Aesthetically, the world depicted in Her feels like a nice, happy medium. Futuristic for sure, but tasteful splashes of color everywhere, especially in the way people dress...

AGC said:

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Welcome to the age of average (warning: long read about everything). It's your house, your car, fashion, plastic surgery, everything. Re-watch or re-read fight club, because it's your life: low quality mass produced garbage.

https://www.alexmurrell.co.uk/articles/the-age-of-average

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incredible and maddening.

Minimalist is cheaper and also more "green" bc less waste….

But with cars it kills me that people not only want but pay extra for a clear coat primer with no color and insist it looks good. BMW has a color called Skyscraper Grey…HTF wants those car painted like a skyscraper?

Furlock Bones said:

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AGC said:

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Welcome to the age of average (warning: long read about everything). It's your house, your car, fashion, plastic surgery, everything. Re-watch or re-read fight club, because it's your life: low quality mass produced garbage.

https://www.alexmurrell.co.uk/articles/the-age-of-average

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incredible and maddening.

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I understand the financial aspects.

That article is freaking depressing!!

Absolute said:

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Furlock Bones said:

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AGC said:

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Welcome to the age of average (warning: long read about everything). It's your house, your car, fashion, plastic surgery, everything. Re-watch or re-read fight club, because it's your life: low quality mass produced garbage.

https://www.alexmurrell.co.uk/articles/the-age-of-average

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incredible and maddening.

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I understand the financial aspects.

That article is freaking depressing!!

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It's an interesting article with some truth to it (I especially enjoyed all the basic white girls and their one goofy hat at the end). But there's quite a bit of cynicism too. A big part of the story is "Hey look: Trends exist!" as if it's a revelation. You could write the same story at any point in modern history: comparing a tired modern trend with the best of the past isn't exactly fair.

It's partly a trend and partly capitalism

In homes, I've tired of white and grey cabinets that have been in for, what, 10 years now? Minimalist furniture also in. So I think that is a trend, it flips and it flops.


However, I do see how certain building designs are not only cheaper to build and maintain but also help the property retain value if needing to sell down the road.

double aught said:

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Absolute said:

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Furlock Bones said:

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AGC said:

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Welcome to the age of average (warning: long read about everything). It's your house, your car, fashion, plastic surgery, everything. Re-watch or re-read fight club, because it's your life: low quality mass produced garbage.

https://www.alexmurrell.co.uk/articles/the-age-of-average

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incredible and maddening.

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I understand the financial aspects.

That article is freaking depressing!!

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It's an interesting article with some truth to it (I especially enjoyed all the basic white girls and their one goofy hat at the end). But there's quite a bit of cynicism too. A big part of the story is "Hey look: Trends exist!" as if it's a revelation. You could write the same story at any point in modern history: comparing a tired modern trend with the beat of the past isn't exactly fair.

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I'd temper that a little with the acceleration of corporatism/branding/marketing. It's about money, and money is risk averse.

Every hotel chain wants you to know you're in a hotel when you walk in. They don't want you confused. Thus, conformity of spaces and design.

You sell the most when you don't disappoint. You don't need an exceptional product, as long as you can deliver an average one time and time again people will buy it. Fast food restaurants embrace this; it's cheap, we all know we won't be transported anywhere magical, but it serves the purpose. IKEA does this too; it's not forever furniture but it's magical if you have it 20 years later.

Just like the film article points out, commercials are bright and vivid and filmmakers might not want to have that bleed over. Manage expectations and don't disappoint. Why risk tons of money on unrecognized actors and directors when you can hire retreads that get feet in the door?

I thought it was pretty on point.

I blame Kanye West for introducing the world to "dystopian chic" in Yezzy Season 1. Remember when everyone thought he was crazy but might be a genius, only to learn he was mostly crazy?

Complete Idiot said:

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It's partly a trend and partly capitalism

In homes, I've tired of white and grey cabinets that have been in for, what, 10 years now? Minimalist furniture also in. So I think that is a trend, it flips and it flops.


