Choosing Color for Bluebird
Color is subjective. It’s hard to remember and hard to describe. The color blue won’t appear the same in different people’s minds.
Color is relative. The same color won’t look the same on different backgrounds. The context changes everything.
When choosing the color for Bluebird, we started with the context — the feeling we’d like to convey. We wanted it to be calm, stressless, and uplifting at the same time.
We ended up using mainly vivid blue on a pure black background to create a tranquil atmosphere. The blue stands out, and it leaves enough space for people to breathe. It reminds us of scenes from the game Zelda when the protagonist discovers some hidden shrine beneath layers of snow and stones. It reminds us of the deep sky, where imagination flies without limitation.
Also, the color blue is in general colorblind-friendly, it looks blue most of the time. And the color black saves energy on OLED screens because those pixels are not being activated. These things are nice to have.
How we perceive color is influenced both physiologically and psychologically. Although there’s a certain consensus, the same color can mean different things to different people. We’re choosing something safe here because it works for us, and it makes us hopeful.
We hope you like it.
I enjoy these books on color:
- Interaction of Color by Josef Albers, a masterpiece about the relativity of color
- Color and Light by James Gurney, the application of color and light in painting
- The Secret Lives of Color by Kassia St Clair, the history and anecdotes of color
Bluebird 2.0 is available for download on the App Store.
About us
Bluebird is made by Cub & Pup, a two-person indie team. We craft apps that bring joy to your life, with lots of love ❤️.
Find us on Twitter
Comics: @IndieLifeComics | Developer: @limited_dfs | Designer: @topologiraffe
