Thu, Jul 28, 2022, 10:09 AM UTC

thoweriu34234 wrote: post #3

It's not just colours. The world rapidly turning into a real-life "borg-world": same kinds of buildings; same kinds of dresses; same kinds of "world models; same philosophies; and now the same language too. The world is for all real purposes has been gobbled up by the Anglosphere. It's all but dead; I'm sure many people realize how drab and low-entropy our world is today.

What about some soviet brutalism then? https://designyoutrust.com/2021/07/impressive-examples-of-so...

Re: Has the world become less colourful?

#46

Post by avar » Thu, Jul 28, 2022, 10:17 AM UTC

thematrixturtle wrote: post #34

There is a famous if possibly apocryphal study where random people were asked to rate various toaster colors, and everybody swooned over lime green and hot pink and whatnot. After they finished, they were told that as their prize they could take one of the toasters home -- and everybody chose white, stainless steel or black.

No post body was provided.

Re: Has the world become less colourful?

#47

Post by afc » Thu, Jul 28, 2022, 10:21 AM UTC

sebastianconcpt wrote: post #44

Fantastic. One thing that can be added is that since 2021, everything became 50 shades of purple. And I mean annoyingly forced things that should never be that color. Example: the other day I saw some youtube video of upcoming videogames and many of them have, somehow, parts of purple smoke in fire explosions, the engine exhaust of the Millenium Falcon going from its classic light blue to purplish, lights and shadows…

Hmm, feels like confirmation bias? I haven't noticed any recent increase of purple myself. I suppose it could also be a regional/country thing, hmm.

Re: Has the world become less colourful?

#48

Post by maest » Thu, Jul 28, 2022, 10:25 AM UTC

avar wrote: post #46

thematrixturtle wrote: post #34

There is a famous if possibly apocryphal study where random people were asked to rate various toaster colors, and everybody swooned over lime green and hot pink and whatnot. After they finished, they were told that as their prize they could take one of the toasters home -- and everybody chose white, stainless steel or black.

Quoted post unavailable.

GP clearly meant the gray colour common for stainless steel objects:

https://im01.itaiwantrade.com/f741c34e-0130-464b-a4d0-1607a2...

Re: Has the world become less colourful?

#49

Post by avar » Thu, Jul 28, 2022, 10:25 AM UTC

It's interesting to think about examples where we've been moving to a better world, or more rational choices based on these seemingly more boring color selections, or where external factors are driving them:

1. White as a car color is much more practical in any place that gets a lot of direct sun. In e.g. South Africa you might drive around all day and not see anything except white cars. In Western and Southern Europe their popularity is a rough approximation of summer heat and sunlight in the area.

2. These photographs are by-and-large leaving ignoring practicalities. Sure, a natural wooden wall is nice, but it also needs more maintenance to look like that than one that's painted white.

3. For kitchens boring colors are practically synonymous with an increase in durability and the ability to withstand water. It's easy to get stainless steel, or a white and black marble countertop, you can't paint stainless steel and still place a hot pan on it, a wooden countertop is going to be subject to rot over time, particularly with water ingress. Once you pick stainless steel or white/black for major surfaces others tend to follow.

Re: Has the world become less colourful?

#50

Post by aussieshibe » Thu, Jul 28, 2022, 10:26 AM UTC

stuartleigh wrote: post #27

ThePadawan wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It might be a self-perpetuating problem. Maybe people prefer (red, green, bright blue), but they fear that they won't be able to sell their car because of its color. So they buy white. (I read somewhere [so take this with a grain of salt] that this effect happens with marble kitchen countertops: not that many homeowners actually like them, but they believe that potential buyers might, so an overproportional amount of…

As somebody who has recently renovated their kitchen and bathroom, it's not that I thought potential buyers would prefer white over a colour, it's just that I thought they were less likely to NOT like white over my preference of colour, and then either be put off, or feel like "this house is perfect but we'd have to redo the bathroom right away because I can't stand the pink" and then offer less.

This comment reminds me of one of my favourite Mitchell and Webb sketches: https://youtu.be/nWoWHzq21tA