Episode 223: Fifty Shades of Beige, How the World Forgot Color, And Why Color is Coming Back
About this episode
This episode explores the emotional and business implications of color in design, discussing the shift towards gray and the resurgence of vibrant colors.
Color is emotion. Gray is a mood. This episode is a whole palette. Somewhere along the way, the world went gray. Not metaphorically — literally. Scroll through a parking lot photo from 1980 and you'll see yellows, blues, reds, a green car someone clearly loved. Scroll through a 2025 parking lot and you'll think your screen broke. It didn't. That's just… the vibe now. Black, white, and approximately 47 varieties of steel gray. In this episode of Biz-Souls, Rona Lewis and Jeffrey Hansler tackle the surprisingly rich (and surprisingly emotional) business of color. Why did the world go gray? Who decided that color was somehow beneath civilized people? (Spoiler: it was a 1908 Austrian architect who also hated fun.) And more importantly — is color finally, finally staging a comeback? The design world seems to think so. Pantone named Mocha Mousse as its 2025 Color of the Year — a warm, earthy brown bridges luxury and comfort — while Bear selected a deep ruby red and Valspar went with a rich navy blue. Design experts are also flagging rising nostalgia for 70s-inspired earth tones like terracotta and clay. Apparently, the pendulum is finally swinging — and it's swinging toward something…
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- Episode 227: Confidence vs. Intelligence: Why the Loudest Person Isn’t Always the Smartest
- Episode 226: From Fear to Fierce in Your Cancer Journey
- Episode 225: The Great Executive Disconnect and Why Sales and Tech Need Couples Therapy
- Episode 224: Cognitive Dissonance: The World's Most Annoying Companion
- Episode 222: The Mushroom Chocolate Bar That Doesn’t Taste Like a Forest Floor
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