We've talked about this before. When will people learn that women aren't defined by the color pink?
I was checking out a series of website templates, and I was struck by the preview image of one called "Business Card Theme." I clicked it open for a full preview:
It's a nice theme, a good solid piece of design. I like the use of photos, the three column layout, the clean fonts, and the overall professional look. I didn't think the black was very appealing for my purposes, so I checked out some of the other colors. The sample pictures stayed the same for Grey, White, Black and Blue.
But Green, Red, and "Girly Pink" replaced the professional men around the office and the alpha male corner shot with more, let's say, feminine images.
Because of course, men are Professionals, and women--they run house cleaning businesses. With pink striped wallpaper. Not only that, but the color had to be labeled "Girly Pink." Please tell me what Manly Pink would look like. Maybe something like this.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Boys Like Blue, Girls Like Green or Red or Girly Pink
Posted by
Kate Hutchinson
at
7:11 PM
Categories: feminism, marketing, technology
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4 responses:
Hehehe. Kate, that's funny. My favorite color is green. I've always thought the "girly pink" stereotype was hackneyed.
I don't think I've ever identified colors or design with masculine/feminine traits. I mean, I can see when something is designed in that fashion, but I'm never drawn to hyper-sexed designs of one or the other variety.
I find my tastes lean more to cultural or ethnic influences, which often have elements of both masculine and feminine. For example, I'm really drawn to Slavic, Eastern, or Indian influenced design, or nature-inspired design.
As someone who has a pink colored blog and uses the word "girl" in her blog title, I guess I'm guilty. I happen to like pink. I wore a (very professional) pink button down shirt to work today and I'm wearing pink workout pants right now. I just happen to like it, and yes, it's girly. But, I'm proud of being a woman; I'm proud of being a girl, and I don't think having things in pink (or using the word "girl") automatically makes it demeaning or bad.
What's bad about those business cards (which you alluded to) is that the woman is holding CLEANING SUPPLIES. Now, that is truly appalling.
I certainly respect your position and I understand that pink isn't for everyone. But, I have to admit, I'm proud to be pink.
@Milena- I like a lot of different influences myself, and I wish more people would mix things up more design-wise rather than relying on color alone.
@Angela- I like the GMB site a lot, because it's clean design and easy to navigate. If you like pink, that's great. What I object to is men who market to women and think that adding pink to whatever they're selling makes something woman-friendly automatically. Or conversely, by presenting the Green layout of the site as a "woman" oriented site by picture, wouldn't that make it less likely that a professional man would picture his site in that layout?
Kate - I know you're a fan of GMB, and I very much thank you for that! (As I - obviously - am a fan of Defending Pandora). I totally agree with you on the "gender" business cards and I'm appalled by those cleaning supplies (really!). I just wanted to defend pink! Thanks for sharing your insight.
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