Forget about the political divide, are paint colors polarizing matters for design enthusiasts too? Is it like everything else on the internet that only a few voices are doing all the shouting? Could it be that there is no organic paint color controversy but only marketing noise–a ruse to divide camps and keep the trends changing? While it feels as though I should know the answers, I’m clueless. Followers reach out to me for color help simply because they sense it somehow matters.
Paint Colors & Debates
It does matter. Maybe years of design blogging bias my perception, but increasing debates about color that rage on my channels seem fueled by the same ol’ things that lead to rage: unprocessed pain, powerlessness, and hurt.
In our confusing, revolutionary times, people are still just woundable people–ill equipped or clueless about transforming their intense emotive states. Social media’s echo chamber provides an instrument for transmission. (Another possibility? There is no battle royale about colors, just marketing ploys with fake headlines to click and keep you clicking.)
Maybe the debate is artificial with bots, marketing, and media tricks. Superficial fake conversations in boosted social media threads may encourage design freaks to grow reactive (and stay engaged so ad dollars can add up!).
I learned about this salesy strategy for business of ‘identify (or create) the online consumer’s problem, then offer the solution.’ Is the whole enterprise as transparent and silly as ever?
Should Paint Colors Ever Be Cancelled?
The beauty of a color, any color, is hardly debatable if it moves you.
I understand objections to a given color that feels out of place in a random image seen online. Or a “color of the year” that comes off as utterly cloying. But a wall color selected for a private quarters designed to suit a particular earthling in a particular context? Can we not respond with more curiosity than judgment?
We’re a diverse bouquet of flowers. Earth blooms with variation to uplift, enjoy, and cherish.
I recall reading an article about Gen Z Tik-Tok-ers harassing Millennials’ love of sage green. Really? This is worth our time?
Are we so tapped for interesting topics?
Because good gracious, if this is what human content creators deem post-worthy, maybe we’re judging artificial intelligence too harshly. (Except we’re NOT.) How does color preference become “sad” or embarrassing without help from dualistic thinking splitting everything into “fashionable” and “unfashionable?”
Don’t get me started on backlash online about quiet or neutral palettes and their implications for the human soul.
Pale tones often dismissed as too safe? Hardly a safe topic these days.
Dualistic Thinking & Beauty
Does social media strengthen dualistic thinking and discourage inclusion as easily as algorithmic sculpting and late stage capitalism shape our appetites?
Maybe.
Have non-dual thinking, wonder, and curiosity become irrelevant to open and pleasant design and paint color conversations?
Doubtful.
But have algorithms, pandemic fatigue, and cultural revolutions created a combative subculture of narrow biases and fragile egos?
Let me know your thoughts…along with any intense feelings about sage green :).
When will we welcome the beauty of mystery and the rainbow back to our skies?
Peace to you right where you are.
-michele
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