Color of words [2011]

This project sought to discover the implicit colors of words, phrases, and concepts. A set of words was selected and run through a google image search. The color distribution of the first hundred images was analyzed and re-synthesized using a self-organizing map (SOM), a machine learning algorithm for clustering and visualizing data. The SOM was implemented using ofxSelfOrganizingMap.

After the google images were downloaded, a Gaussian mixture model was fit to the distribution of pixel colors. A self-organizing map of the color distribution was produced by randomly sampling from the resulting smoothed GMM.

Below is a series of results in categories: seasons, biomes, holidays, food, sky, film, politics, animals, and sports.

Winter
Winter
Spring
Spring
Summer
Summer
Fall
Fall

Desert
Desert
Tundra
Tundra
Savanna
Savanna
Prairie
Prairie
Rainforest
Rainforest

Valentine's Day
Valentine's Day
Halloween
Halloween
St. Patrick's Day
St. Patrick's Day
Christmas
Christmas
Hanukkah
Hanukkah

Apple
Apple
Banana
Banana
Tomatoes
Tomatoes
Grapes
Grapes
Broccolli
Broccolli

Day
Day
Night
Night
Aurora
Aurora

Casablanca (film)
Casablanca (film)
Minority Report (film)
Minority Report (film)
The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (film)
The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (film)

Democrat
Democrat
Republican
Republican

Penguin
Penguin
Bear
Bear
Lion
Lion

Basketball
Basketball
Skiing
Skiing