Josef Albers and Interaction of Color

This page is an introduction to Josef Albers' ideas about color and how they can be applied to designing user interfaces. I co-wrote an article on applying his theories to UI design.

Albers was a teacher in the Bauhaus, a school that changed how art was taught. He taught that interpretation of any color depends on its environment. His students learned by doing -- the emphasis was on experiencing the different interactions by doing studies with color and material.

If one says "Red" (the name of a color)
and there are 50 people listening,
it can be expected that there will be 50 reds in their minds.
And one can be sure that all these reds will be very different...
-Interaction of Color , Albers, J., Yale University Press, 1963.

A "color ladder" showing the 3D effect of changing the light value of a shade of red.
See how it seems to come out of the page as the foreground becomes brighter.

Color combinations are subjective as well. Colors boundaries can be so indistinct that they blur, or they can be so active that they cause vibration. An area with a particular color can come forward or recede, depending on what colors are in the background. The size of an object, as well as its hue and value (darkness) can appear to change, too.

These interactions are neither good nor bad; you can use them either way. The problem arises when the interactions occur unintentionally. Knowing how colors interact allow you to be more subtle in your designs and avoid unintentional effects.

Ati Gropius Johansen was a student of Albers, and is the daughter of Walter Gropius, the founder of the Bauhaus. She teaches a great class on this subject called Dynamics of Color. In the Boston area, it's offered at the DeCordova Museum (617 259 0505). I've studied with her and we taught a tutorial on using color in UI design at the ACM CHI'96 conference. Ati recommends Frank Whitford's book Bauhaus (World of Art) as a reference on the Bauhaus school.

We also wrote an article, with Deborah Falck, on applying these ideas to UI design. It was in the July/August 1996 issue of interactions magazine, published by ACM.

Albers wrote a book called Interaction of Color (Yale University Press, revised 2006) describing the ideas. There's a companion CD-ROM version (same publisher), with interactive exercises. Call 1-800-YUP-READ about the CD.