Summer Paper

Julia Vallera

Whats your wavelength?

Cynthia Lawson, Andrew Zornoza

9/1/09

Color and light is the focus of study in many disciplines, such as physiology, psychology,

philosophy, synesthesia and art. It is what my thesis concept is based on. I am learning about

how people relate to color because i want to find out how people see the world the way they do.

In doing this research my goal is to create digital learning environments that teach how color and

light influence ones perception of sound, touch, smell and sight. By recognizing how the five

senses interpret color to perceive the world, we can recognize patterns in the thoughts, actions

and decisions we make on a daily basis. Recognizing those patterns leads to new perceptions of

the world around us, which can alter thinking, change actions and cause reactions. Color can

cause physical discomfort or put our minds at ease. It is a powerful form of communication on a

local and global scale. Ethnicity, astrology, politics, ecology, military, education, health, food,

consumerism and music are just a few areas that are influenced by color.

In 2003 the United Nations reported that food rations distributed in Iraq by U.S. - led

coalition forces were “wrapped in the same yellow packaging as deadly so-called bomblets being

airdropped by the coalition” (CNN.com). This simple oversight in color usage put the lives of

hundreds of civilians in danger of mistaking food rations for explosives.

Color and the environment are also very closely related. Climate change is transforming

the colors of the earth. One of the largest ice caps in the world, on Mount Kilimanjaro is melting

causing the landscape to change from a large white area to dark brown and green one. Warmer

oceans and water sedimentation are causing coral reef bleaching, which is draining the ocean

floor of its color.

Symbols and signs we follow on a daily basis are color coded and are embedded into our

thinking. The U.S.A’s terror alert system is a good example. Red is the highest level warning

and green is the least. The designation of certain colors to “levels” of danger is an interesting

parallel, not to mention what colors were chosen and why.

Healthiness is commonly associated to color. Blue or green frequently represents illness

when pink or red-orange represents wellness. The color of your nails is a reliable sign of the

quality of your health. Discoloration in the peachy /off whit color of the nail can be a sign of

malnutrition or disease.

All of these examples are a few ways color influences the way humans interact with the

world. I am interested in using the theory and research that exists about human perception of

color as a foundation to create an interactive learning environment. I would like to create a se-

ries of digital and physical instillations that require people to use their five senses to perceive

color. These interactive environments would be installed in a mobile gallery where users learn

about the way they react to color and why they react the way they do. People will become aware

of simple color and light concepts while they make discoveries about how they perceive the

world around them . By presenting these concepts to a mass audience I intend to introduce the

idea that relating to color is a completely personal experience. It is interpreted differently by ev-

eryone and the context in which color is seen is important to each interpretation.

I plan to track the results of how the participants interact with each interface. Compiling

the data in a visual way is an important part of the project. Whether it is immediately after the in-

teraction takes place or much later I think showing a comparison of the results will be interest-

ing. Providing some kind of immediate visualization of the results will give the user immediate

feedback. This might take the form of a data sheet or “color profile”, printed out at the end of

the experience, where the user’s touch, taste, hearing and sight are measured in color. Alterna-

tively it might take the form of large data charts printed as posters where the results are pre-

sented.

Objects in the instillation will be a mix of computer screens, musical instruments, photo-

graphs, games, posters, food and lights. In order to demonstrate the core mechanics and rules of

color, all of the objects will be in a controlled setting. Some examples might be a windowless

room, a sound proof room, a blindfolded taste test or a florescent lit corridor. The reason being

that color is very relative to the light and other colors that surround it so there needs to be a con-

stant setting in order for results of each user to be compared.

I would like the entire experience to be housed in a mobile gallery so it can be trans-

ported to different areas of NYC. Users will vary in age, culture and location. It will be a collec-

tive space for discussion and documentation of the way people see color . Each user gets an indi-

vidual experience that becomes part of a larger shared experience. I believe this will be an inter-

esting way for people to start a conversation about their differences and similarities. “Parts and

labor” is a mobile gallery housed in a mobile truck with glass walls. I am interested in showing

this project in this context or finding a different one like it.

The following ideas are prototypes that I plan to test in the next few weeks. They range

from physical computing projects to simple musical instruments.

1. Color tracking: A camera outside the gallery tracks motion based on color. If it is set to

red, it will track everyone who walks by wearing red. The tracking returns a visual image on a

TV or projection inside the gallery. While it documents how many people per hour/day are

wearing a certain color, it also becomes into an interesting visual and/or data record.

