https://www.pcgamer.com/software/windows/windows-3-1-included-a-red-and-yellow-hot-dog-stand-color-scheme-so-garish-it-was-long-assumed-to-be-a-joke-so-i-tracked-down-the-original-designer-to-get-the-true-story/ [] Skip to main content (*) ( ) Open menu Close main menu PC Gamer PC Gamer THE GLOBAL AUTHORITY ON PC GAMES US Edition flag of US UK EditionUK US EditionUS CA EditionCanada AU EditionAustralia Subscribe Sign in * * View Profile * Sign out [ ] Search Search PC Gamer [ ] * * Games * Hardware * News * Reviews * Guides * Video * Forum * More + PC Gaming Show + Software + Movies & TV + Codes + Coupons + Magazine + Newsletter + Affiliate links + Meet the team + Community guidelines + About PC Gamer PC Gamer Magazine Subscription PC Gamer Magazine Subscription Why subscribe? * Subscribe to the world's #1 PC gaming mag * Try a single issue or save on a subscription * Issues delivered straight to your door or device From$32.49 Subscribe now Don't miss these Rome art featuring Roman troops Strategy The TV show based on Total War was tricking us all along: 'It's kind of embarrassing, but it's television' Linus Torvalds on Linus Tech Tips Windows The father of the Linux operating system, Linus Torvalds, says the reason why Windows has a rep for bugs and blue screens isn't down to bad code but bad memory Google search with a kaomoji offering a friendly gesture Gaming Industry Google is desperate for us to forget the simple joy of the original internet: Links Xbox app home screen Windows Microsoft wants to make Windows 'the best place to game--no matter where you play' but Linux and Valve's SteamOS have other ideas A screenshot from the Joe Rogan Experience #2422 podcast, showing Jensen Huang discussing Nvidia's early years in GPU design Graphics Cards During Nvidia's formative years, its CEO reckons it 'had a mission statement for a company that has no chance of success' but it was fine because Sega's CEO thought 'Jensen was a young man he liked' A Windows 11 Run dialogue box. 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Windows 3.1 color schemes (Image credit: Microsoft) Every so often, a wonderful thing happens: someone young enough to have missed out on using computers in the early 1990s is introduced to the Windows 3.1 "Hot Dog Stand" color scheme. Back in the day Windows was pretty plain looking out of the box, with grey windows and blue highlights as the default. A number of optional color palettes gave it a bit more pep, like the wine-tinged Bordeaux or the more sophisticated teal of Designer. And then there was Hot Dog Stand, which more or less turned Windows into a carnival. "The truly funny thing about this color scheme is that all the other Windows 3.1 color schemes are surprisingly rational, totally reasonable color schemes," tech blogger Jeff Atwood wrote back in 2005. "And then you get to 'Hot Dog Stand. Which is utterly insane. ... I have to think it was included as a joke." Related articles * Microsoft wireless notebook presenter mouse 8000's battery compartment My new favorite deep Windows lore: Microsoft once broke its Bluetooth driver code by sticking a (r) symbol in the name of its own mouse * Windows XP hills, cracked in half During Microsoft's peak-anti piracy era in the early 2000s, it awkwardly got caught shipping Windows XP with audio files made using pirated software * Grant Gustin grave kneeling meme but with the Windows 11 Task Manager icon on the gravestone We used to be a society (with a good Windows Task Manager icon) If you read the comments to Atwood's article, you'll see some speculation that it's actually great if you're color blind, and then you'll see that speculation debunked. You'll also find a comment from a year later, in 2006, claiming that the creator of the scheme "presented a great seminar on UI design" at a conference in 1997. "She claimed that Hot Dog was a challenge from the Windows 3.1 team to come up with the worst scheme possible," wrote commenter PJ14. Windows 3.1 default color scheme with Arches wallpaper (Image credit: Microsoft) Did Windows 3.1 really ship with a garish color scheme that was dared into being? That was a story I needed to hear, so I went digging for the credits of the Microsoft employees who worked on the user interface back then and found my way to Virginia Howlett, who joined Microsoft in 1985 as the company's first interface designer, and worked there up through the launch of Windows 95. Howlett also co-created the font Verdana, which is partially named after her daughter Ana and is up there with Helvetica as one of the most-used fonts of the last 30 years. But enough about her world-changing contributions to modern technology: we're here to talk Hot Dog Stand. "I confess that I'm surprised anyone cares about Windows 3.1 in late 2025! It was such a long time ago and the world has changed so much," Howlett told me when I reached out over email. She confirmed