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Comment by catalogia | Hacker News Reader

I don't understand how the word 'clinical' is being used in this context. Wiktionary gives a few meanings for the word, the only one that seems potentially related being "Cool and emotionless."

But that doesn't really make sense here. The colors being used don't seem like 'warm' colors to me, and I don't see how these shades are meant to be more emotional than white. If anything, I associate these beige sorts of colors with reserved corporate blandness, which I'd call cool and emotionally distant by design. It's the color of office equipment.

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The colors used are absolutely warm colors, they are basically orangish. Warm vs. cool in colors is basically orange vs. blue.

I would describe the pure white forms as being rather harsh. They are harder to look at to me, because the text in the fields isn't differentiated from the text outside them.

I'm not claiming it is a major thing, it's like the difference between two fonts, some are more readable and attractive than others.

Plain, white, and minimal (in a strictly unadorned sense, as opposed to filled with hip furniture). Clean lines, no frills. 'Sterile' would be a similar description within the same metaphor even, if that helps.

If he just said, 'white is clinical' I'd get that. But 'white is clinical while beige isn't' leaves me confused. It's like saying 'strawberries are sweet but plums aren't.' After hearing something like that, it leaves you wondering if the term means the same thing to the other person.

Hospitals or "clinics" are often painted white. Clinical in this usage refers to reminiscent of a clinic.

Beige is a very common color in hospitals too. Hospital beds are very frequently beige, as well as various other equipment. If white is the most common color in hospitals, beige is surely a close second.

Loads of beige in both of these:

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=hospital+room&iar=images

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=doctors+office&iar=images

https://colorpsychologymeaning.com/color-white/ https://colorpsychologymeaning.com/color-beige/

This may seem like mumbo-jumbo but colors have a psychological effect on people. Beige also conceals stains from body fluids better than white. In any case I was explaining the usage of "clinical" and not "hospital beds."

I don't dispute that colors can have psychological impacts on people; it's obvious that they can. What I dispute is beige being less 'clinical' than white, insofar as white can be clinical the term seems to fit beige just as well.

Also the page you linked gives 'shades of white' that include beige-like colors: https://colorpsychologymeaning.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/0... Which I think reinforces my point that these are very similar colors used in similar (clinical) contexts. White gives you notions of purity or cleanliness while beige is neutral and relaxed, either has obvious value in a clinical setting.

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