Ken Nordine is often associated with the Beats of the 1960’s and invented an art form called Word-Jazz.  I find his jazz-backed stories mesmerizing.  He recorded an entire album – 34 tracks – called Colors with invented stories, each revolving around  a single color.

The fact that the genesis of the album was a commission from a paint company does not diminish my appreciation of it. Each track is  unpredictable and spins a tale as only Nordine can.

I wanted to build a project that would present these tracks to a modern audience. Tap a color on a screen to hear a story about that color? Boring. Not only that but how much thought would people put into their color selection if all they did was tap adjacent boxes?

I considered many options for the look of the device and the interface before finally deciding on a wooden box that looks more or less like a radio with a speaker and volume control but no outward signs of how to play a track.  Accompanying the box are  34 “color chips”, made of colored card stock taped together, in the colors of each track.

As a prompt each color chip sports a sticker with an image of a microphone.  Attached to the wooden box is a piece of Lexan with an identical sticker on it.  Holding the color chip up to the microphone icon magically makes the track corresponding to the color chip begin to play.  Along with the sound, a circle of LED lights animates for the duration of the track.

I would argue that the physical interface is more successful than a screen interface would be.  People choose with care which chip they pick up and, along with the anticipation of what Nordine has in store for them it’s also not always apparent which color they picked up when the options include such colors as Chartreuse,  Puce and Hazel., so it’s fun to guess which one you selected.