6 ms·

What happened to COLOR in America? Cars, product design, radios, clothes

16 points by fortran77 4y ago

Mountain_Skies 4y ago
Reminds me of Radio Shack's line of Flavoradios, which lasted far longer than the video portends. I also owned an orange car in the 2010s and had no problem selling it despite the conventional wisdom that such colors reduce resale value (turns out that's actually not true). Then there are phone cases, of which there is seemingly an endless variety. The phone that goes into the case is mostly bland but that give the owner the choice of how to customize the appearance instead of being stuck with whatever choices the manufacturer came up with.
- pharmakom 4y ago
  Weird colors decrease liquidity I suppose, but not always value.
postalrat 4y ago
People were told colors might be offensive to whoever wants to buy your stuff.
- i386 4y ago
  This is true. In 2018 ordered a factory built BMW 3 series in metallic blue with tan leather seats and trim. On delivery day the dealer said he was happy that I was taking it, whilst he thought it was beautiful, as selling that combination would be tough. When I asked why, he said that people only bought them in white or black for resale purposes. I love the car and plan to drive it into the ground!
geoffpado 4y ago
This person apparently hasn't met the kind of gamer who throws RGB lights everywhere they can find. Or seen the sheer number of aftermarket phone cases that come in every color and pattern you can think of. Color may be limited in the initial design of products, but it's alive and well in customization. Honestly, that might be the best place for it. Companies just have to produce a limited set of base models and then customers are free to choose their own personality on top of it. Or even change their minds; buying a new phone case or adjusting your RGB patterns is much cheaper than buying a brand new device.
simonblack 4y ago
"You can have any color you like, so long as it's black" - Henry Ford, around 1900. The more color choices available, the more often you will have un-economic paint runs. It's very likely much cheaper to paint 100 cars with one color, than to have to set up the whole paint-shop to paint just two cars with some unusual purple.
6stringmerc 4y ago
Line of cars to drop off at elementary school I pass by in North Texas: Silver, silver, white, black, tan, silver, black, white, white, grey, black, beige metallic… It’s totally true. That’s why my car is bright yellow. I’m not yet dead inside.
- bumblebritches5 4y ago

16 points by fortran77 4y ago

Reminds me of Radio Shack's line of Flavoradios, which lasted far longer than the video portends. I also owned an orange car in the 2010s and had no problem selling it despite the conventional wisdom that such colors reduce resale value (turns out that's actually not true). Then there are phone cases, of which there is seemingly an endless variety. The phone that goes into the case is mostly bland but that give the owner the choice of how to customize the appearance instead of being stuck with whatever choices the manufacturer came up with.

pharmakom 4y ago
Weird colors decrease liquidity I suppose, but not always value.

postalrat 4y ago

People were told colors might be offensive to whoever wants to buy your stuff.

i386 4y ago
This is true. In 2018 ordered a factory built BMW 3 series in metallic blue with tan leather seats and trim. On delivery day the dealer said he was happy that I was taking it, whilst he thought it was beautiful, as selling that combination would be tough. When I asked why, he said that people only bought them in white or black for resale purposes. I love the car and plan to drive it into the ground!

geoffpado 4y ago

This person apparently hasn't met the kind of gamer who throws RGB lights everywhere they can find. Or seen the sheer number of aftermarket phone cases that come in every color and pattern you can think of. Color may be limited in the initial design of products, but it's alive and well in customization. Honestly, that might be the best place for it. Companies just have to produce a limited set of base models and then customers are free to choose their own personality on top of it. Or even change their minds; buying a new phone case or adjusting your RGB patterns is much cheaper than buying a brand new device.

simonblack 4y ago

"You can have any color you like, so long as it's black" - Henry Ford, around 1900. The more color choices available, the more often you will have un-economic paint runs. It's very likely much cheaper to paint 100 cars with one color, than to have to set up the whole paint-shop to paint just two cars with some unusual purple.

6stringmerc 4y ago

Line of cars to drop off at elementary school I pass by in North Texas: Silver, silver, white, black, tan, silver, black, white, white, grey, black, beige metallic… It’s totally true. That’s why my car is bright yellow. I’m not yet dead inside.

bumblebritches5 4y ago