Monday 13 February 2017
White Noise
What is white noise? I mean, why is it white?
Above is a picture of white noise. Forget about how nonsensical it is to have a "picture" of a "sound" – the picture clearly has black and white in it.
So, why isn't it called black and white noise? Or just black noise? Or either one, depending on your mood.
Or depending on your race. Calling it white or black noise is clearly racist. You can't use the words "white" or "black" anymore without being a racist. That makes it hard to be a graphic designer. "I think your newsletter needs more, um, well, you know, space…you know that space with nothing in it, no colour, like, just nothing, empty and like that."
"White space?"
"Hey, you said that, not me."
Is white noise the white man's attempt to appropriate everything – even noises?
Generally speaking, we consider white noise to be an annoying sound. So, if we're going to assign a colour to this sound (we shouldn't), why not pick a really annoying colour?
The colours white and black are not annoying. I love wrapping myself in a lovely white sarong during those hot summer days. And my black shirts make me look very cool. And young. And hip.
How about puce? Puce has been declared by the U.N. to be the ugliest and most dangerous colour on the planet.
There's too much puce noise in the world.