Birren Industrial

I happened upon this blog post by a designer named Beth Matthews about why so many mid-century industrial control rooms were seafoam green. I've long loved this aesthetic since my days working around beautiful cast machine tools painted varying shades of these tones. (In fact, it's the inspiration behind the entire Merriman Industries branding!) Matthews' research added some delightful new trivia: this palette was designed by an early color theorist named Faber Birren.

Serendipitously, the week that I found this post I happened to be doing some customizing of my main Linux laptop, dabbling in "ricing" out my NixOS install and exploring terminal tools and Hyprland. But I wasn't drawn to any of the common dev color palettes like Solarized, GruvBox, or Catpuccin. Then this article and photos passed through my feed and I knew what I had to do.

Introducing Birren Industrial! My personal color palette that I intend to theme all of my dev tools and environments with. The repo contains various themes and resources, including some color palettes and theme files for various tools I use. The number of themes will grow more plentiful and refined as I expand the project but I'm happy to take PRs, suggestions, or requests!

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AI Use Disclosure: Unlike most of my work, I'm utilizing AI tools quite heavily for this project. Style transference ("write a _____ in the style of _____") is something that LLMs have been excellent at for many years and unsurprisingly I was able to generate excellent starting points quite quickly with them. I don't have much time for aesthetic projects and I care much more about the end result than the process on this one so shortcut are welcome.

Birren Industrial Palette

BIRREN INDUSTRIAL PALETTE

Based on Faber Birren's Color Theory & Mid-Century Industrial Design

Color Theory Foundation

This palette is built on Faber Birren's principles developed for industrial environments during WWII. Birren emphasized:

  • Functional Color: Colors serve specific psychological and safety purposes
  • Warm/Cool Balance: Birren favored warm tones but recognized the calming effect of cool greens
  • Visual Fatigue Reduction: Specific hues minimize eye strain in long-duration environments
  • Emotional Response: Colors affect productivity, safety awareness, and worker morale
INDUSTRIAL SEAFOAM
Primary wall color - reduces visual fatigue
HEX: #7fb5a0
RGB: 127, 181, 160
HSL: 157°, 27%, 60%
DADO GREEN
Lower wall sections - grounding element
HEX: #5a8a73
RGB: 90, 138, 115
HSL: 151°, 21%, 45%
WARM BEIGE
Low-light areas - creates luminosity
HEX: #c9b89a
RGB: 201, 184, 154
HSL: 38°, 30%, 70%
MACHINERY GRAY
Equipment & racks - neutral backdrop
HEX: #6b6b68
RGB: 107, 107, 104
HSL: 60°, 1%, 41%
SAFETY RED
Fire protection & emergency stops
HEX: #c83e3a
RGB: 200, 62, 58
HSL: 2°, 55%, 51%
CAUTION YELLOW
Physical hazards & warnings
HEX: #f2b632
RGB: 242, 182, 50
HSL: 41°, 88%, 57%
HAZARD ORANGE
Dangerous machinery parts
HEX: #d67d3e
RGB: 214, 125, 62
HSL: 25°, 65%, 54%
INFO BLUE
Non-safety notices & signage
HEX: #5b7a8e
RGB: 91, 122, 142
HSL: 204°, 22%, 46%
CONCRETE BASE
Flooring - light reflective surface
HEX: #a69f95
RGB: 166, 159, 149
HSL: 35°, 9%, 62%
INDUSTRIAL CHARCOAL
Trim & accent - defines space
HEX: #2a2a28
RGB: 42, 42, 40
HSL: 60°, 2%, 16%
INSTRUMENT CREAM
Control panels - high visibility
HEX: #e8e0d5
RGB: 232, 224, 213
HSL: 35°, 30%, 87%
AGED RUST
Warm accent - patina aesthetic
HEX: #8b5a3c
RGB: 139, 90, 60
HSL: 23°, 40%, 39%

Application Guidelines

For Digital Interfaces (Terminal/Editor Themes):

  • Background: Industrial Charcoal or Machinery Gray
  • Foreground text: Instrument Cream or Concrete Base
  • Strings: Industrial Seafoam or Dado Green
  • Keywords: Hazard Orange or Safety Red
  • Functions: Caution Yellow
  • Comments: Info Blue (muted)
  • Constants: Aged Rust

Birren's Warm/Cool Philosophy:

This palette honors Birren's preference for warm tones while maintaining the functional cool greens essential to reducing visual fatigue. The seafoam serves as a restful anchor, balanced by warm beiges, rusts, and earth tones that create psychological comfort.