colors.

to keep color decisions from getting noisy, i use a small palette across this site and a few other projects. the colors are loosely borrowed from the RAL color system, which gives everything a slight industrial bias without turning it into a branding exercise.

constraints help. a fixed set keeps me thinking about mood and contrast instead of nudging random RGB values around forever. i also grew up around metal work, so these colors feel familiar in a literal way. maybe that is part of it too.

my favorite is RAL 8022: dark brown, almost black, calm without feeling dead. i first used it on the steel parts of my studio desk, then on lamps and other bits around the room, and eventually on almost all text.