The use of pink in a male portfolio site

[-Blade-]

I am a 21 yr old male and I am designing a portfolio for myself, which would include all the usual features.

The thing is, my site design has a mix of pink/purple and blue in its colour scheme. A lot of my mates (some who do web design themselves) say that pink is a bit gay for a boy to use in a portfolio site, but a lot of male portfolios use pink.

What do you guys think?

[gap_tooth_clan]

I would imagine you would have to do some kind of equation like:

How gay are you

divided by

your own masculinity

If you can come up with an answer you are probably thinking too deeply about gay issues.

[Shyflower]

The link in your signature results in an error.

Pink is great as an accent color, but if you use it for a whole site, you may end up with a site that resembles Victoria's secret.

My suggestion is to design your site so that it is a good representation of your business and not your personality. In other words, let your design help sell your services.

If your target market is to design women's sites, then definitely stick with colors that are considered feminine. If your target is corporate, design a corporate looking portfolio site.

[AutisticCuckoo]

In Western culture, pink is quite strongly associated with femininity – or even girlishness. That means, if you pull this off, it can be a very strong brand.

A male who is sufficiently secure in his masculine identity can use pink and purple, and it will only serve to highlight his masculinity. If you use too much pink, or the 'wrong' shade of pink, it will probably spoil the effect, though.

[drhowarddrfine]

As ShyFlower said, it is frequently used as an accent color and, recently, it was fashionable for many powerful men who wore pink ties and shirts

[-Blade-]

The pink is used for small elements of the site. For example, the border around a rectangle in the graphics made in background. The background is of an image and is blue and grainy.

I'll post up an image of the design soon but I keep changing it lol. The design shouldn't attract one type of work but some professional input and opinion, even if subjective, in the design process is always beneficial (hence the thread).

[SimplyFu]

pink is a new blue

pink actually can be nice if we use it together with pale blue <<-flickr logo->>

[biggdesign]

i think its Perfectly fine. its not even an issue.
add some cyan to your design, and oooh...thats sexy

[LJK]

A lot of my mates (some who do web design themselves) say that pink is a bit gay for a boy to use in a portfolio site

Off Topic:


Such a non-issue that perhaps they're wondering about themselves...
if not figured-out already ;-)

If in doubt, post a screenshot in the Website Reviews
when you've gotten further along...

Have fun w/ it,
El

[HAWK]

Do they accuse girls with blue sites of being butch?

[Racer_X]

I wanna see the site! Don't worry, I promise not to make any gay comments.

[ccRicers]

In Western culture, pink is quite strongly associated with femininity – or even girlishness. That means, if you pull this off, it can be a very strong brand.

A male who is sufficiently secure in his masculine identity can use pink and purple, and it will only serve to highlight his masculinity. If you use too much pink, or the 'wrong' shade of pink, it will probably spoil the effect, though.

This is interesting to talk about, because in the early 20th century, think 100 years ago, pink was more associated with masculinity. Since the color red provokes feelings of boldness and power, pink was seen to be as manly as red. Blue was a feminine color because it brings up feelings of calmness and submissiveness, the idea for the stereotypical female.

[brothercake]

Real men wear pink - there's not enough of it, if you ask me

Go with what you like, and screw what anyone else might think. If you're worried about people attaching innacurate (or accurate!) labels to you, remember this: those labels are not actually attached to you, they only exist in the observer's mind

[drhowarddrfine]

This is interesting to talk about, because in the early 20th century, think 100 years ago, pink was more associated with masculinity. Since the color red provokes feelings of boldness and power, pink was seen to be as manly as red. Blue was a feminine color because it brings up feelings of calmness and submissiveness, the idea for the stereotypical female.

You are correct. The king wore red but his subjects could not
because it was for royalty so they dressed their sons in lighter shades of red (pink). I forgot why girls wore blue but it wasn't until WW2 when blue was the color of the Navy that it was then considered a masculine color.

[spikeZ]

There is nothing wrong with pink sweetie

Seriously thought there are many sites that use pink as a main colour:
http://www.pinkpop.nl/page.php?pagID=396
http://welove.ff017d.com/
http://www.bowwowlondon.com/main.html
http://blog.articlestudio.ca/
http://www.do-jo.net/

to name but a few.

Have a look at: http://designmeltdown.com/chapters/Pink/ for more examples

[SimplyFu]

There is nothing wrong with pink sweetie

It is not wrong, it is just the personal perception that get wrong.

[brandaggio]

There is always the Odeo bold pink and pale blue, copied by so many "designers" (myself included ) at one time or another .

I agree about what has been said about colors serving your business, but my personal take on portfolio site colors is that they should be colors that you like best that looks best on you so to speak. So I end up with indigos, grays and powder blues and when I see the site it is me - it feels right - if you are the brand, I don't see a problem with this. If you are selling a widget that has certain colors or branding, probably best to reflect that instead.

As has been mentioned different colors evoke different emotional responses - any decent color science book will cover this. Whatever feelings you want to evoke - those are the types of colors I would suggest using/lean towards - the ones that illicit the kind of response you want and are targeted at the type of client you want to attract.

[oxylus]

Hello, in my opinion this is not something all that new, I know a number of agencies and freelancers using pink. Now to keep it short in order to have a pretty interesting and decently unique image, I think combining pink with contrasting elements, attitude etc. would be a cool cocktail. Imagine a huge tatooed biker wearing a pink dress, you would think it's weird, but still pay him some respect, you won't laugh at him but at the unusual sight. Don't know if this was the best example to describe what i mean by element contrast, hope it helps.

Cheers

[brandaggio]

I was looking through the folder I have of screen grabs of personal/portfolio sites I like and found these two:
http://mattbrett.com/ (male)
http://www.ungarbage.com/ (female)

I think they are decent examples of pink used in a masculine fashion, with darker supporting colors and the other, that has a lighter, finer, female touch.

Some non personal sites with pink/ish in them:
http://www.mvpmovie.com/
http://www.sabalan.fr/

I am not at all suggesting you do it - but if a pink works/looks good and has not become to feminized in the process, maybe it could be just the bold look you are after.

Hope the links help demonstrate that pink can be utilized, and well.

[Dark Tranquility]

I am using pink too and it is a nice color IMO
So no problems IMO

[IT_jungle]

for men to pull off pink, the other elements must not be too feminine or delicate. punk groups can pull off wearing pink. i don't think it's a bother just as long as you're sure of your masculinity (and refrain from adding butterflies and flowers! ). in fact, a guy's use of pink is actually a sign of strength of character and confidence.

[rocket.man]

It all depends on your view of seeing things. According to me it is perfectly OK to use pink in male portfolio. If you insist on changing the color , do it at once. Do not let it bother you