Thursday Salute to Originals: The Color of Time

Time can be measured many different ways. You can look at your watch or phone of course, but you can also track the sun’s path across the sky, watch the tides fade in and out, even count the rings of a tree (although you might be waiting around awhile if you go that route).  But telling time by color? Now that’s a strange concept.

what-color-is-it-clock-time-hue

But telling time with color is exactly what the web app What Colour Is It does. Created by artist James E. Murphy, the app uses a hexadecimal system to determine shade based on #RRBBGG format. In this case, the system uses the hour (RR), minute (BB), and second (GG) to calculate the precise hue of that very moment.

Watch the full time-lapse here to cycle through all the shades of the day. And join as we salute the What Colour Is It app for turning color swatches into an unusual tool for telling time.

What other ways do designers tell time? By cups of coffee? Number of emails? Details in CAD? We have a feeling the ways are endless (and likely just as colorful as this app!).

Image Credits: Colossal