searching for the rainbow

ColourfulLanguage

MA GrAphic DesiGn

MAjor project VisuAl reseArch

Eleanor Maclure 2012

A visual interpretation of basic colour termsthrough the use of Google Image Search

Searchingfor theRainbow

seArchinG for the rAinbow Visual Research Presentation

Introduction

The philosopher Wittgenstein famously asked ‘How do I know that this color is red? —It would be an answer to say: I have learnt English.’ But how do we know what is red? In today’s digital age perhaps a more pertinent response would be: ‘Google it’.


For many the internet has become our primary source of information and knowledge. Inclusive and participatory, as an entity it represents the culmination of everything that has been posted and uploaded, with each new contribution slightly altering the shape of the whole. But how does Google know what is red? Tags, Search Engine Optimisation and complex algorithms now set the precedence for the information we receive when we search for something. Search engines are able to dictate the type of information we consume, influencing our perceptions of what is important with the ranking of their search results.

Introduction


Process

The use of Google image search as a tool to provide a visual interpretation of colour terms began as no more than an exercise in understanding, to enable me to progress with other research, it was a means to an end. However, repetition of the process began to reveal both the changing nature of the internet and the similarities and differences between the colours in the images retrieved by each search. Although translated through Google’s algorithms, collectively, the images represent the level of understanding of colour and colour terms by those posting them, tagging them or writing the accompanying text.


The methodology for this exercise involved inputting each of the eleven basic colour terms, defined by Berlin & Kay, into Google Image Search with the addition of the word ‘colour’. This concession was an undesirable but necessary consequence of the number of high profile celebrities with colour terms in their names. I then took (without exception) the first thirty images from the search results, as a foundation to work with and analyse using image manipulation processes. The images were indexed using Colourphon, resulting in a 9 x 9 grid of colour. They were blurred with a specific and constant amount of Gaussian blur in Photoshop and finally, also using Photoshop, the RGB values for the pixels in each image were averaged to give a solid block of colour.

Process


As a body of work, the project presents a visual representation of each colour term, mediated by Google, and functions as a snapshot of colour on the Internet that due to it’s constantly shifting nature, can never be replicated exactly. It shows not only the variety of responses to the names of colours but also the level of consensus across the range of images. It allows the viewer to appreciate how the colours and images transform and mutate with each of the different processes applied, as they move from defined forms, into indistinguishable shapes, to a solid, uniform block of colour. This method is but one of the many possible ways of exploring the relationship between colour and language but it one that is truly a reflection of our digital age.

Conclusions


pink Search Results


pink Pixelated


pink Blurred


pink Colour Averaged


red Search Results


red Pixelated


red Blurred


red Colour Averaged

Orange


orange Search Results


orange Pixelated


orange Blurred


orange Colour Averaged

Yellow


Yellow Search Results


Yellow Pixelated


Yellow Blurred


Yellow Colour Averaged


Green Search Results


Green Pixelated


Green Blurred


Green Colour Averaged


blue Search Results


blue Pixelated


blue Blurred


blue Colour Averaged

Purple


purple Search Results


purple Pixelated


purple Blurred


purple Colour Averaged


brown Search Results


brown Pixelated


brown Blurred


brown Colour Averaged


black Search Results


black Pixelated


black Blurred


black Colour Averaged


Grey Search Results


Grey Pixelated


Grey Blurred


Grey Colour Averaged


white Search Results


white Pixelated


white Blurred


white Colour Averaged

ColourfulLanguage

Eleanor Maclure 2012

http://eleanormaclure.wordpress.com/

http://issuu.com/eleanorbydesign/docs/searching_for_the_rainbow

searching for the rainbow

Design

snapshot of colour

word colour

grid of colour

visual representation

search results

search engines

solid block of colour

range of images