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Has the world become less colourful?

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Re: Has the world become less colourful?

#81

Post by MgB2 »

dangrie158 wrote: post #32
jan_Inkepa wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have real problem with colour-perception in LED lighting - board game evenings are tricky when I can't tell the piece colours apart so well. Feels like it's just me though...

Maybe the problem is cheap LED lamps. Check for a high color rendering index [1] (CRI >>90) [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_rendering_index

Exactly, if you get nice CRI 95 lamps you are unlikely to have a noticeable problem with color rendition.

But still beware, the CRI printed on the box (Ra) is kind of flawed since it is measured on unsaturated colors and does not include information about color renditions of red objects. You would have to look at the R9 value as well.

Re: Has the world become less colourful?

#82

Post by MgB2 »

nonrandomstring wrote: post #22

An explanation might be LED lighting. Sunlight, candle-light and resistive filament lights (incandescent) have a broadband spectrum. Through most of history we've viewed the world lit by these sources. Moving to fluorescent lights causes spectral quantisation as the frequencies are due to electronic band transitions in the gas. The phosphor absorbs and re-emits energy in different bands that fills out the spectrum bu…

As others have pointed out, LED lights for general lighting (not those RGB strips for accent lighting) use phosphors with very broad emission bands. Unlike fluorescent lamps, they don't have big gaps in the spectrum. Just a dip in the cyan region. Just make sure to buy stuff with high CRI, preferably 90 or more, and you'll be fine.

Re: Has the world become less colourful?

#83

Post by dark-star »

ThePadawan wrote: post #19
cplli wrote: post #8

Car colours is something that sometimes worries me, brighter colours are sold as 'extra', while greys are default/cheaper. This leads to some cars basically camouflaging with the road, especially at times like dawn or dusk. There are other colours that make it harder to spot a car depending on location/time-of-day, but from my experience greys and grey-navy-ish are the worst.

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…

My current car is bright-yellow. People often ask me whether the color selection was an error, or something went wrong during the order process or whatever.

They are really confused and in disbelief when I tell them that no, it was intentional.

The advantage (other than me just liking fancier colors and disliking the prevalence of grey in cars) is that I can find my car in even the largest parking lot from very far away, and that people instantly recognize me as it's seemingly the only yellow Mercedes-Benz in the town where I live (~100.000 inhabitants) ;-)

Recently I overheard two kids (a boy and a girl, around 7 or so) who drove by my car on bicycles, loudly proclaiming "I would never drive a yellow Mercedes". I wanted to ask them why, but they were too quick (and probably embarassed that I overheard them). I would really love to know if it was their own (genuuine) dislike of the color yellow, or if it was something they acquired from their parents or something like that.

Re: Has the world become less colourful?

#84

Post by cokelee »

Underphil wrote: post #23
matthewmacleod wrote: post #12

Maybe? The headline graphic is from https://lab.sciencemuseum.org.uk/colour-shape-using-computer... which really tells us about the colour of a subset of objects in the Science Museum's collection – so a bit of a biased sample, and I'd wager primarily due to changes in materials. There does seem to be maybe 20% more neutral-coloured cars since 1990, though. Interior design is probably the thing I'd most readily say h…

I can only speak anecdotally but I comment on the drabness of car colours every time I'm out driving with a passenger. It's extremely noticeable.

Just came here to agree—It seems to me that both colors and the shapes are converging. Way too much similarity for my taste.

Also, in the same way US legislation killed the station wagon and created the SUV, the latest CAFE standards are creating many boring to drive automobiles.

Re: Has the world become less colourful?

#85

Post by arketyp »

DoingIsLearning wrote: post #73
arketyp wrote: post #4

Maybe because we have such rich color reproduction in screens we feel the need to have the rest of our surroundings take on a more neutral stance. In fact this reflects the screens such as they are "blank canvases" that take on whatever content deemed fit for the present purpose or mood.

In my opinion it's more about risk aversion. It is difficult to use a lot of color and be 'tasteful' it is a lot easier to use neutral colors even if the end result is dull. People are too afraid of being tacky so they stay in the nordic ikea safe zone.

There is also a risk aversion in buying a monitor which does not have a colored frame, and I think these two notions are related. I personally prefer white walls because I anticipate that I will one day re-style my home according to a new taste. I agree that there is a sense of fear involved, but it is not necessarily about the taste itself so much as the ambulating preference, which perhaps is tacky on another level.

Re: Has the world become less colourful?

#86

Post by gilrain »

dark-star wrote: post #83
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…

My current car is bright-yellow. People often ask me whether the color selection was an error, or something went wrong during the order process or whatever. They are really confused and in disbelief when I tell them that no, it was intentional. The advantage (other than me just liking fancier colors and disliking the prevalence of grey in cars) is that I can find my car in even the largest parking lot from very far a…

To choose both a bright color and a luxury make is signaling to people that you want them to notice your fancier than average car. They are responding to this perceived flaunting of wealth.

Re: Has the world become less colourful?

#87

Post by gilrain »

mjevans wrote: post #13
cplli wrote: post #8

Car colours is something that sometimes worries me, brighter colours are sold as 'extra', while greys are default/cheaper. This leads to some cars basically camouflaging with the road, especially at times like dawn or dusk. There are other colours that make it harder to spot a car depending on location/time-of-day, but from my experience greys and grey-navy-ish are the worst.

Brighter more easily spotted colors, superstitiously, are supposedly more likely to get someone stopped for common minor traffic infractions. Have to also add; if self-driving cars saved everyone from gawker blocks and other annoyances that'd be a net gain for nearly never driving again, at least in more highly regulated areas (presumably interstates and highways first).

Why do you think it’s a superstition?

Re: Has the world become less colourful?

#88

Post by lancesells »

Freak_NL wrote: post #60
stuartleigh wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

When I redo a room it gets the colours we like. I don't care about the next owner of the house beyond keeping the house well maintained and gradually improving things like insulation and wiring. Don't like a colour? Change it after the sale. As it is, the housing market in the Netherlands is completely overheated (seller's market due to a housing shortage), so I could paint every room hot pink and it won't affect the…

I have this same attitude. Enjoy it while you're here and don't live for someone else's ideal.

Re: Has the world become less colourful?

#89

Post by donkeyd »

I'm a man and I like colors. I have a red car, red shoes and colorful jackets. None of them are especially remarkable, they just have colors on them. I get remarks from colleagues about my shoes, I get remarks from random people on the street about my jacket. These people don't tend to be very positive about it, yet they feel the need to say something about my appearance, because I wear colorful stuff.

I feel like part of the movement towards grayscale is that people are afraid to stand out. I can always easily find my car in a parking lot, because it stands out. People can find me in a group, because I stand out. I'm glad I don't care too much about the opinions of other people, so I just wear what I want to and don't try to blend in. I also feel bad for people who don't wear what they'd like to because they're afraid to stand out, because you only get one lifetime.

I personally also hate that the already dreadful winter is made even more dreadful by everyone wearing dark clothing. Please all buy something colorful to wear next winter... It's safer too!

Re: Has the world become less colourful?

#90

Post by leereeves »

junga wrote: post #56
AmericanChopper wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The reason for that seems obvious to me. Grey, steel, white and black will work in basically every kitchen. If you want a more colorful pallet in any room in your house, then you need to put a lot more thought into planning it. I think most people aren’t highly motivated to do that.

> I think most people aren’t highly motivated to do that. But they were in the past? I don't know but I wonder why this might have changed.

I think people in the past spent less time looking at a screen and had other hobbies (like interior decorating) instead.
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