However, I do see how certain building designs are not only cheaper to build and maintain but also help the property retain value if needing to sell down the road.

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I mean isn't the only reason it can be classified as "capitalism" because the trend extends to the consumers/customers?

If McDonalds saw sales drop at their newer, modern restaurants vs. older ones that still had color and character I'd wager they'd go back to designing them that way...

This especially goes for homebuilders and houses. People flock to buy 3,000 sq ft mcmansions in neighborhoods where every house is the exact same boring elevation, so of course builders are going to build them like that. I mean even in extremely high end neighborhoods completely custom houses are being built with the same minimalist architecture. It's a design choice there, not a cost savings choice.

Complete Idiot said:

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Support LJS!

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Not sure where, but I read once that LJS had to abandon its "authentic" wooden dock/walkway because too many people would slip and fall when it was wet -- and then sue.

I say capitalism just because of businesses always trying to maximize profits and and with more design tools and software driven analysis they will design cheapest to build, cheapest to maintain, most value retention properties.

Right....but customers wanting that likely plays an even bigger role. Regardless of being cheaper to build, maintain, etc., they wouldn't do it if they sold less because of it.

htxag09 said:

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Right....but customers wanting that likely plays an even bigger role. Regardless of being cheaper to build, maintain, etc., they wouldn't do it if they sold less because of it.

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I do agree and did post that I thought it was partly a trend (consumer trend) and partly driven by chasing profit margins (capitalism).

EclipseAg said:

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Complete Idiot said:

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Support LJS!

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Not sure where, but I read once that LJS had to abandon its "authentic" wooden dock/walkway because too many people would slip and fall when it was wet -- and then sue.

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Well, the sign in that old picture DOES say "Serving Peg Legs"!

I think many here would be surprised to learn how much of this is related to larger societal sentiment. Change will come and a new trend will form, but the transition will be just as hard and chaotic as the stock market crashing.

Absolute said:

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I agree. I guess it just tugged a bit on my personal cynicism and interpersonal dialogues of the state of the modern world. I fight the fight by not buying monochromatic car colors!

I sometimes find myself thinking through whether things are better or worse now than they were when I was a kid, or for my parents. Comparison is really not feasible, but there is no doubt (to me at least) that new, modern and technological has not just unilaterally made life better.

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Same!

I just complain about the uninteresting car colors then, always have ended up with a black car anyway.

Agreed. My truck colors have been green, brown/champagne 2 tone, and now dark blue.

I was just looking at Jeeps. If you want a wrangler or gladiator, they have colors...otherwise its white, grey, silver, black or..oooh red.

My car is white. At the time that I was purchasing it, I actually wanted it in dark gray but even that color was special order and impossible to find, so I just took the white one rather than wait months for it. It's at least a pretty white and not fleet white.

Me and my maroon truck are doing our part to fight the drab colors on the road.

I have an emerald green Bronco currently but I do love a white car (not "fleet white" as another poster mentioned). I think they look clean and bright.

wasnt my point at all. That's a different topic, different thread.

https://www.thedrive.com/news/37001/this-graph-shows-how-car-paint-colors-have-gotten-more-boring-over-the-years?xid=fbshare&fbclid=IwAR0KRZp773j3DRtiEQQRaJ7bH6Pdy7jle2nLjx_n742eOJWn7T1WOgxYi7k

The "more in news" with a ton of articles about car colors is super interesting too. One said that cars with bold colors hold their value better, which I would believe actually, because there are so few of them. The 2023 jeep grand cherokee had a purple, which I'm now obsessed with and would absolutely pay a premium for to find it...can't find one. I looked at how much to paint a new car, if I bought one.. prohibitively expensive.

As someone who started their career in the fashion industry and now sells new construction homes.. I can't begin to say how much this concept has been living in my head this last week and thinking about what I should do next to fight the overall trend.

Guess I've never thought about it but we have 16 houses on our street. The wives at all 16 drive an SUV. 10 are white, 3 gray, 2 black, and 1 is blue.

I'm all for color in general. But as far as cars go, I think black and white are almost always the two best choices.