KromofonsI ran across an online article today about Kromofons, a new "invention" (35 years in the making) that transforms the English alphabet letters into 26 blocks of color. The guy who dreamed up this idea has all kinds of ideas about how it could be used, but no real "needs" or burning societal "wants" that are met by this radical change in how things would be written.
Personally I am inclined to see this as one of the worst applications of visual design and human-computer interface (HCI) principles that I've ever seen. His website (linked above) is even counter-intuitive with what we call "mystery meat navigation." (That is where the user doesn't really know what they're getting until they click on it and see what comes up onscreen.)
However, this idea is so bad that it's actually somewhat interesting -- or at least entertaining. My favorite comments from the story's feedback section include:
- "35 years and he reinvents English"
- "Try writing with 20+ colored pencils"
- "You could have a multi-color click pen the size of your arm", and
- "Sounds like someone who had too much fun in the 60's." (The inventor did serve pizza at Woodstock.)
