‘Perceiving’ colour differently.

Consider what it would be like as a designer to work ONLY in gray scale. Now consider if you were born without the ability to see colour and saw the whole world constantly only in tones of gray. So what is colour really to you, to me, and now to Neil Harbisson - an artist who only sees in grayscale and appreciates what he sees, differently.

Can colour perceived through alternative channels create inspiration?

Neil Harbisson helped design a lightweight eyepiece that he wears on his forehead which transposes the light frequencies of colour hues into sound frequencies. Harbisson's artwork blurs the boundaries between sight and sound. He listens to the colours of faces. Can you hear colour?

Neil Harbisson Interview – Part 2: Hearing Colors

Along with learning to see colour via its frequency, comes hearing colour, hence a form of music. From these diagrams (one expresses the frequencies and one shows the equivalent musical notations) we can see what sound is heard corresponding to which colour and therefore how Neil can ‘interpret’ colour. Even if you are not a musician you can appreciate this challenge and its outcome.

If you are particularly interested in this unique area, here are a couple of links for further research -

You might have fun with this first link, it is about testing whether you have synesthesia - this is where 2 or more of your senses are unexpectedly connected. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xj7vukZT9sI

The second link is about why some people can specifically hear colour. https://www.livescience.com/61930-synesthesia-hear-colors-genes.html and

Neil Harbisson Interview – Part 2: Hearing Colors

Could a conversation about hearing colour caused you to consider, how do touch relate to colour? How do you experience colour if you are unable to see colour difference, colour at all? Take a moment to rethink how you could solve your next logo design task? Are you inspired … differently … alternatively?

With the device Mr. Harbisson utilizes, he created this human colour wheel below. He deduced that humans are not black or white but they are actually variations of shades of orange.

If you listen to this 11 minute TED talk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_mmwrbDGac&t=257s and go to 4:17 minutes into the talk, you will her him explain in his own words - why human being are actually the same colour - orange!

Now that you know this alternative perception about human skin colour, (for example) do you think it might influence you if you were to work with a non-profit which asked you to come up with a program brand identity focusing on diversity within a city? I know it would for me!

You can’t put on a device and see what he does, but you can learn from what he experiences and shares. New ways to perceive colour and other elements can inform our direction in design processes and therefore their solutions.