Color to Avoid Design Failures

Coloring your designs to avoid failures.

Merging Technologies with Color to Avoid Design Failures

Penn State College of Engineering, Miranda Buckheit, January 21, 2021

Pennsylvania State University (Penn State) researchers analyzed machine learning (ML) and image colorization algorithms to avoid design failures. Penn State's Pranav Milind Khanolkar reviewed the use of the ABAQUS additive-manufacturing simulation software, which can pose difficulties because its speed and performance level rely on a computer's hardware processing power. The team deployed ML algorithms to lower the exclusive use of computationally demanding finite element analysis, and accelerate simulations. It then applied image colorization algorithms to material microstructure data, and repurposed programs typically used to add color to monochrome photos. Khanolkar said, "Using intelligent technology to help people and empower their creativity and empathy during the design process is important. These algorithms need lots of computational power and using artificial intelligence ... allows designers to be more creative without impacting production cost."

Reprogrammable Colors in Ink Make Chameleons

When I first scanned this it seemed trite, but then I though of a whole group of possible ideas.  Say a car that could become more visible in  darkness.    Or new kinds of art or marketing that could change with their environment.  Or?

Objects Can Now Change Colors Like a Chameleon
MIT News   By Rachel Gordon
September 10, 2019

Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) developed a system that uses reprogrammable ink to allow objects to change colors when exposed to ultraviolet (UV) and visible light sources. The PhotoChromeleon system uses a mixture of photochromic dyes that can be sprayed or painted onto the surface of any object; exposure to UV light saturates the colors in the dyes from transparent to full saturation, while exposure to white light desaturates them as desired. Said MIT’s Stefanie Mueller, "By giving users the autonomy to individualize their items, countless resources could be preserved, and the opportunities to creatively change your favorite possessions are boundless."  .... ' 

Communicating with a Language of Colors

Applications to communications, advertising, user interface?

Analyzing the language of color
Cognitive scientists find that people can more easily communicate warmer colors than cool ones.

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Anne Trafton | MIT News Office 

" ... In a new study, MIT cognitive scientists have found that languages tend to divide the “warm” part of the color spectrum into more color words, such as orange, yellow, and red, compared to the “cooler” regions, which include blue and green. This pattern, which they found across more than 100 languages, may reflect the fact that most objects that stand out in a scene are warm-colored, while cooler colors such as green and blue tend to be found in backgrounds, the researchers say. ... " 

Seeing, Sensing and Reproducing Color

In the New Yorker:   The Search for Our Missing Colors, By Amos Zeeberg.  You would think that in our digital world we could sense, see and reproduce most any color.  Well, not quite.  What are the implications for the increasingly digital world of a lack of richness?  I recall in a project that sought to archive color advertisements, we were unable to do this even close to usefully.

Harnessing the Color of Data

All data visualization uses color to show pattern and emphasis in visuals.  Now Vizexplorer says they take it a step further.  I am exploring beyond that.   " ... VizExplorer software makes life easier, more productive and profitable for virtually any business. Our powerful, yet intuitive applications provide elegant solutions to a range of operational and marketing challenges in a multitude of industries. ... ".   They are showing a number of casino applications.   Others are also suggested, often those that show physical layouts and location.   But also visual abstractions.  Retail data detail is a clear possibility.  Also on Facebook.