2. Color Frequency: Users will play the notes one at a time on a xylophone or keyboard.

They will have to choose a color that they feel closely corresponds to each note. Each note

has an actual equivalent in sound based on wavelength and frequency. The users choose their

own equivalent and can compare the actual equivalent afterward.

3. Taste the rainbow: Five cups conceal an assortment of flavored drinks. Each user tastes

each one and chooses what color the drink “tastes” most similar to. Each drink will be a dis-

tinct flavor (sour, sweet, salty, tangy, bitter). The color chosen by the user that matches each

drink is based on personal interpretation. This creates a relationship between color and how it

symbolizes taste.

4. Color Profile: The results of the user’s tests are compiled into a data form both as an indi-

vidual and in a larger group. They can see how their results compares to a community of peo-

ple, all with different ways of seeing the world.

5.Re-

flection: Each wall of a four sided room will be painted with different color paint. There are

two small, lightweight blocks in the middle of the room with four sides, each one a different

color. The paint is slightly shiny so it reflects a little light. Users can turn, flip or move the

blocks anyway they choose, in any area that they choose. As the color sides on the smaller

blocks reflect light onto the walls of the room the color changes in appearance. The light

source in the room is controlled so there are no windows.

6. Color Balance: One photograph of each user will be taken as they enter the gallery. The

photo will duplicated several times but will be different each time. The skin tone will be slightly

altered each time, to be darker or lighter, or reder or yellower. The user will pick which photo-

graph they think is the “true” one. This will start a conversation about skin tone and racial

sterotypes and will also reveal what our perceptions are of the way we look.

Testing for these prototypes has not taken place. I am in the process of researching the

best way to conduct tests such as these. Psychological tests and how they are conducted are what

I am referencing in designing these prototypes. I am also in the process of developing a consis-

tent way to “measure” the results so i can draw conclusions from them. Each prototype has it’s

own particular issues. For example, in order to conduct the test on “color frequency” I need to

conduct more research on similarities between wavelengths of color and wavelengths of sound to

be sure I can definitely compare them. Once I have more of a foundation I will start the user test-

ing.

Previous explorations in my own work include a wide variety of areas like cell phone

performance art, fashion technology, urban tours, instillation and information design. My moti-

vation in all of these past projects comes from a desire to do create work with an interactive

quality to them, where the user can personalize an experience based on tools I provide. Here are

some examples of my prior work starting with most recent:

1. Pinky at After the Jump Fest, Littlefield Performance Space. Brooklyn, NY. August

2009: An instillation designed for user interactions. People can climb to the upper level and

look out of two viewing holes to get an “elephants perspective”. A projector underneath the

elephant plays “pink elephants on parade” from the movie Fantasia.

2. Aurora Australis Box, May 2009: An interactive box that explains the scientific phenom-

enon behind “Aurora Australis” . Numbers guide the user to unfold the box step by step to re-

veal graphics and text describing the reasons this phenomenon takes place. Card games and

toys are included.

3. NYC Waterbody: An informational booklet about the NYC water supply. Using the data

from the annual NY water report, I made an interactive tool to show people the same informa-

tion in the report, but in a more interesting way. It is intended to be mailed with the actual re-

port.

4. Phototransirion gloves:

5. TourIna Box:

6. Text Text Dance:

7. Dear Diary:

In choosing this design concept I considered the following suggestion from The Craft of

Research. “A topic is an interest specific enough to support research that one might plausibly re-

port on in a book or article that helps others to advance their thinking and understanding”

(Booth, 36) This lead me to thing about learning environments and topics I might be able to ex-

pand on in an educational way. Another good suggestion from the same book reads “the starting

point of good research is always what you do not know or understand but feel you must” (Booth,

39). I have been teaching color relativity for three years, but feel there is a lot missing from the

way it is taught in an “art school” context. Exploring the way people experience color with their

five senses might open new ways to demonstrate how color connects people to their surround-

ings.

“From a narrowed topic to questions”, another chapter from The Craft of Research by

Wayne Booth, suggests a series of questions to help guide the research process. There is a per-

sonal element between the participants and the research. He suggests asking “how do the partici-

pants relate to the place” and “what use have the participants made of the story?” He goes on to

discuss the “value of the topics uses and parts”, which is an approach I find very applicable to

the way I would like to proceed with this project. Creating a “color story” of the users experi-

ence will allow them to relate to the experience more personally. Making the experience a valu-

able one is important so each part must have a learning component to it.

