Description

My idea for this project was to create an optical illusion that made the circles appear like different colors, when in reality they are all white. However, the circle's true color can only be seen when you ignore the color of the stripes and look close at the circle. This idea is further reinforced by the ability to change the color of the stripes--showing that the circle color isn't changing.

Process

My project is about the idea of "simultaneous contrast". I did research on this illusion and looked at examples to form my final concept. This was one image that inspired me.

For this project, there was a lot of fine tuning. Initially I had 4 different functions for my stripes, but I later turned it into 1 because I wanted to implement the ability to change the color of the stripes upon key press. Additionally, it took me a really long time to get the circles to go under some of the stripes layer because I wanted each circle to only go under one layer. i.e. the circle would only be under the red stripes, but over the rest and another circle would be only under the green stripes, but over the rest. However, due to the limitations in p5js--or my own inabilities--I wasn't able to properly execute this--hence the current result. Furthermore, I wanted the user to be aware that they are able to interact with the illusion, so I included text to make it more clear.

Real World Implication

This illusion already has a big impact on everything around us and how we percieve colors, so it gets deployed in fine arts, graphic design, etc. Furthermore, this phenomenon is a currently a very big trend on Instagram and TikTok--where artists show that the colors on their art aren't the true colors that people first see.