INTRODUCTION
The following post is a collection and summary of the main topics covered in class during today's lecture. It includes insights of readings, lecture slides, new concepts addressed as well as my response to these given prompts. I will be addressing some main topics of this studio, including Light, Colour, Transformation, Resonance and Environments, their literal meaning in a design-related context as well as explaining my design approach to understanding them and integrating them in my future design practice. I have also included in this post some further research I made on colour, resonance and light. As I am fairly new to these topics, I would like to make the most out of this studio class and use this as a chance to learn and explore these topics as much as possible! I will also mark in bold or coloured text only the main parts of the blog, as outlined in the Week 1 homework brief on Canvas, so it's easier for readers to skim read through the important parts if they don' feel like reading through everything!
TODAY'S LECTURE
We have addressed many topics in today's class, starting from more broad, creative and abstract elements, to the integration of resonance, light and colour theories based on general science foundations, design thinking, human physiology and behavioural psychology. As explained further in the paragraphs below, it is interesting to note how raw research data, as well as pure science and pshychology concepts, can pave the way for a better understanding of design practice and motivate creative choices while designing multisensory and interdisciplinary works. This type of design approach also goes by the name of "Research by design", as it refers to a type of creative design motivated by interdisciplinary research findings.
*Some notes I took during today's lecture
LIGHT, COLOUR...AND SOUND!
I am interested in multimedia and multisensory design practice, so I would like to consider today's topic based on a broad, multi-disciplinary way. I found particularly interesting the comparison between sound and colour, and the similar properties they have in common. This is partially because I am way more familiar with sound design elements, whereas colour theory and psychology is new to me. Therefore comparing colour to elements of sound I already know, is an interesting way for me to better understand their similarities and differences, and deepen my knowledge of colour resonance. Having said that, I will briefly address the topic below and consider both sound and colour together, underlying technical similarities and differences.
Sound and light are spectrums of high and low frequency waves, travelling through space at different intensities, frequencies and modulation, before finally reaching our eyes and ears. Therefore, we can say that in some way, Sound and Light share similar basic principles and characteristics...what changes, is the way our body perceives these different types of waves. Both sound and light can be represented by similar properties:
Pitch (high or low, depending on the frequency and how the wave evolves through time). Healthy human hearing can detect sounds from a frequency range between 20Hz to 20.000 Hz (20kHz), which represents our Audible Spectrum. (National Centre for Biotechnology Information, 2001). High-pitch sounds are produced by waves that vibrate across the air at a higher frequency, so we perceive them as being more acute and noisy, compared to lower-pitched sounds (such as soothing ambient sounds). The latter seem to induce our body and mind to be more calm and relaxed, as they vibrate at a slower frequency before slowly reaching our ears. Similarly to sound, light travels in the form of waves, this time called electro-magnetic waves. The electromagnetic spectrum includes the full range of electromagnetic waves/radiation. Depending on the different wavelengths, frequencies and intensity of energy, this spectrum can be divided into bands, including radio waves, microwaves, x-rays and visible light, to name a few. The image below shows the full range and bands that can be found in the electromagnetic spectrum.
*Electromagnetic Spectrum - Image taken from Adobe Stock Images - Available at https://stock.adobe.com/au/search/images?k=electromagnetic+spectrum
Frequency: the intensity with which waves oscillate and vibrate through space and time, from the moment they are produced by a source, till they reach our body. The official science definition of Frequency, is the number of waves that cross a specific point in the given unit of time (usually 1 sec). Frequency is a peculiar property of sound and light, as it measures waves by measuring the amount of space they move through, and the amount of time they take to do so. A higher frequency wave also carries more energy, and appears as being more intense, compared to a lower-frequency wave.
Wavelength: the distance/length between two identical crests of a wave. The higher the frequency (shorter wavelength), the higher the pitch of both sound and colour. (Scienceflip.com.au). While short waves are famous for being used in sound shortwave broadcasting (Amplitude Modulation radio), this property can also affect colour. Wavelength actually shapes the different types of band in the electromagnetic spectrum and the visible light band. Longer waves indicate colours closer to the red band, as they are closer to infrared frequencies. Shorter waves colours tend to be closer to bluish and violet spectrum, because of their similarity to ultraviolet waves.
Amplitude: the amplitude of a wave indicates the level of energy transferred by a wave. (Study.com, 2024) Higher amplitude in light waves is associated with our experience of brightness of colour, whereas a sound wave with higher amplitude results in a sound being stronger (aka louder).
Image taken from https://byjus.com/physics/frequency-and-wavelength/
I am interested in exploring the emotional connection between colour and sound. How do they work together in an audiovisual context? How do they both influence or alter our audiovisual experience of a work? I believe this relation between colour and sound can be an interesting point to explore in transformative environments, as an important element that can easily transform, evolve and create new experience within the same environment.
Image taken from https://study.com/learn/lesson/frequency-light.html#:~:text=The%20low%2Dfrequency%20end%20corresponds,or%20more%20than%201000%20nm.
