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Has the world become less colourful?

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Re: Has the world become less colourful?

#171

Post by kansface »

defrost wrote: post #7

> Consider this study, which analysed the colour of everyday objects over time. > Percentage of Pixels across all photos Does anybody have a citation for "this study" ? It's implicitly implied that it comes from some mega cloud storage of personal and professional photos, but it'd be nice to see the actual source and read the methodoloy. ADDENDUM: Found it. https://lab.sciencemuseum.org.uk/colour-shape-using-computer…

I distrust the study itself, but I have zero misgivings in the results. We bought a house a couple years ago. I personally looked through several thousand listings over the course of a few months (across the country). The standard house is painted tones of "realtor gray" with equivalent (Scandinavian modern) furniture that is dutifully de-saturated of all color more challenging than industrial pine.

Re: Has the world become less colourful?

#172

Post by mikkergp »

mmmmpancakes wrote: post #67

If you are like me and love vibrant colours and struggle to understand the postmodern(?) obsession with drab palettes, I recommend the book Chromophobia by David Batchelor [1]. It contextualizes this phenomenon within broader western art history and is just generally super interesting to someone who has an interest in art and design but isn't embedded in that world. The main takeaway, iirc, is that this isn't a parti…

I've bought a few colorful items recently, 80's print clothing and a rainbow rhinocerous from Amazon (this for reference, because it's awesome: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09DT5NMB5?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_...) and it is strange how transgressive it feels.

Re: Has the world become less colourful?

#173

Post by mikkergp »

theden wrote: post #96

A few reasons I can think of that may explain why: * Older photos had more saturation * Colour photography and screens were new and a novelty, so it was pushed more to showcase their tech's capabilities * Muted or monochrome colours by companies became the norm and associated with class (e.g., old rainbow apple logo vs newer monochrome logos), too much colour may be seen as kitschy * Perhaps tied to the postmodern er…

I wonder if another element could be improvements in resolution and quality as well, both on displays and in our fabrics/materials. Simplicity/flat design looks clean in high res screens and materials. It looks boring in low res screens and less fine materials.

Re: Has the world become less colourful?

#174

Post by pavon »

rvba wrote: post #59
avar wrote: post #49

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 Europ…

You ignore one more thing: white cars are popular because they are often the cheapest. You need to pay more for most color options -> so in poor countries people choose the cheapest model (white paint can be useful in a desert, but in most environments it is harder to clean). Even "boring" colors like silver or black can require an additional fee. Companies often choose white cars as well for their fleets: you can ea…

Dealership economics also play a big part, at least in the US. If the dealership stocks cars in bright colors, some people will love it, and others will hate it, so selling the car will be hit or miss. If they get lucky they can use the color as a selling point, if they aren't they get stuck with a difficult to sell car at the end of the year. On they other hand, if they stock neutral colors like white, people may not love the color but they won't hate it either - it will rarely make/break a sale.

Of course customers can order customized cars, but the dealership will always prefer to sell the stock that they have on hand. So while special ordering a colorful car might be only slightly more expensive than special ordering a white car, special ordering anything for any reason will loose you all negotiating power and cost you thousands of dollars in the final price. I might want a colorful car, but I don't want to pay that much more for a colorful car, so I settle for white.

Re: Has the world become less colourful?

#175

Post by fknorangesite »

willis936 wrote: post #52
avar wrote: post #49

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 Europ…

Ceramics have advantages in the kitchen and are often very vibrant.

And cost more.

Re: Has the world become less colourful?

#176

Post by nereye »

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.

Would normally try to resist but, just as FYI, from https://brians.wsu.edu/2016/05/30/palate-palette-pallet/:

palate / palette / pallet Your “palate” is the roof of your mouth, and by extension, your sense of taste. A “palette” is the flat board an artist mixes paint on (or by extension, a range of colors). A “pallet” is either a bed (now rare) or a flat platform onto which goods are loaded.

Re: Has the world become less colourful?

#177

Post by hallway_monitor »

kansface wrote: post #169

Quite a few just so stories in here - I mostly disagree with most in favor of my own: We shed our colors because we lost the emotions expressed by those colors in our lexicon. We don’t put joy , awe , wonder , or whimsy on display. Those emotions aren’t just gone from our palette (walls, furniture, consumer products, cars, fridges), they are non-existent in and of themselves in society at large. Our Art is outrage, p…

This hits very close to home for some reason. Thinking about music, it seems that most emotions have gone from that art. Maybe this is why I enjoy stand-up comedy so much - I feel all four of those emotions when watching it.

Re: Has the world become less colourful?

#178

Post by BeFlatXIII »

jkqwzsoo wrote: post #158
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.

I remember reading a feature/native advertisement about Lenovo's ThinkPad focus groups a while back (I think on Ars or The Verge) that had a similar conclusion. People would go crazy over a red or white ThinkPad in focus groups, but would never buy one because they couldn't see themselves as "that person" with the red laptop at a meeting. Lenovo did make both a red and white x100e a long while ago, but those were mor…

I am "that person" and am quite disappointed that I can't own a lime green MacBook Air.

Re: Has the world become less colourful?

#180

Post by neutronicus »

quartesixte wrote: post #170
throaway91081 wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

if you dress a way that you are not, people will get mad, and if you do, they are happy. this thread wasn't talking about fashion choices anyway. the reason for this is totally uninteresting. we're seeing the circumstances of assets like cars and houses being sold to future people and surviving, and the ones that future people by have less of the prior owner's personality to them. why are new houses so boxy and drab?…

The absolute destitute sticks buildings stay up out of some perverse mixture of house-as-investment (instead of land-as-investment), American house building culture, the state of construction in this country, and a really misplaced desire for “historical” preservation of “neighborhood character”. The Victorian houses are nice but they all need to go.

I don't know shit about San Francisco (which I assume you're talking about here), but I'm very glad that Baltimore isn't knocking down all of our 1890s brick-and-masonry rowhome shells to put up more 4+1 apartment complexes.
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