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> Robyn: To give YouTube a sense of motion, we created a dynamic red-to-magenta gradient. For the second color, orange and yellow were strong contenders, but ma

by ncann 2y ago

> Robyn: To give YouTube a sense of motion, we created a dynamic red-to-magenta gradient. For the second color, orange and yellow were strong contenders, but magenta felt like the most natural pairing with our new red. Interestingly, magenta doesn't often appear in the natural world, so it symbolizes the imagination and evolution that YouTube embodies. We also placed the gradient at a 45-degree angle with magenta on the right, signifying forward movement. Kinda reminds me of this quote https://www.usenix.org/system/files/1311_05-08_mickens.pdf https://www.usenix.org/system/files/1311_05-08_mickens.pdf > There will be rich debates about the socioeconomic implications of Helvetica Light, and at some point, you will have to decide whether serifs are daring statements of modernity, or tools of hegemonic oppression that implicitly support feudalism and illiteracy.

skydhash 2y ago
Bateman: [internal monologue] Look at that subtle off-white coloring. The tasteful thickness of it. Oh my God... it even has a watermark.
- BonoboIO 2y ago
  Perfect
dylan604 2y ago
any time i read quotes like that, i immediately start rolling my eyes that people actually believe the words being uttered. "symbolizes the imagination and evolution" yeah, that's what a color says to me. these are essentially Rorschach level tests where it says more about the person than anything factual
- BoorishBears 2y ago
  You just need to learn to embrace the Pepsi Universe: https://www.goldennumber.net/wp-content/uploads/pepsi-arnell-021109.pdf https://www.goldennumber.net/wp-content/uploads/pepsi-arnell... (For newcomers with limited time, scroll to the last 2 pages)
  - disqard 2y ago
    This is... genius, or parody? I can't tell.
    - imp0cat 2y ago
      https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32064324 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32064324
    - BoorishBears 2y ago
      The same folks (Arnell Group) did a redesign for Tropicana. Tropicana lost 30 million dollars in sales and had to revert the change. They also spent 35 million on a campaign to advertise the redesign (also ran by the Arnell Group) https://www.thebrandingjournal.com/2015/05/what-to-learn-from-tropicanas-packaging-redesign-failure/ https://www.thebrandingjournal.com/2015/05/what-to-learn-fro...
    - deleted 2y ago
      [deleted]
  - crtez 2y ago
    Is it bad that I kind of find myself almost…respecting how ludicrous it is?
    - dylan604 2y ago
      on no, it's definitely award nomination level for the effort/effect, and we all know it's just an honor to be nominated. i'm not sure if it's a "you really like me" level or not though
Klaster_1 2y ago
After reading justifications like that, I find it hard not to feel cynical about people who suggest and promote such changes. Am I missing something important, or is this really just a fig leaf covering busywork, promotions, and internal politics? Every time I’ve had to implement a "fresh redesign" as a developer, it always seemed to be about scratching an itch for a higher-up or a designer.
- 4gotunameagain 2y ago
  No, you're not missing anything. This is what is colloquially referred to as bullshit.
- PoignardAzur 2y ago
  They mention technical reasons like avoiding screen burn-in.
  - Klaster_1 2y ago
    That's a great point I overlooked, thank you for bringing it up!
  - skydhash 2y ago
    Isn't that something screensavers was created to solve?
vunderba 2y ago
During the golden age of the Romantic period, it was not uncommon for writers to employ almost ludicrously UV-level prose to the works of famous composers. I'll leave you with this particular critic's review of a piece of music by Gottschalk (a famous 19th century American composer). They are like "chants of the New World, chants which bring tears to our eyes, so much do they breathe of sadness and simplicity. One transports us to forests. . . another represents faithfully the indolent Creole swinging in his hammock. .. and what shall we say of the third? Does it not seem to be overwhelmed by that solemn silence and that solitude which one feels traversing those vast prairies at the foot of the Rocky Mountains?" IMHO the reason LLMs are so proficient at these kinds of vapid flights of fantasy is that they must have ingested the entire fanfic library on Wattpad.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- jhbadger 2y ago
  Also, in the Renaissance, scientists and writers often wrote ridiculous and over the top praises of their patrons who funded their work like Galileo did for Cosmo de Medici. Of course the way scientific funding is going, we might have to go back to that system.
SebastianKra 2y ago
In my masters, I took a few courses from design degrees.The assignment of the semester was to create a generative display in Cinder. I cobbled something together based on what I thought looked good. A project partner took the task of retroactively assigning an "intention" to my result. "The lines meeting in the center symbolize a conversation between people...". To my surprise, the examiner bought this and we ended up with a good grade. I feel like I learned a lot from this course. I'm not saying that's what happened here, but if it did, we probably couldn't tell.
- DiscourseFan 2y ago
  Doesn't sound like a good design teacher if they cared at all about intent, or even how long it took you. I heard an anecdote from someone whose mom went to art school, about how she (the mom) would spend days and days painstakingly processing materials and meticulously conceptualizing and constructing pieces, and always felt sour when a party girl did nothing but get drunk/high for weeks and then just "poured paint on her tits" for her assignment, and got a better grade. But maybe pouring paint on her tits was actually more profound, even if unintentionally, than whatever her mom was up to. Effort, intent, is meaningless in creative practice.
  - account42 2y ago
    The thing though is that neither the intent nor de post-hoc made up intent are relevant in the real world. Neither is he time/effort spend on needlessly elaborate processes. What matters is if the average user thinks it looks good or not.
qingcharles 2y ago
"Grandfather, which side of the Helvetica Light wars were you on?" "Oh, my boy, I fought with the Arial Resistance Corps."
benhurmarcel 2y ago
I'm not sure whether posting that one https://xkcd.com/915/ https://xkcd.com/915/ or this one https://xkcd.com/1095/ https://xkcd.com/1095/
bhandziuk 2y ago
I noticed this gradient and knew it didn't used to be there. I thought for a long time there was something wrong with my TV. I would walk around the room looking at the TV from different angles and would move the progress bar to different points in the video. I was looking at the color settings and other known-color images. Ultimately I'm glad I saw this article and I can stop thinking I've gone crazy out that my tv is broken!
- addandsubtract 2y ago
  Plot twist: your TV hasn't updated YouTube yet.
- moralestapia 2y ago
  Hehe same here, I thought my monitor burned out. I like the new colors tbh, but it's a very very very minor update and can't avoid speculating how much that thing cost Google, 5 x 300k/year salaries x ... 2 years maybe? Lol.

