Why is everything so grey here?

Today’s Goody I Found is about my “favourite (un-)color”: grey. 😊

Last week I came across a study by the English organisation ‘nesta’, which examined 7,083 photographs of everyday objects from the last 200 years in online(!) museums. https://lnkd.in/eZ6vn2y6

The image below shows how the colors of objects have changed over time.
The most notable trend is the rise in grey over time. These trends likely reflect changes in materials, such as the move away from wood and towards plastic.
However, I had not expected such an impressive development in the direction of ‘grey’ – after the colourful 60s and 70s?

I am a great advocate of using the color ‘grey’ – the default setting for chart elements in our graphomate products is grey.
Why? Too many bright colors make our perception more difficult. Unless they make sense and express something: e.g. green is good, red is bad …
Nevertheless, our preference for the color ‘grey’ is a constant source of controversy. Understandable, as grey is often considered emotionless, conservative and boring. On the other hand grey also conveys professionalism and neutrality.

‘If I want to see something beautiful, I go to a museum.’
I once replied this during a presentation when a decision-maker discussed with me the beauty of the company’s CI colours and that they should also be used in their reports. My sales success turned out accordingly …
Funnily enough, Jürgen Faisst uses the same wording in a comment about a beautiful sunburst chart here: https://lnkd.in/eKJyywii

In retrospect, I hope that we didn’t contribute to the ‘greying of life’ advocating the IBCS, but rather brought the professional aspect of the colour ‘grey’ for dashboard design to the fore.
I would hate to be remembered as a member of a ‘bunch of mindless jerks who’ll be the first against the wall when the revolution comes.” – just like the marketing department of Sirius Cybernetics Corporation …😉

Have a nice weekend,

Lars

This file is licenced under the Creative Com