Over at one of my online swing dancing haunts, MinnesotaLindy.com, they’re having a heated discussion about the site’s new color scheme. I personally don’t like it that much, though I’m not as virulently opposed to it as a few folks seem to be. But I’m more interested in the branding aspect of this whole thing.

Shawn, the site’s administrator, made the following point:

I am, however, seriously changing the color scheme. The old blue was too muted and greyed out for the vibrancy which exists in our scene. Our forum and calendar should reflect that.

Blogs and websites are supposed to reflect our individual personalities, and that’s all well and good, but what happens when one’s brand changes? Do people really think that MinnesotaLindy is a different animal because it has gone from boring old blue (Web 2.0 certified, n’est ce pas?) to something that looks more or less like text sitting on a patch of dandelions?

I guess the fact that they’re debating it so vigorously means that they do.

The reason I wonder about this so much is because I’ve gone through a fairly recent color scheme change. From my old theme, based on black and red, to my new theme, a much more colorful theme based on green and blue (see right). Of course, my current theme is not my own work, it’s based off of the popular Blix theme. However, my question is, does my choice of color scheme make me seem like a different blogger?

For that matter, does my choice of a common theme just make me a lemming? It seems to me as if much of the controversy over MinnesotaLindy comes from the idea that the site’s design needs to be more original. I’ll admit I feel guilty sometimes for not having the motivation or the chops to create an individual design of my own. In a society of individualists, not wanting to express one’s individuality at every turn often seems only one step away from being inhuman.

Maybe it’s better this way. After all, we all think we know about design and yet, when we try to put those things together, most of us can’t do design for beans. We all know that design matters. Yet most of us can’t explain why it matters, even when faced with a design we don’t like. Maybe that’s why so many of us on the Web resort–with heavy hearts–to boring old blue.

Leave comments if you wish. Unless you’re just going to tell me my site is ugly. In which case I don’t need to hear it.

Posted on April 6th, 2006 by Lee
Filed under: Uncategorized