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Exploring Color Theory In Python With Thomas Mansencal

Summary

We take it for granted every day, but creating and displaying vivid colors in our digital media is a complicated and often difficult process. There are different ways to represent color, the ways in which they are displayed can cause them to look different, and translating between systems can cause losses of information. To simplify the process of working with color information in code Thomas Mansencal wrote the Colour project. In this episode we discuss his motiviation for creating and sharing his library, how it works to translate and manage color representations, and how it can be used in your projects.

Preface

  • Hello and welcome to Podcast.__init__, the podcast about Python and the people who make it great.
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  • Your host as usual is Tobias Macey and today I’m interviewing Thomas Mansencal about Colour, a python library for working with algorithms and transformations to explore color theory

Interview

  • Introductions
  • How did you get introduced to Python?
  • What is color theory?
    • How does Colour assist in the process of working with some of the practical applications of colour science?
  • What was your motivation for creating Colour?
  • What are some example use cases for colour?
  • One of the aspects of color in digital environments that is often confusing is the number of different ways that it can be represented. What are the relative benefits of things like RGB, HSV, CMYK, etc.?
  • How is the Colour library architected and how has that evolved over time?
    • Are there new developments in the area of color theory that need to be periodically incorporated into the library?
  • What have you found to be some of the most often misunderstood aspects of color?
  • What have been some of the most difficult or frustrating aspects of building, maintaining, and promoting Colour?
  • What are some of the most interesting or unexpected uses of Colour that you have seen?
  • What are your plans for the future of Colour?

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The intro and outro music is from Requiem for a Fish The Freak Fandango Orchestra / CC BY-SA

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