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oof. this is awful advice, even as a rule of thumb. obviously, absolute black is impossible to create, but there are plenty of examples in art and design where

by blehn 13y ago

oof. this is awful advice, even as a rule of thumb. obviously, absolute black is impossible to create, but there are plenty of examples in art and design where truer blacks are intentional and used effectively. Here's some beautiful photography of LA architecture: http://cope1.com/ARCHITECTURE http://cope1.com/ARCHITECTURE eyedrop some of the shadows and you'll notice that many of them are #000000. Or look at Svpply or VSCO Cam — two very well-design mobile apps. #000000 is used extensively in both. http://a2.mzstatic.com/us/r1000/083/Purple/v4/94/fb/c6/94fbc657-48bb-b6d3-f1c7-0e8a1a694a19/mzl.wyodoypv.1136x1136-75.jpg http://a2.mzstatic.com/us/r1000/083/Purple/v4/94/fb/c6/94fbc... http://static.squarespace.com/static/5006a00824ac21f35d8e2de9/51bca157e4b0008f24e5be90/51bca15ee4b0b3d30b8630cb/1371317105053/vsco-cam-sidebar-menu05.PNG http://static.squarespace.com/static/5006a00824ac21f35d8e2de... Not to say that off-blacks are ineffective, but to claim that one should avoid black based on a couple cherry-picked examples is simply misinformed.

dxhdr 13y ago
As a rule of thumb the advice is correct. Nature rarely produces pure blacks and that's all the author is trying to say. To look natural is to not use black. Your LA architecture link is a perfect example of that -- the photographer captured very striking unnatural structures with aggressive, sharp edges and used a very unnatural pure black as emphasis. It works. But it's absolutely not a point against the author's argument.
- blehn 13y ago
  No, it's not correct. The author's argument is that you absolutely should not use pure black in design because it's "unnatural". The false assumption he's making is that artwork and designed objects or interfaces should be natural, and even that is based on a very specific definition of natural. What's natural about a computer or an LCD display? Even the best devices are comprised of "very striking unnatural structures with aggressive, sharp edges". The author supports his argument with artwork, photography, and applications that are no more natural or effective than the ones I linked (oh, and how about Ansel Adams http://www.anseladams.com/ http://www.anseladams.com/? A legendary nature photographer — his images are full of deep blacks.) It's a matter of personal preference. Telling inexperienced designers to "Never Use Black" just isn't sound advice. I would sooner advise designers to work only in black and white. Design a great application in black and white, and then begin working with color and tone when black and white aren't enough. A more appropriate, though less provocative title for this article would be, "Shadows Aren't Always Black".
  - Rumudiez 13y ago
    Creating successful "unnatural" imagery is very difficult and often not the case for artists, and almost never for designers. In regards to LCD screens and other devices not being "natural," RGB linear color transformations don't create natural color palettes--the real world is far different than our digital recreations.
    - blehn 13y ago
      Your first statement is just plain false. Much of the contemporary art world (and Modernism and Postmodernism) can be characterized by a rejection of realism and strict representations of nature. Have you been to a contemporary art show recently? The same goes for the design world. Your second statement supports my argument.
lifeformed 13y ago
I think the rule is correct in general, and if you really know what you're doing, then I'm sure you can make black look good.
jrs99 13y ago
you can definitely use black well. especially in the anti-skeuomorphism age. I think that the mobile app example he uses has black or almost black on the top bar and if your own page uses black, then it doesn't make this nice differentiation between the bar and the cohesiveness of your own app. in paintings, the real reason you don't use black is because the pigments for black are "dead" looking. The paint "ivory black" looks bad because it is made out of bone, whereas if you use dark blue and brown and mix a very dark color, it looks more lively. Yes, shadows aren't black, but everyone knows that. I think the real advice is Shadows Have Color, like "blue shadows" in the examples he shows. and that you shouldn't create shadows out of just black paint and white paint if you're making a realistic painting.

by blehn 13y ago

dxhdr 13y ago

As a rule of thumb the advice is correct. Nature rarely produces pure blacks and that's all the author is trying to say. To look natural is to not use black. Your LA architecture link is a perfect example of that -- the photographer captured very striking unnatural structures with aggressive, sharp edges and used a very unnatural pure black as emphasis. It works. But it's absolutely not a point against the author's argument.

blehn 13y ago
No, it's not correct. The author's argument is that you absolutely should not use pure black in design because it's "unnatural". The false assumption he's making is that artwork and designed objects or interfaces should be natural, and even that is based on a very specific definition of natural. What's natural about a computer or an LCD display? Even the best devices are comprised of "very striking unnatural structures with aggressive, sharp edges". The author supports his argument with artwork, photography, and applications that are no more natural or effective than the ones I linked (oh, and how about Ansel Adams http://www.anseladams.com/ http://www.anseladams.com/? A legendary nature photographer — his images are full of deep blacks.) It's a matter of personal preference. Telling inexperienced designers to "Never Use Black" just isn't sound advice. I would sooner advise designers to work only in black and white. Design a great application in black and white, and then begin working with color and tone when black and white aren't enough. A more appropriate, though less provocative title for this article would be, "Shadows Aren't Always Black".
- Rumudiez 13y ago
  Creating successful "unnatural" imagery is very difficult and often not the case for artists, and almost never for designers. In regards to LCD screens and other devices not being "natural," RGB linear color transformations don't create natural color palettes--the real world is far different than our digital recreations.
  - blehn 13y ago
    Your first statement is just plain false. Much of the contemporary art world (and Modernism and Postmodernism) can be characterized by a rejection of realism and strict representations of nature. Have you been to a contemporary art show recently? The same goes for the design world. Your second statement supports my argument.

lifeformed 13y ago

I think the rule is correct in general, and if you really know what you're doing, then I'm sure you can make black look good.

jrs99 13y ago

you can definitely use black well. especially in the anti-skeuomorphism age. I think that the mobile app example he uses has black or almost black on the top bar and if your own page uses black, then it doesn't make this nice differentiation between the bar and the cohesiveness of your own app. in paintings, the real reason you don't use black is because the pigments for black are "dead" looking. The paint "ivory black" looks bad because it is made out of bone, whereas if you use dark blue and brown and mix a very dark color, it looks more lively. Yes, shadows aren't black, but everyone knows that. I think the real advice is Shadows Have Color, like "blue shadows" in the examples he shows. and that you shouldn't create shadows out of just black paint and white paint if you're making a realistic painting.