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Why is the world losing color?

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Re: Why is the world losing color?

#81

Post by umeshunni »

mitthrowaway2 wrote: post #41
WD-42 wrote: post #10

Gen Z is rejecting this "millennial bland" aesthetic of turning all spaces into an Apple store. Just one reason I appreciate and look forward to the coming generation. Take a look at some of their trends in art, music, fashion, graphic design... plenty of color to be found.

It's especially ironic because Apple did, at one time, push vividly coloured transparent-plastic designs.

It makes sense, doesn't it?

When computers were beige, they went all in on color to stand out. When everything started being more colorful, they moved to white and then grey/silver. Now that everything is grey/silver, they're moving to gold/rose.

Re: Why is the world losing color?

#82

Post by joshstrange »

JKCalhoun wrote: post #32

Wow, so much to rage about from the article. I am a huge fan of color and go out of my way to buy bright colored cars, phones, etc. (Not like I had any viable options for my MacBook Pro though). Resale value, it hides dirt well are some of the sadder excuses I hear for buying gray and "silver" cars (wouldn't be cool if they really were silver, not "metallic gray"). Meanwhile you spend your entire time owning the car…

> Not like I had any viable options for my MacBook Pro though

Apple really drops the ball on colors in 99% of their products. You have the iMac and.... oh wait, that's it. There are no real colors on the pro phones and even the non-pro phones looks like something that got 1 of 10 coats of color. And then the MBPs have a handful of shades of gray, I would totally buy a green or blue MBP if there was one.

Re: Why is the world losing color?

#83

Post by [deleted] »

JKCalhoun wrote: post #32

Wow, so much to rage about from the article. I am a huge fan of color and go out of my way to buy bright colored cars, phones, etc. (Not like I had any viable options for my MacBook Pro though). Resale value, it hides dirt well are some of the sadder excuses I hear for buying gray and "silver" cars (wouldn't be cool if they really were silver, not "metallic gray"). Meanwhile you spend your entire time owning the car…

[deleted]

Re: Why is the world losing color?

#84

Post by wholinator2 »

jntun wrote: post #74
bongodongobob wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can see the same thing in music recordings during the 60s. Stereo and quadrophonic sound was new so everything was panned all over the place really hard. Drums all on the left, vocals hard right etc. It's an interesting effect sometimes, but generally a gimmick and/or distraction. We don't really do that anymore, for good reason.

Because the analog equipment back then could only do binary panning.

I've heard this is a recommended paradigm for mixing, to only ever pan things R, C, L and nothing in between, but it doesn't make sense to me. Possible because i have to mix on headphones, but it sounds much too extreme to me. Sure, _some things_ can go all the way but i generally enjoy to fill the space between the far edges, and allow some reverb busses to blur the lines a bit if needed.

Is hard panning really strongly recommended like that, or just a hold over that the old heads learned and passed down

Re: Why is the world losing color?

#85

Post by xboxnolifes »

crazygringo wrote: post #3

It's not "losing" color. At periods when technology resulted in new color possibilities, people went overboard with color. Make all the things colorful!! Think of the technicolor sixties. And we can go back in history and see the same thing with new clothing pigments, new paint pigments. But when everything is colorful, nothing stands out. Everything being colorful is as monotonous as everything being, well, monotone…

> At periods when technology resulted in new color possibilities, people went overboard with color. Make all the things colorful!! Think of the technicolor sixties. And we can go back in history and see the same thing with new clothing pigments, new paint pigments.

Based purely on intuition, I want to agree with you. However, the data in the article suggests there's been a fairly consistent decrease in color of media since the 1800s. You would expect an explosion of color in the 1960s and then a decrease, but one does not exist. At least, the "explosion" the data shows is a very minor increase that does not affect the overall pattern.

Re: Why is the world losing color?

#86

Post by hakaneskici »

I wonder if seeing the world through digital screens had any effect on this.

Biologically, color drives behavior. Exposure to the same color palette over time develops tolerance, so *different* colors might be perceived as more attractive.

I believe each individual is unique in their color perception and emotional response, but there's obviously a shared social aspect of it too.

That said, it's interesting to see the young generation's artistic preferences, which reminds me of 90's for some reason :)

Re: Why is the world losing color?

#87

Post by ryandrake »

JKCalhoun wrote: post #32

Wow, so much to rage about from the article. I am a huge fan of color and go out of my way to buy bright colored cars, phones, etc. (Not like I had any viable options for my MacBook Pro though). Resale value, it hides dirt well are some of the sadder excuses I hear for buying gray and "silver" cars (wouldn't be cool if they really were silver, not "metallic gray"). Meanwhile you spend your entire time owning the car…

Another thing that might also play a role is this styling trend of vehicles looking "meaner" and more and more aggressive. This was discussed[1] a bit on HN a while ago. Bright colors don't really match the "My vehicle is going to punch you in the face" styling (for cars and especially trucks) that has become popular.

1: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32425520

Re: Why is the world losing color?

#88

Post by rhet0rica »

ctrlp wrote: post #53

Adolf Loos designed some incredibly sumptuous interiors. They aren't lacking in color. Methinks he's being used unjustly as a scapegoat to grind some axe. To me, this essay is an example of "slop."

To double down on that notion—the baroque rococo interiors that the author idolises at the end were the exclusive purview of the astonishingly wealthy, in no small part because of how expensive they were to implement. Accordingly they were equated with absolutism and corruption.

It's hard to decide how much of the author's position is born from ignorance versus how much of it is born from disingenuousness.

Re: Why is the world losing color?

#89

Post by colmmacc »

A long time ago I adopted a personal style of wearing bright colors. I have simple good fitting t-shirts in all colors. Glasses in blue and red. Shoes in yellow. Sandals in green. Jackets in orange. You get the idea.

It's always easy to make an outfit that goes together and makes a good impression. Men's Japanese and European fashion brands work well with this choice. I see this on the streets in Paris or Amsterdam fairly commonly, but rarely in the US.

I've found that it's very disarming and engaging; even though I'm over 6'3" and a big guy with a tight hair cut, I'm almost never perceived as a threat. I'm a natural introvert, but it seems to make approachability easier. Since having a kid, and him growing into a toddler, I think it helps there too. It's just more fun. Strong recommend.

Re: Why is the world losing color?

#90

Post by bowsamic »

dragonwriter wrote: post #69
bowsamic wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the Greeks and Romans were not cultures of conformity or austerity - quite the opposite, but the seeds of the philosophy sank in hard, and here we are. I don’t think anyone thinks they were. They are usually assumed to be hedonistic in popular culture

Maybe not “the Greeks” broadly, but Spartans specifically are equated with austerity to the extent that “spartan” is adopted as an adjective meaning “showing indifference to comfort and luxury”.

Do people associate the Greeks with the Spartans more than the Athenians though?
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