Survey 4: Battle of the Beige
by Adrian Hanft, (6 comments)
There was a cute little post on UnBeige earlier this week commenting on the beigeness (ProBeige?™) of our recent redesign. I prefer to call it a light warm neutral color scheme, but whatever. Although I think it is kind of silly to have that strong of an opinion about a color, it did make me wonder if there really is a bias from designers against beige. My guess is that when UnBeige picked their name they did about as much market research and color analysis as I did when I was picking my colors: very little. Not anymore. In an attempt to determine if there really is an unbeige bias among designers I would like to introduce our fourth survey question:
What is your opinion of beige?
Cast your vote here, or view the results here. If you vote, try to respond based just on the color - this isn’t a popularity contest between UnBeige and Be A Design Group. Oh, and I should also say that I have no intention of changing this site’s color scheme in the near future (although I have thought about changing the color scheme seasonally). Just because you are voting doesn’t mean this is a democracy!
Comments (6)
Prescott Perez-Fox said:
I, for one, think the re-design is very sharp. It’s well balanced and modern, not overpowering or cluttered, as many sites are wont to do.
In my opinion, the background colour seems a mite pink. I’d rather see shades-of-brown, and yellow hues, and then maybe use a strong pink or red as a highlight colour.
Like the survey concludes, I agree that beige (or rather, shades of brown) can be used successfully, as part of a larger plan. In conclusion, keep doing your thing. And if you find the need to tweak, go right ahead, its your site, damnit.
Posted on May 29, 2007
PixelHustler said:
UnBeige could always solve their own problem and just refer to it as ‘taupe’ or ‘eggshell’ or some other name. What is the technical definition of beige anyway? I know people used to always refer to PCs as ‘beige boxes’ but that color had a whole lot more yellow in it than anything I see on this site. Regardless, I like the new layout/color scheme. It’s not so far away from the old one that I feel like I’m at a different site, but at the same time, it definitely feels new. I’d say it’s definitely an upgrade.
Posted on May 31, 2007
Nate Voss said:
I wouldn’t really call it a “color scheme,” based on the overall lack of almost any color. It feels like a doctor’s office, or a new house with unpainted walls…
Posted on May 31, 2007
Adrian Hanft said:
Nate, in most intelligent design circles, even white is considered a color. They should have taught you that in school. Maybe you skipped that class?
Posted on May 31, 2007
Bennett said:
Nate, Here is a thought. Since we don’t know what we will be posting about in the future, maybe we should do our best to create a clean surface to present anything and everything. The neutral design is perfect for showing off the individual posts.
You can paint a room any bright color you want, and then pick artwork that fits in that room. We don’t have that luxury, unless we would only post about things that will look well with the chosen colorful scheme.
Posted on May 31, 2007
Tracy Koebnick said:
Young designers beware, color is not the most important part of the design.
Before you go off on me I’ll give you a quick example. When I am designing a logo for a client I always do the first round in black and white.
Why?
First, if the design does not work in black and white color will not save it.
Second, people have such a strong opinion on color. Adrian may think it is silly for people to have such a strong opinion on a color, but they do. If a perfect design is shown to a client in a color they hate it will never see the light of day.
Why do you think thumbnails are so important to the design process? No color.
Work your layout, negative space and focal point then add color.
Color will never save a bad design.
Posted on June 18, 2007