BRIEF 13: DISCOVER - Visual Research 2

We decided to research heavily into Light, as this is obviously the main focus of the annual festival. We researched into the science behind light and also looked at how this could influence our design process. Visible light (commonly referred to simply as light) is electromagnetic radiation that is visible to the human eye, and is responsible for the sense of sight Visible light is usually defined as having a wavelength in the range of 400 nanometres(nm), or 400×10−9 m, to 700 nanometres – between the infrared, with longer wavelengths and the ultraviolet, with shorter wavelengths. These numbers do not represent the absolute limits of human vision, but the approximate range within which most people can see reasonably well under most circumstances. Various sources define visible light as narrowly as 420 to 680 to as broadly as 380 to 800 nm. Under ideal laboratory conditions, people can see infrared up to at least 1050 nm, children and young adults ultraviolet down to about 310 to 313 nm.

Myself and Lisa will be working collaboratively on the Winter Light Festival branding brief. We've both had a couple of idea's and have decided to implement a days worth of research into collecting material that we both like. At the end of the day we will produce three mood boards that will become the basis of our design process. We have looked into different brands that use light as a focus. As well as looking into colour in general and seeing how this could influence our design.

We then decided to look at the way light reflects. Focusing heavily on petrol like foiling etc. What is it about objects that let us see them? Why do we see the road, or a pen, or a best friend? If an object does not emit its own light (which accounts for most objects in the world), it must reflect light in order to be seen. The walls in the room that you are in do not emit their own light; they reflect the light from the ceiling "lights" overhead. Polished metal surfaces reflect light much like the silver layer on the back side of glass mirrors. A beam of light incident on the metal surface is reflected. Light is also reflected when it is incident on a surface or interface between two different materials such as the surface between air and water, or glass and water. Each time a ray of light strikes a boundary between two materials - air/glass or glass/water - some of the light is reflected. The laws of reflection are obeyed at all interfaces. The amount of reflected light at the interface depends on the differences in refraction between the two adjoining materials.

We decided to look at colour and how this can be brought into our design process. Colour theory is a body of practical guidance to colour mixing and the visual effects of a specific colour combination. There are also definitions (or categories) of colours based on the colour wheel: primary colour, secondary colour and tertiary colour.