Color Terrae 手機應用程式 by Simone Ardito is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2021 A' Design Award 銀獎 in 流動設計 Competition Category.

銀流動· 2021

Color Terrae 手機應用程式

by Simone Ardito

Client: Simone Ardito

A' Design Award 銀獎 Winner in 流動 Category

21,963

Verified Award Winner

Verify Award Status for #118425

View at A' Design Award Press Release Award Badge

Colors

The Design

About Color Terrae 手機應用程式

Color Terrae 係一款專為考古學家而設嘅手機應用程式。呢款應用程式將地層單位嘅識別、分析、分類同描述數碼化，並依循 Munsell 色彩編碼系統。基於人工智能嘅色彩偵測功能會讀取用戶拍攝嘅相片，並將每個地層單位連結到特定嘅色彩編碼。日誌功能就好似一本筆記簿同埋相片檔案庫，用�嚟記錄筆記、語音備忘同相片。挖掘模式提供咗一個經過優化嘅介面，適合喺挖掘工作日於戶外使用。

The Recognition

About the A' Design Award 銀獎

Color Terrae 手機應用程式是 A' Design Award 銀獎得主，這是授予頂級、華美而令人印象深刻的設計的極為崇高的認可。銀獎得主是極其卓越、極具創造力的作品，展現出其設計師傑出的專業技能、才華與敏銳。預計Color Terrae 手機應用程式將成為一件出色的典範之作，兼具非凡的專業性與深刻的創新性。這件贏得 A' Design Award 銀獎的設計是一項備受矚目、令人欽佩的發明，造福並拓展藝術、科學、設計和技術的界限。Color Terrae 手機應用程式是一件令人羨慕的創作，它喚起渴望，帶來積極的情感，並激發驚嘆與讚嘆。

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.