that she and a "small team of designers" created Windows 3.1's themes, which were a "radically new" feature at the time--prior to its release, you couldn't customize different parts of the OS, like the backgrounds and title bars of windows, with different colors. The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team. [ ][ ]Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands[ ]Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors[Sign me up] By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. Virginia Howlett Publicity photo from her early years at Microsoft (Image credit: Virginia Howlett) I asked if the designers at Microsoft really had included Hot Dog Stand as a joke, or if it was inspired by a particular stand they frequented near the corporate campus (hey, it was a longshot, but you never know). I'll let Virginia tell the rest of the story: As I recall there were 16 colors: white, black, gray, RGB, CMY, and the dark versions of those colors--so dark red, dark green, dark blue, dark cyan, dark magenta, dark yellow, dark gray. (Normal people might call some of these colors teal, navy, burgundy, etc.) Much of the user interface was black lines on a white background and used 2 shades of gray to create 3-D buttons: 'affordances.' We designed a long list of themes using those 16 colors. No one today seems interested in 'Bordeaux' or 'Tweed' or 'Arizona.' We were covering all the bases, hoping to come up with color schemes that would appeal to a broad range of people. 'Hot Dog Stand' used bright yellow and red. Related articles * Microsoft wireless notebook presenter mouse 8000's battery compartment My new favorite deep Windows lore: Microsoft once broke its Bluetooth driver code by sticking a (r) symbol in the name of its own mouse * Windows XP hills, cracked in half During Microsoft's peak-anti piracy era in the early 2000s, it awkwardly got caught shipping Windows XP with audio files made using pirated software * Grant Gustin grave kneeling meme but with the Windows 11 Task Manager icon on the gravestone We used to be a society (with a good Windows Task Manager icon) I have been mystified about why that particular theme causes so much comment in the media. Maybe it's partly the catchy name. (Never underestimate the power of a good brand name!) I do remember some discussion about whether we should include it, and some snarky laughter. But it was not intended as a joke. It was not inspired by any hot dog stands, and it was not included as an example of a bad interface--although it was one. It was just a garish choice, in case somebody out there liked ugly bright red and yellow. The 'Fluorescent' theme was also pretty ugly, but it didn't have a catchy name, so I've never heard anything about it. I'm really glad that 'Hot Dog Stand' has entertained so many people for so many years. With regards to design historians everywhere, Virginia Howlett As delightfully garish as Hot Dog Stand is, Howlett is right that it's far from the only eye searing theme in the Windows 3.1 collection. Check out Fluorescent and Plasma Power Saver: Image 1 of 2 Windows 3.1 color schemes (Image credit: Microsoft) Windows 3.1 color schemes (Image credit: Microsoft) You can play around with Windows 3.1 in your browser thanks to the emulator PCjs Machines; if you get really into it, you can even customize every color yourself instead of relying on one of the preset themes. So that's that: Hot Dog Stand may have inadvertently served as a warning to aspiring theme customizers that madness was just a few overzealous color choices away, but that wasn't its original intent. It wasn't included on the floppy disks as a dare, or a joke--it just happened to end up one of the funniest and most memorable relics of Windows history. Virginia Howlett recently guested on an episode of the design podcast Complementary, so give it a listen if you'd like to hear her talk about interface design and her time at Microsoft. TOPICS Hardware Wes Fenlon Wes Fenlon Social Links Navigation Senior Editor Wes has been covering games and hardware for more than 10 years, first at tech sites like The Wirecutter and Tested before joining the PC Gamer team in 2014. Wes plays a little bit of everything, but he'll always jump at the chance to cover emulation and Japanese games. When he's not obsessively optimizing and re-optimizing a tangle of conveyor belts in Satisfactory (it's really becoming a problem), he's probably playing a 20-year-old Final Fantasy or some opaque ASCII roguelike. With a focus on writing and editing features, he seeks out personal stories and in-depth histories from the corners of PC gaming and its niche communities. 50% pizza by volume (deep dish, to be specific). Show More Comments You must confirm your public display name before commenting Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name. 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