Red Banana

Red Banana

This exhibit is an exploration of light and color which allows the user to experiment with color mixing. I was interested in the way light is filtered through translucent colored gels. I intended for the user to select an object (the examples I had in my proof of concept were a yellow banana, a red apple, a blue water droplet, and a green tree) and one or more colored filters (made from colored gels) and place them inside the box as indicated.

When the user looks through the viewing hole while shining a light through the light hole, he will see the object through the filter and it will appear to be a different color. I didn't know very much about light and color when designing this exhibit; I thought I remembered earlier in the quarter someone told us that not knowing much about the topic of your exhibit was a good thing, so I tried to learn as I prototyped the exhibit. I guess I didn't learn enough, however, because I now realize that I could have done several things to make this exhibit work better. For example, I think it makes more sense to put the filters in front of the light source instead of in front of the user's eye. That way, it is less obvious how the color will change. Even small children could probably predict how something will look when viewed through a colored filter, but they might not guess that the color will also change if the light is shining through it. In addition, I could have used opaque materials for the "objects" (banana, apple, etc.) instead of translucent colored acrylic. Since I do not intend to show anything with the light shining through the objects, it is not necessary.