You can customize LS_COLORS if you want, but I've never been mad at the defaults. Also, I prefer c-style escapes, which allows you to copy and paste the filename and use it in other commands:

    alias ls='ls --color=auto -F -b -T 0 -A'

    -F classify entries with (*/=>@|)
    -b use c-style escapes instead of quoting
    -T 0 do not use tabs for alignment
    -A show all dotfiles except . and ..

Plus, I find colors to be insanely useful when my old eyes try to read 'ip' output, so I really do prefer:

    alias ip='ip --color=auto'