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The Blue-Green Conspiracy

July 19th, 2007

Is it just me, or is there an (un)written rule that says everyone should make their websites blue and green? Just looking around the 2.0 area of the web, it seems to be the standard.

Peek You Answers Yahoo Moji Owl Music Search My AOL TalkBean LicketyShip Bokardo Oyogi Twitter StumbleUpon AgeSter ViewPoints Zillow Shelfari

Of course there are exceptions, and plenty of them, but really a large portion of all new web 2.0 sites seem to be in the same two colours.

Why do they all think green and blue are it, and who are they copying – who started this? Microsoft Messenger perhaps? There’s a green and a blue little figure in the MSN icon on my desktop. Can’t remember if it used to be a different colour before web 2.0 started booming.

Or was it Google, with the blue links and green urls in the results?

Anyway – my advice to anyone who is thinking of starting a new 2.0 site: go have a browse around COLOURlovers for some decent colour inspiration, then get a piece of paper and a bunch of colouring pencils, and find yourself an original colour scheme.

But first give the bright green and light blue pencils to your toddler, and tell her to make a nice drawing for you. That way you can still look at the green and blue when you put the drawing above your desk, but at least I won’t have to when visiting your website! 😉

2 Responses to “The Blue-Green Conspiracy”

  1. Frans says:

    LOL 😀

  2. Toby Inkster says:

    It is well-known that lime green and sky blue are The Official Colours of Web 2.0.

    Bright orange and hot pink are also popular.

    See also:

    Web 2.0 Colour Palette:
    http://miles.burke.id.au/blog/wp-content/files/web20palette.jpg

    Web 2.0 Logos/Fonts:
    http://www.fontshop.com/fontfeed/archives/the-logos-of-web-20/