A lightweight utility app for artists that aids in accurate paint color mixing. Undermix helps painters choose a palette of paint colors to work with to get a desired look and tone. For artists that mockup their images digitally or know exactly the color they want to achieve, the app generates mixing "recipes" for taking the guesswork out of unpredictable pigments.
Experienced artists have an intuitive understanding of color theory and how they may want to apply it to a piece of art. The problem is that the behavior of actual paint does not always adhere to theory. Artist's paints are made of a pigment and a vehicle (e.g. safflower oil for oil paint). Every pigment has unique properties that effect the result of mixing it with another. This means color mixing is guess work for artists.
How might we take the guesswork out of mixing accurate colors for artists?
“Painters need to understand pigment properties so they can mix accurate colors and choose paints for their palette.”
Undermix serves two distinct types of painters. The paint mixing tool is essential for the illustrator that sketches and mocks up images digitally. They are armed with a HEX code and know the color they want to achieve. However, many painters don't start with a detailed end in mind and therefore precise color mixing is not important. Instead they need the barriers to getting into a flow removed and know the palette their working with will evoke the emotions and tone they want.
The lowest barrier to ideation: pencil on paper. Because of the intended user base, I knew the high-fidelity prototype needed to be pixel-perfect. That meant diving into digital tools to early would slow me way down and limit the number of quality, creative solutions I discover. The built-in roughness of sketching means I'm free to iterate limitlessly.
User Goal 1: mixing accurate colors given their palette. The solution is a feature-rich color picker that generates a paint mixing "recipe." Artist's can choose color free-form, plug in a hex code, or use hue/saturation/value values. They then select the palette of paints they have to work with (kinda like basing a dinner recipe on what ingredients you have on hand). Once the recipe is generated, the app visualizes the mixing proportions depending on the user's preference.
User Goal 2: Selecting paints for their palette. Users have a couple options to build a palette: a la carte, common pre-build's, and image sampled. Users get to see the color gamut their palette accomplishes, set cost and complexity restrictions, and get more detailed information on any pigment.
Users can browse pigments to learn more about them or build a palette a la carte. Very novel search filters had to be invented that were relevant to artists. For example, since pigment names have a diverse history, browsing A-Z has no utility, instead artists want to browse within hue families (reds, blues, etc.).
Because the function of the app is all about accurate color representation, it is important the visual design doesn't interfere. Besides the visual chaos it could cause, a colorful UI would effect the perception of the paint colors through a principle called simultaneous contrast. So, I designed Undermix with a strictly neutral colored UI. This risks resulting in a "dead" or boring aesthetic so I included playful quirks to the shape language to retain character.
© Jacob Whitlow