Color
Kaleidoscope
It is a hand-made kaleidoscope that demonstrates Josef Albers’ theory that the same color can be viewed as different color when they are placed in front of different background colors.
Design Challenge
As Josef Albers examined the interaction of color, he stated that we rarely see a color that is not affected by or relative to another color. Then how can we show this theory to the audience in a playful and unique way?
Design Solution
We made a cardboard kaleidoscope with several sets of color chips. As you turn the scopes, the attached reference characters with the same color will change the color by placing them in front of different color blocks.
Ideation
Firstly, we brainstormed some ideas to address our design problem. One is to make a color kaleidoscope, while the other is an interactive story booklet.
Prototype
We built the prototype for both ideas to test their user experience and usability. During our experiment, we found out that the storybooks can't achieve a continuous user experience due to technical limitations, and they can't reflect the color contrast which is the main purpose of this activity. Thus, we decided to go for another option-color kaleidoscope.
Final Deliverable
Functionality
It is composed of two parts-one body and 5 color chips. The body has two scopes for user to rotate to compare the color change. The transparent sheets allows the sufficient light to go through interior. Also, Its height is the result of calculation. This distance enables the user to clearly see the change of the bottom of the kaleidoscope.
Assemble
At the bottom of the body, user can insert color chips. Combing with the ship, a cute panda face will be completed.
Color Theory Demonstration
At bottom of the scope, it attaches two characters with same color--rabbit one the left and cat on the right. When they rotate the scope, they can see the color of the characters appear to be different from each other when they are in front of different colored background. As users will see here, in front of the deep blue background, the rabbit seems to have lighter green color. But the cat looks like more deeply greened. However, they share the came color. User can prove it by rotate the characters to the same color background.
