Has the world become less colourful? • Hacker News Board

Re: Has the world become less colourful?

#121

Post by watwut » Thu, Jul 28, 2022, 1:31 PM UTC

towaway15463 wrote: post #76

somebodythere wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, I think people in the past probably just had a weaker preference for designs that go together in color and style.

That seems unlikely. Look at fashion and decor magazines from the past and you see lots of lively colours that are coordinated. If you go house hunting and see a couple houses that haven’t been updated for decades they have a definite palette.

What is in fashion or decor magazine and what people actually have in home or wear are two different things.

Re: Has the world become less colourful?

#122

Post by hn92726819 » Thu, Jul 28, 2022, 1:36 PM UTC

Borrible wrote: post #107

“Therefore in 1909 I announced one morning, without any previous warning, that in the future we were going to build only one model, that the model was going to “Model T,” and that the chassis would be exactly the same for all cars, and I remarked: ‘Any customer can have a car painted any colour that he wants so long as it is black.’ I cannot say that any one agreed with me. The selling people could not of course see…

> Beside, color is all in your mind. Out of it, it's just electromagnetic waves

No it isn't. Our eyes are sensitive enough to detect differences in the wavelengths. Would you say AM/FM radio waves exist only in our mind? No, they have real world impacts, just like color does.

Re: Has the world become less colourful?

#123

Post by password54321 » Thu, Jul 28, 2022, 1:39 PM 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.

I think you need a holiday.

Re: Has the world become less colourful?

#124

Post by kwhitefoot » Thu, Jul 28, 2022, 1:41 PM UTC

donkeyd wrote: post #89

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 pa…

> 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 colourful stuff.

That's odd, I dress in colourful clothes and I get positive comments both from people who are themselves dressed in bright colours and from people very drably dressed. Perhaps it differs from place to place.

Re: Has the world become less colourful?

#125

Post by stonemetal12 » Thu, Jul 28, 2022, 1:42 PM UTC

AmericanChopper wrote: post #38

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.

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.

>Grey, steel, white and black will work in basically every kitchen.

I don't understand that argument. My toaster only needs to work in my kitchen, not every kitchen.

From a manufacture's point of view I get it. It is cheaper to produce 3 colors than 54.

Re: Has the world become less colourful?

#126

Post by hcarvalhoalves » Thu, Jul 28, 2022, 1:45 PM UTC

I've noticed, and absolutely hate that every furniture store or any new building today is basically white, grey and beige. I had to order my furniture custom-made because I wanted a blue sofa and yellow armchair and it's impossible to find, every furniture store used the same small variation of textiles.

I believe this trend was primarily driven by economies of scale, and over time it turned into a customer preference by the offer vs. demand paradox.

Re: Has the world become less colourful?

#127

Post by Tarsul » Thu, Jul 28, 2022, 1:45 PM UTC

BoxOfRain wrote: post #115

dark-star wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

For what it's worth, I think yellow is the definitive colour for a 1970s British sports car: https://uploads.carandclassic.co.uk/uploads/cars/triumph/118...

That's orange. (I like it)

Re: Has the world become less colourful?

#128

Post by Karawebnetwork » Thu, Jul 28, 2022, 1:47 PM UTC

shaftoe wrote: post #61

snedfree wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

not everyone who can use a screen reader can see

Are there a lot of people using screen readers who also use or care about Instagram? Seems incompatible.

There are people who can see with but only effort. Screen readers will allow them to browse quickly without becoming exhausted. For example, only being able to see when they have their eyes almost touching the screen.

Re: Has the world become less colourful?

#129

Post by ziml77 » Thu, Jul 28, 2022, 1:47 PM UTC

pflenker wrote: post #109

I think that the conclusion this thread draws is wrong, because less overall colors make color accents stand out more. In other words: If everything pops out, nothing does. Most of our furniture and walls are white, gray/stainless steel or black, and variations from it. Yet, we use color accents in most rooms, e.g. orange towels in the bathroom, or lilac bedclothes. So while our place confirms the overall trend, it d…

> Another important aspect is that the color I like today is not the color I like tomorrow

This is a pretty big one. Every time I look at buying something colored, I really need to think hard about it. I like the color now, but later I may not. And I'm not going to replace something that isn't broken just because I no longer like the color.

There's also a matter of getting things to match. You're basically stuck with your original color choices going forward unless you're okay with a busy set of clashing colors everywhere.

Re: Has the world become less colourful?

#130

Post by stonemetal12 » Thu, Jul 28, 2022, 1:49 PM 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.

If I had to guess it was short term vs long term color preference, and focus preference.

Lime green is nice when it is short lived, but lime green isn't as nice in year 25, after your tastes have changed.

Hot pink is very eye catching, so it got the votes. On the other hand hot pink is very eye catching, who wants their toaster to be the center of attention?