Imagining the World of Engineering in Color

Symmetry signifies rest and binding, asymmetry motion and loosening, the one order and law, the other arbitrariness and accident, the one formal rigidity and constraint, the other life, play and freedom. - Dagobert Frey

This journey begins with exploring the parallels between the worlds of art, engineering, and design.

Art vs Design

Art: Expressive approach to human sensory experiences

Design: Purposeful approach to solving human problems

Art is applied in design to expand the experience of the problem being solved. It lives in a world of human emotions and appreciation of the power of beauty and aesthetics, yet has intrinsic value. Design expresses the purpose of offering solutions to human problems, appreciating the needs and extrinsic value of what serves the user. There is a sense of ambiguity versus simplification; design alleviates challenges while art implores them. This being said, there are design outcomes that utilize art for appealing visuals and aesthetic implications to enrich a user’s expression, or deliberately solving a design problem where the purpose stresses an aesthetic need.

Engineering vs Design

Engineering: Technical approach to solving a problem

Design: Human approach to solving a problem

While Both disciplines are collaborative fields that solve world and human problems in relation to the artificial world, engineering is traditionally problem-centered and design is human or need-centered. These two disciplines can merge to apply technical and user-oriented solutions for the most efficient outcome as the world we design becomes more focused on the experience of the user.

Having designers enter the world of science to communicate scientific information leverages various modes of expression. In other words, color applied to visual and layout design allows the world of engineering to come to life.

I explored this approach when designing the user experience and user interface for TREL’s (Texas Rocket Engineering Lab) website, a student-led rocket engineering group at the University of Texas at Austin. The website aims to:

1. Visualize engineering machines so that they are appealing to the human eye

2. Introduce Aerospace-related artistic elements

3. Breathe life into Aerospace

While keeping in mind web accessibility guidelines in the context of the color scheme and contrast, such as where text is easier to read if the text and background colors are contrasting.

To experiment with color, we created an affinity diagram with four categories: Pop, Modern, Realistic, and Fantasy, placing images which reflect different color spectrums on the diagram to gauge the tone of the website as well as each color’s feasibility within TREL’s brand.

• To the engineers, TREL is a modern and realistic aerospace brand with a clean and two-tone color palette of black and white–and a gradient sky blue.

• To its audience, TREL is adventurous and innovative as well as engaging and inspiring for younger generations.

• To the sponsors, TREL is diverse, informative, and collaborative, with the mission of advancing aerospace.

All of the stakeholders above embody TREL’s user base. TREL’s long-term goal is to demystify the intricacies of applied rocket science. We approached this by adding elements of unexpected colors into the TREL brand to diversify the vision of what engineering looks like. We explored various color gradients to incorporate more than one color and represent the fusion of art and engineering.

Applying color theory,

• Red is used to portray excitement and passion on the bright spectrum, and darker hues portray leadership and courage.

• Orange is used to portray creativity, adventure, and youthfulness, as well as stimulation, adventure, and enthusiasm.

• Blue is used to portray the depth of the sky, and is associated with intuition, imagination, inspiration, and open space.

• Beige is used to portray naturalness, dependability, flexibility. It signifies comforting environments, and works well with coordination in regard to order/symmetry.

• Black is used to portray power, authority, formality, and elegance, as well as sophistication.

These colors give depth and variation to the visual elements of design and the overall website experience. We intend to prototype various combinations of colors and test them with our users to see what design aesthetic reflects TREL and to guide the launch of the website phases to view the design live.

After referencing the study eBay did on redesigning the user experience of evolving color, we became aware of the unexpected effects of:

a) making a traditional product untraditional through color

b) modifying an existing brand with a drastic change in color and visual elements

We are also exploring the method of subtly changing the design with an algorithm “that fade(s) the background color - one shade at a time over a period of several months,” following eBay’s example where they redesigned their interface from yellow to white progressively as it was not received well initially. In eBay’s case, “...none of the users noticed this change” once it was implemented over time, demonstrating how a transition of brand expression can be more comfortably applied in phases.

Users dislike drastic change, and user experience is defined by both conscious and subconscious factors, including color, font size, layout composition, navigation, and more. With a potential rebrand through color, TREL is becoming more expressive in the worlds it lives in, allowing creativity and imagination to lead the way. TREL operates with students at the center and passion in every corner, embodying an experience that pushes the boundaries of engineering while inspiring the users of its website.