by ncann 2y ago

skydhash 2y ago

Bateman: [internal monologue] Look at that subtle off-white coloring. The tasteful thickness of it. Oh my God... it even has a watermark.

BonoboIO 2y ago
Perfect

dylan604 2y ago

any time i read quotes like that, i immediately start rolling my eyes that people actually believe the words being uttered. "symbolizes the imagination and evolution" yeah, that's what a color says to me. these are essentially Rorschach level tests where it says more about the person than anything factual

BoorishBears 2y ago
You just need to learn to embrace the Pepsi Universe: https://www.goldennumber.net/wp-content/uploads/pepsi-arnell-021109.pdf https://www.goldennumber.net/wp-content/uploads/pepsi-arnell... (For newcomers with limited time, scroll to the last 2 pages)
- disqard 2y ago
  This is... genius, or parody? I can't tell.
  - imp0cat 2y ago
    https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32064324 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32064324
  - BoorishBears 2y ago
    The same folks (Arnell Group) did a redesign for Tropicana. Tropicana lost 30 million dollars in sales and had to revert the change. They also spent 35 million on a campaign to advertise the redesign (also ran by the Arnell Group) https://www.thebrandingjournal.com/2015/05/what-to-learn-from-tropicanas-packaging-redesign-failure/ https://www.thebrandingjournal.com/2015/05/what-to-learn-fro...
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
- crtez 2y ago
  Is it bad that I kind of find myself almost…respecting how ludicrous it is?
  - dylan604 2y ago
    on no, it's definitely award nomination level for the effort/effect, and we all know it's just an honor to be nominated. i'm not sure if it's a "you really like me" level or not though

Klaster_1 2y ago

After reading justifications like that, I find it hard not to feel cynical about people who suggest and promote such changes. Am I missing something important, or is this really just a fig leaf covering busywork, promotions, and internal politics? Every time I’ve had to implement a "fresh redesign" as a developer, it always seemed to be about scratching an itch for a higher-up or a designer.

