Creating Perception: an AI-powered Color Palette Platform
Perception, an AI-powered color platform integrating Color Image Scale semantics, delivers a comprehensive experience for designers including color and term search, palette creation, mood analysis, and image color extraction.
The project emphasizes user-centered design, AI integration, and addresses user needs through strategic choices and color theory principles.
My role
Lead designer • Interaction designer • Visual designer • Design system
Platforms
Desktop web • Tablet web • Mobile web
Year
2024
Research insights
Our initial research identified several user needs to address for how the product would be designed.
1. Mood-based color suggestions
Designers expressed a desire for a platform that could streamline their workflow by offering color choices based on mood or theme.
2. Personal preference vs. data-driven decisions
We observed that a number of younger designers often relied on their personal preferences when selecting colors as opposed to being able to make color choices based on concrete data.
3. Lack of good AI-driven color tools
Existing color tools lacked integration with AI capabilities limiting their ability to offer advanced features such as mood-based color suggestions and analysis.
Opportunity
How might we use AI to simplify color search and palette creation while keeping designers’ mood-based preferences in mind?
Goals
The following items were key problems turned into opportunities to solve for during the creation of the platform.
1. Simplify color search and palette creation process
Our primary goal was to streamline the color selection process making it more intuitive and efficient for designers.
2. Integrate mood-based selections
We wanted to integrate mood-based selections into the platform allowing designers to choose colors that resonate with specific emotions or themes.
3. Enhance workflow efficiency for designers
Improving workflow efficiency was important to our goal of empowering designers.
Iterations
The designs went through a number of iterations before we had a shippable minimum viable product (MVP) candidate.
Challenges
Some of the challenges we faced included:
1. Balancing extensive features with user-friendly design
We had to ensure that the platform remained intuitive and easy to navigate for designers even with the addition of advanced functionalities — moving away from a one-pager to a full-fledged tool.
2. Navigating a competitive landscape
We faced the challenge of distinguishing our platform from existing solutions in the AI space including Huemint, Khroma, and Colormind.
3. Addressing technical complexities associated with AI
From a design standpoint, we had to figure out how to make it easy for users to input prompts and display the information in an intuitive fashion.
Recent designs
Here are some of the more recent designs where the product has changed quite a bit since the beginning.
Achievements
The product launched in June, 2023 with the following key outcomes.
1. Perception launched into beta
Perception was successfully launched into beta marking a crucial milestone in the project timeline.
2. Reached 10k users within 6 months post-launch
Within six months of the beta launch, Perception had garnered 10,000 users showcasing strong user adoption and indicating the platform's potential for growth and scalability.
3. Partnership with Playbook
A recent partnership with Playbook, a creative platform boasting over 800,000 users, expanded Perception's reach and potential user base.
Update
Continual updates and enhancements are being made to Perception with ongoing efforts to refine the user experience and explore new opportunities for growth and innovation.