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Color Terrae Primary Function: Sesebelisoa sa Mohala by Simone Ardito

Color Terrae Primary Function: Sesebelisoa sa Mohala by Simone Ardito is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2021 Moputso oa Silevera oa A' Design Award in Moralo wa Theknoloji ya Mehala, Diaplikeishene le Softwere Competition Category.


SileveraMohala· 2021

Color Terrae Primary Function: Sesebelisoa sa Mohala

by Simone Ardito

Client: Simone Ardito

Moputso oa Silevera oa A' Design Award Winner in Mohala Category

Colors

The Design

About Color Terrae Primary Function: Sesebelisoa sa Mohala

Book Text: Color Terrae ke sesebelisoa sa mohala bakeng sa litsebi tsa baepolli ba lintho tsa khale. Sesebelisoa sena se etsa hore ho supa, ho hlahloba, ho arola le ho hlalosa liyuniti tsa stratigraphic ho be teraeng ho latela khoutu ea 'mala ea Munsell. Mosebetsi oa ho lemoha mebala o thehiloeng ho bohlale ba maiketsetso o bala linepe tse nkiloeng ke mosebelisi mme o hokahanya yuniti e ngoe le e ngoe ea stratigraphic le khoutu e itseng ea 'mala. Karolo ea Buka ea Letsatsi e sebetsa joalo ka buka ea lintlha le joalo ka setoro sa linepe bakeng sa lintlha, melaetsa ea lentsoe le litšoantšo. Mokhoa oa ho Cheka o fana ka sebaka se hlophisitsoeng bakeng sa ts'ebeliso e ka ntle ka matsatsi a ho epa.

The Recognition

About the Moputso oa Silevera oa A' Design Award

Color Terrae Primary Function: Sesebelisoa sa Mohala ke mohapi oa Moputso oa Silevera oa A' Design Award, kananelo e hlomphehang haholo e fuoang meralo e phahameng ka ho fetesisa, e ntle le e tsosang maikutlo. Bahapi ba Silevera ke mesebetsi e khanyang haholo le e nang le boqapi bo ikhethang e bontšang botsebi, talenta le bohlale ba baqapi ba eona. Color Terrae Primary Function: Sesebelisoa sa Mohala e lebelletsoe ho ba mosebetsi o motle, oa mohlala, o nang le boprofeshenale bo bonahalang le mehopolo e mecha e tebileng. Moralo ona o hapileng Moputso oa Silevera oa A' Design Award ke mohopolo o hlokomelehang haholo le o ratoang o tlisang molemo mme o sutumelletsang meeli ea bonono, mahlale, moralo le theknoloji. Color Terrae Primary Function: Sesebelisoa sa Mohala ke mosebetsi oo batho ba bangata ba o lakatsang, o tsosang litakatso, o tlisang maikutlo a matle le o tsosetsang ho makala le ho hlolla.

Behind the Design

Press Kit

Credits, team members and technical details provided by the designer.

Unique Properties
Color Terrae is an AI-powered app created to optimize archaeologist's workflow by replacing the current inefficient paper-based processes.
AI technology comes into play with a color detection function: it is able to identify colors from photographs taken by the user, and to associate the photographed stratigraphic unit to a specific color code. Furthermore, Color Terrae offers the chance to switch to Dig Mode, an outdoor-optimized version of the app which can be really useful on dig days.
Dimensions & Packaging
When a picture is taken, AI technology analyses it and samples pixel by pixel in order to get the matching color unit related to a Munsell color code.
There are 1000 hex color codes learned by the AI. Since most of them are pretty similar, they are grouped in 100 color units.
Each color unit belongs to a Munsell color. Most hex color codes detected within a color unit will indicate the "winning" unit which is associated with a specific Munsell color.
Tags
Archaeology, Digital Innovation, Use of Technology, User Experience, App Design, Artificial Intelligence
Production Technology
From pencil to pixels to code. The project started from rough sketches on paper sheets, then it moved to digital meeting the following softwares:
Adobe Illustrator (logo and brand identity), Sketch (wireframes, hi-fi mockups and prototype), Xcode with Swift UI (app), Core ML and Python (AI colors detector).
Design Challenge
The most challenging part was to bring to digital the current paper-based process without altering the user experience.
In fact by using this app the archeologist should not change his workflow, but willingly follow the same process used previously on paper, now on digital. Understanding all the human and technical pain points has been crucial in order to come up with an appropriate digital solution.
Research
Results from interviews, researches and user tests established that a mobile app could help the archaeologist in at least three different phases:
1. During the archaeological excavation, recognise the different layers, distinguish between them and note their characteristics.
2. During documentation to assign univocal color codes to the layers to avoid confusion or misunderstandings.
3. During the study phase of the site, which usually takes place several months after the excavation and fieldworks.
Inspiration
The project comes from the desire to bring innovation in areas where digital technology is not much explored, such as archaeology.
Color Terrae indeed allows to digitalize some of the main activities of the archaeologist: identification, analysis, classification and description of stratigraphic units following the Munsell color code.
Project Duration
The project started in the last quarter of 2020 and had its first demo release and test phase in February 2021 in Lugano, Switzerland.
Operation Flow
Once the app is launched, the user can interact with the main area, Diary, launch the Camera, or switch to Dig Mode through settings.
Diary, as the name may suggest, works as a notebook, but also as a photographic archive. Here user can write or record his thoughts during the day at the dig, and save all the pictures he has taken. In order to have a well structured archive, all the files (notes, voice memo and pics) are divided in three sections: recents, lists and all.

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