Colin Ross

Colin's blog

Greyscale

Monday, 14th January 2019

I’m experimenting with greyscale displays on my various electronic devices.

Having read “How to Make Your iPhone Black and White (And Why You Should)” by Megan E. Holstein I was intrigued by the idea of muting the multitude of colours on my phone, so I decided to give it a go. Admittedly it was a struggle to find, and without the article to guide me I don’t think I would have stumbled upon it accidentally. That said, it was very calming to suddenly be presented with a phone screen composed entirely of greys.

In fact, it was so pleasing that I promptly did the same thing on my various computers as well. System Preferences -> Accessibility -> Display -> Use greyscale is the magic route (although i’d argue eminently more stumble-upon-able).

So far (and it’s only been a few days) so good. The only time I have felt the need to switch back is when getting my daily dose of The Office. That said, there might be something even more pleasing about watching the denziens of Dunder Mifflin go about their lives in shades of grey. Also, diagrams and graphs can be somewhat challenging to decode - many colours look very similar. I guess it’s some insight into what it is like to be colour blind.

Anyway, I’d encourage anyone to give it a try at least for a while - the results might entrance you!

Photo by Lou Batier on Unsplash

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