| Color plays an important role in a product's success but is oftentimes underutilized and overshadowed by other design decisions. Preliminary industrial design education may create a foundation of color knowledge, but the translation of color knowledge and the ability to strategically select and apply color to a product occurs through experience. Color by nature is perceptual and subjective; leaving even experienced industrial designers feeling apprehensive. This thesis focuses on how to deliver a systematic color selection process to Industrial Design students. Research was conducted in order to understand the current color resources, research, considerations, and practices in industrial design and outside of industrial design. From this, key insights were revealed that served as requirements for the development of a tool. The tool aimed at providing Industrial Design students the ability to approach color confidently in their design process and help them to rationalize their decisions. The tool was prototyped and tests were conducted to gauge its value. A survey of student designers was conducted both pre-prototype and post-prototype to measure the outcome as well as to identify areas of improvement and further exploration. |
