Is the world less colourful now? What building designs, clothing choices show

(Image credit: @culturaltutor/Twitter)

The world is increasingly abandoning bright colours for neutral hues. Studies have revealed that greyscale colours are now more common than ever.

A Twitter account, named The Cultural Tutor, recently pondered in a thread if our world, as a whole, was becoming less colurful. They looked at car colours, clothing choices and home furnishings.

They tweeted data showing that greyscale colours are now found on three quarters of cars produced globally, as compared to less than 50 percent in the past.

For home colours, they shared data from paint brand Dulux, that showed five neutral tones were the most popular choices for kitchen paints in the United Kingdom in 2019-20.

The Cultural Tutor also compared garish designs of older homes to the minimalism and cool tones prevalent today.

Even McDonald's outlets of today are less vibrant, they observed.

Even McDonald's is less vibrant than it used to be! pic.twitter.com/w5nnLYnhxG

— The Cultural Tutor (@culturaltutor) July 26, 2022

Clothing choices also reveal people leaning towards neutral colours.

Neutral colours are by far the most popular when it comes to clothing: pic.twitter.com/xYxFuXHXqD

— The Cultural Tutor (@culturaltutor) July 26, 2022

The Cultural Tutor, who write about music architecture, art and history, wondered if the shift towards more neutral colours was for better or worse and what caused the change in the first place. 

Another aspect of everyday life that has become less colourful is packaging. According to a CNN report, companies are packaging products in smaller, lighter and less colourful containers to control costs amid inflation.