The visible light spectrum is a range of wavelengths between 380 and 700 nanometres, in between UV and infrared rays. "All electromagnetic radiation is light, but we can only see a small portion of this radiation—the portion we call visible light. Cone-shaped cells in our eyes act as receivers tuned to the wavelengths in this narrow band of the spectrum. Other portions of the spectrum have wavelengths too large or too small and energetic for the biological limitations of our perception." (National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 2010). The visible light spectrum contains all the different colour of the rainbow moving together at different wavelengths depending on the colour (red has the longest wavelength, about 700 nanometres; purple has the shortest, around 30 nanometres).
Colours and their wavelengths. Image from https://science.nasa.gov/ems/09_visiblelight/
However, our eyes can perceive the different colours as separate rays of coloured light, only through refraction. The image above shows how "(Left) Isaac Newton's experiment in 1665 showed that a prism bends visible light and that each color refracts at a slightly different angle depending on the wavelength of the color. Credit: Troy Benesch.(Right) Each color in a rainbow corresponds to a different wavelength of electromagnetic spectrum." (National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 2010). Refraction happens when light waves travel at slower speed, bend at a different angle and pass through a medium (such as a prism, water or air, which will then reflect the separate colour waves in different directions). However, refraction not only happens through a prism, but also through the layers of air molecules in the atmosphere (for example when we a rainbow).
COLOUR VISION THEORIES:
The 2 most acclaimed colour theories are the following:
Tri-chromatic model: our colour vision is determined by some light and colour receptors (millions of photo-sensitive cells in our retina), called rods and cones, which are able to determine the type of colour we're seeing, and then sending an neurological signal to the brain. We have 3 types of cones, which are able to detect short wavelengths (blue colours), medium wavelengths (greens) and long wavelengths (red). In order to fully understand a colour, the brain needs to have signals from at least 2 of these types on cones. By comparing the amount of signal received from each cone, the brain is then able to define what colour we're seeing. For example, if all 3 cones are stimulated at the same time, according to additive colour model, we see white. If no cones are stimulated, we see black. If red and green cones are stimulated at the same time, but the blue cones are not, we see yellow (red and green = yellow).
Colour-opponent theory: our brain perceives colours based on the absence of their opponent. That's why when we quickly switch between colour, our brain briefly perceives the presence of the opponent/complimentary colour (due to cone fatigue in our retina). Both of these theories are valid, they simply explain different stages of our colour perception process. Tri-chromatic colour theory explains what happens on a physiological level, whereas colour-opponent theory explains what happens from a psychological point of view.
THE EFFECTS OF LIGHT WAVES ON OUR BODY (AND MIND)
Studies and research have shown that light and colours have different effects on our body and mind, depending on their intensity and brightness, especially affecting our circadian rhythm. For example, a high exposure over time to blue light induces extra production of cortisol hormones in the body, which can lead us to sleep less and feel more stressed. Being exposed to blue light at night can significantly reduce the production of melatonin in the body, and make us feel less sleepy during the night, and as a consequence, more tired during the day. On the other hand, warmer light, such as yellow coloured light, induces our body to produce more melatonin, so we tend to feel more relaxed and sleepy.
Colours can also play tricks to our mind! If we introduce a new colour against a white background, and then flip the page immediately to a blank white page, we will see the opponent/complimentary colours in the place of the previous ones. This effect usually lasts a couple of seconds and can be easily explained by Opponent colour theory (how our brain perceives and processes colours).
DEFINING SOME IMPORTANT WORDS
1. Transformative = metamorphosis, property of something evolving, changing, reshaping, growing, moving. Can affect time, space, form, shape, colour, materials, surface.
- transition into different emotional state, mental thoughts, or shift affecting different senses spheres
- structural change
- transformative journey of emotions through colours
2. Colour =
- visual perception of the different rays of the light spectrum, once they hit the surface of an object.
- light absporption and reflection
- hue, value, intensity
- physical and emotional response
3. Resonance =
- Physical phenomenon affecting dynamical particles and systems, which can evolve and change due to major external forces at different frequency, vibration and intensity levels.
- State of adjustments and change
- Emotional, personal and subjective experience in response to external events, phenomena, situations.
- Can be mechanical, physical, psychological, digital
- sound, vibration moving throught the environment
- quality of affecting, impacting, changing, modifying something else
- quality of inducing change into someone or something
- importance, value, relevance
4. Environments =
- space, place, location defined by some type or form of borders, can be both physical or digital, and can be shaped by and defined by many different characteristics or properties (location, textures, materials, people, navigation, accessibility, objects, furniture, natural boundaries and barriers, architecture, landscape)
- set of different elements, components of the people, objects, subjects, that make up the environment, and the different relationships between them.
- relationship between identity and environment
REFERENCE LIST
Purves D, Augustine GJ, Fitzpatrick D, et al., editors. Sunderland (MA): Sinauer Associates; 2001.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK10924/#:~:text=Humans%20can%20detect%20sounds%20in,to%2015%E2%80%9317%20kHz
National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Science Mission Directorate. (2010). Visible Light. Retrieved [insert date - e.g. August 10, 2016], from NASA Science website: http://science.nasa.gov/ems/09_visiblelight
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