My biggest color fail was for a bakery's website in Boise

I was putting together a palette for this family owned bakery, and I thought I nailed it with soft browns and a pretty mint green. I showed the mockup to the owner over a video call, and she just went quiet. Then she said, 'It looks like a hospital waiting room.' I was crushed. I realized I picked the mint from a photo of their mint frosting, but on a big screen it felt cold and sterile, not sweet and cozy. I went back and spent a whole afternoon just looking at pictures of their actual baked goods, their wood counter, even the brick wall in their shop. I pulled a warmer, creamier green from their pistachio macarons and swapped the cool brown for a toast color. Sent the new version, and she loved it. Has anyone else had a color look totally different once it's on the actual screen it's meant for?

3 comments

3 Comments

river_wright2mo ago

I used to believe color theory was mostly about the wheel and formulas. Seeing how a mint green can feel cozy in frosting but cold on a screen really shifted that for me. It's all about the context where the color lives, isn't it?

riley582mo ago

Yeah it's wild how much lighting changes everything. My living room paint looked totally different once the sun hit it.

max3884d ago

Not sure I totally buy that context matters that much though. I mean, mint green is mint green. If it looked cold and clinical on the screen, that's on the designer for not checking how it scales up, not some deeper lesson about color theory. The macaroon green probably would have looked just as weird if she'd put it on a big monitor without testing it first. Maybe it's just me but I feel like people overthink this stuff, a good color is a good color no matter where you put it.