There are numerous scientists, philosophers, physicists and artists that have set reliable

precedents in the field of color relativity. All of them were and still are searching for answers

mysteries about light and color. In a letter to Wilhelm von Humbolt in 1798, Johann Wolfgang

von Goethe (artist and scientist) explained that by embarking on his History of the Theory of

Colours he had also hoped to create a "History of the Human Spirit in Miniature" (Virtual Color

Museum). For as long as color and light have been studied it has been applied to a larger con-

cepts of religion, astrology, mysticism and science. Attempting to get a broader understanding

of how different populations of people see the world through color will help me learn new ways

of experiencing color and light.

I am working with the color theory and graphic design coordinator in the Arts, Media and

Technology school of Parsons. He will be directing me to important resources as I proceed. I

will be in contact with psychologists and researchers through him. With this guidance I hope to

develop reliable interfaces where users can explore color.

Contextualization of color and light in relation to design, technology, history, society,

culture, politics, psychology and philosophy is extensive. Much research has been done in rela-

tion to color and light in each category. Here is a visual map of some examples.

Further explorations will lead to more extensive analysis of how the interactive tools I am

creating can be fully used to benefit communities that use them. This project provides an oportu-

nity to reach a large audience in a positive way. Comminicating the material in a simple and ef-

fective way is very important to the success of this project. I hope that it can grow and travel to

more cities so communities in different geographical areas can compare results with one another

to learn about their cultural similarities and differences. I wold like the results to be published

online or in print so people can read about them and learn from them without having to be

present. Most importantly I hope to create a reliable system to use as a foundation in expanding

on further learning environments I create in the future. Bill Clinton discussed the importance of

systems in a talk he gave on developing health care in Rawanda at the TED conference. He

stated “It is not enough to create just one, you have to create a system... develop a model that can

and later be applied in other parts of the world...we have to build systems.........in a world without

systems everything becomes a gorilla struggle and the predictability is not there and it becomes

impossible to develop health care, save lives or educate kids” (Bill Clinton, TED).

Bibliography:

Websites:

1. Luscher Color Diagnostics. “Luscher Color Diangnostics: The Lscher-Color-Diagnostic

measures a person's psycho-physical state, his or her ability to withstand stress, to perform,

and to communicate.” http://www.colourtest.ue-foundation.org/kolory/kolor-index2.php (ac-

cessed August 21, 2009).

2. Lotto Lab Studio. “ Lotto Lab: Our aim is to explore and explain how and why we see

what we do” http://www.lottolab.org/

3. Sap Design Guild. “Optical Illusions: Phenomena of Contrast.”

http://www.sapdesignguild.org/resources/optical_illusions/contrast_phenomena.html (ac-

cessed August 17, 2009)

4. Virtual Color Museum. “ Colour order systems in art and science.”

http://www.colorsystem.com/index.htm (accessed August 30)

5. CNN.com “U.N.: Iraqi Children may confuse rations, bomblets.”

http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/04/02/sprj.irq.aid.bomblets/index.html?

iref=newssearch (accessed August 30, 2009)

6. TED.com “Bill Clinton on rebuilding Rawanda”.

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/bill_clinton_on_rebuilding_rwanda.html (accessed July 29

2009)

Articles:

1. Angier, Natalie. “ How Do We See Red? Count the Ways” New York Times, February 6,

2007, Science section.

2. Konigsberg, Eric. “Made in the Shade” New Yorker, January 22, 2007.

Books:

1. Booth, Wayne C., Gregory G. Colomb, and Joseph M. Willliams. The Craft of Research.

Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2008.

2. Laurel, Brenda. Design Research Methods and Perspectives. Cambridge, Mass: The MIT

Press, 2003

3. De Waal, Frans. Our Inner Ape. NY: Riverhead Group, 2005

Gallery exhibits:

1. The Museum of Modern Art. “Color Chart: Reinventing Color, 1950 to Today. NYC.

2008

2. The Museum of Natural History. “Hall of Human Origins”. NYC. 2009

3. 1889 Gallery. “Re/Build: A Collaborative Design Exhibition”. Brooklyn, NY. 2009

4. P.S.1 MoMA. “Leandro Erlich: Swimming Pool.” Queens, NY. 2009