4gotunameagain 2y ago
No, you're not missing anything. This is what is colloquially referred to as bullshit.
PoignardAzur 2y ago
They mention technical reasons like avoiding screen burn-in.
- Klaster_1 2y ago
  That's a great point I overlooked, thank you for bringing it up!
- skydhash 2y ago
  Isn't that something screensavers was created to solve?

vunderba 2y ago

During the golden age of the Romantic period, it was not uncommon for writers to employ almost ludicrously UV-level prose to the works of famous composers. I'll leave you with this particular critic's review of a piece of music by Gottschalk (a famous 19th century American composer). They are like "chants of the New World, chants which bring tears to our eyes, so much do they breathe of sadness and simplicity. One transports us to forests. . . another represents faithfully the indolent Creole swinging in his hammock. .. and what shall we say of the third? Does it not seem to be overwhelmed by that solemn silence and that solitude which one feels traversing those vast prairies at the foot of the Rocky Mountains?" IMHO the reason LLMs are so proficient at these kinds of vapid flights of fantasy is that they must have ingested the entire fanfic library on Wattpad.

deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
jhbadger 2y ago
Also, in the Renaissance, scientists and writers often wrote ridiculous and over the top praises of their patrons who funded their work like Galileo did for Cosmo de Medici. Of course the way scientific funding is going, we might have to go back to that system.

SebastianKra 2y ago

In my masters, I took a few courses from design degrees.The assignment of the semester was to create a generative display in Cinder. I cobbled something together based on what I thought looked good. A project partner took the task of retroactively assigning an "intention" to my result. "The lines meeting in the center symbolize a conversation between people...". To my surprise, the examiner bought this and we ended up with a good grade. I feel like I learned a lot from this course. I'm not saying that's what happened here, but if it did, we probably couldn't tell.

DiscourseFan 2y ago
Doesn't sound like a good design teacher if they cared at all about intent, or even how long it took you. I heard an anecdote from someone whose mom went to art school, about how she (the mom) would spend days and days painstakingly processing materials and meticulously conceptualizing and constructing pieces, and always felt sour when a party girl did nothing but get drunk/high for weeks and then just "poured paint on her tits" for her assignment, and got a better grade. But maybe pouring paint on her tits was actually more profound, even if unintentionally, than whatever her mom was up to. Effort, intent, is meaningless in creative practice.
- account42 2y ago
  The thing though is that neither the intent nor de post-hoc made up intent are relevant in the real world. Neither is he time/effort spend on needlessly elaborate processes. What matters is if the average user thinks it looks good or not.

qingcharles 2y ago

"Grandfather, which side of the Helvetica Light wars were you on?" "Oh, my boy, I fought with the Arial Resistance Corps."

benhurmarcel 2y ago

I'm not sure whether posting that one https://xkcd.com/915/ https://xkcd.com/915/ or this one https://xkcd.com/1095/ https://xkcd.com/1095/

bhandziuk 2y ago

I noticed this gradient and knew it didn't used to be there. I thought for a long time there was something wrong with my TV. I would walk around the room looking at the TV from different angles and would move the progress bar to different points in the video. I was looking at the color settings and other known-color images. Ultimately I'm glad I saw this article and I can stop thinking I've gone crazy out that my tv is broken!

addandsubtract 2y ago
Plot twist: your TV hasn't updated YouTube yet.
moralestapia 2y ago
Hehe same here, I thought my monitor burned out. I like the new colors tbh, but it's a very very very minor update and can't avoid speculating how much that thing cost Google, 5 x 300k/year salaries x ... 2 years maybe? Lol.