19Nov08 Openness

I’ve noticed that when I become unhappy with the look of one of my sites I slack a bit on updating until I change the layout. If you can’t tell… I’m a little unhappy with how some of this turned out. Websites, to me, are always a work in progress. This particular design needed a little more work. I had intended to see if I could fix what irked me about it but once I got started on something new I’ve been devoting my time to that. That, and I finally got my hands on a copy of Brisingr! There’s one thing books and designing have in common for me: once I get my hands on one I work on them almost exclusively until they are finished.

That is the color palette I’m working with. Surprisingly, there’s a touch of pink in it. I know it’s more of a purple pink but it’s still pink. I have never liked pink. I’m not even that big of a fan of red. Pink has always just been a ‘no’ to me. It could possibly be some subconscious association of that color with everything that is girly-girly. I have never been a really girly girl nor have I ever been a fan of IN YOUR FACE pink. Pink could refer to a wide variety of colors, I suppose, but I have never been a fan. Maybe it is because I want to fight the stereotype of the color but personally, I just don’t like it. I’d take something blue or green (maybe purple) any day of the week over something that is pink.

These observations have lead me to a small realization: just because I don’t like the color doesn’t mean I should avoid it. It has its uses and I’m actually very pleased with how it looks in what I’m working on. I hadn’t really thought that such a seemingly small bias could have an impact on my design efforts but the possibility is there.

Bias is something that applies to more than just a dislike of a color. Bias in its stronger forms leads to prejudice and racism. I know a lot of people like to pretend that we are above being prejudiced or bias towards another person just because of their ethnic, religious, or cultural backgrounds but we aren’t. Racism is alive and well in this country. It’s creeping back into the spotlight after the results of the recent election but it should be no big surprise. Sometimes I wish everyone could just take a step back and see how their bias is affecting other aspects of their life. They’d probably be surprised.