REFLECTION 2: Color Factory
Experience the joy and magic of colors through this art exhibit
Even before my best friend came to stay with me in NYC around the start of the semester, she kept talking about this place called Color Factory. Although I had been living in NYC for about 9 months, the only places I suggested we visit were the common tourist spots like the Edge, the vessel, Charging Bull, Battery Park, Coney Island, etc. While she mentioned the place with all the excitement in the world, I had no idea what was so special about it and did not even know where it was in NYC!! So I checked out their website and the place seemed kind of cool so I agreed to skip some of the common places I had planned to visit with her for the limited time she was going to be here in NYC and traded it with exploring Color Factory and I must say one is up for a big SURPRISE because this place is one of the most amazing experiences you can ever have with your best friend!
Every day in my life I am surrounded by the grey’s and blues of the city and going to Color Factory felt like I was looking at the world with rose-tinted glasses and also I am a painter( in my free time) so this was in a way, a healing experience for me. Color Factory is an art exhibit wherein one of the best artists, creatives, and designers have teamed up to tell their stories through a meaningful and immersive color experience that brings out one’s childlike innocence and imagination which we all happen to lose slowly lost under the burden of our responsibilities and on our journey of morphing into a tired adult. From the small surprises all along to the ball-pit, it is an artistic experience that can help one to reconnect with themselves, and therefore I chose Color Factory for my blog reflection because an artistic experience should be something that can make you feel many things.
Coming to what was “Creative” and “inspiring” about it, so by definition Creative activities involve the inventing and making of new kinds of things. The moment you walk into Color Factory you will know it is something unique and different. There is staff wearing very cute colorful uniforms and giving out instructions in their calm yet joyful voices. Once you enter you have different kinds of rooms, each with its personality, color, and a totally different vibe from the other. The rooms have unique designs, installations, colors, and although they use things we see in everyday life such as mirrors, colors, lights, or confetti but the way they have been put together in each room is A WORK OF ART IN ITSELF. The place is a winning mixture of architecture, illustrations, technology, experience, art, uniqueness, creativity, fun and comfort, and basically everything we would aim to design for a design thinking class if the category would be a fun experience. Inspiring means something that makes you feel enthusiastic or excited. So before I went to Color Factory, every day was just like Ctrl C+ Ctrl V. It was the same old wake-up, subway, work, subway cook, and sleep. However, inside Color Factory you have these short personality tests and games of choices that help you find your personality and your colors and it was something that helped me reconnect to myself and inspired my burned-out soul to feel enthusiastic about things and life again. It was exciting to discover more about myself and the experience inspired me to bring back my childhood imagination and made me realize that while we grow up we start looking at the world as black, white, and grey but if we pause and notice, there is a world full of colors always around us and now whenever I walk around the city I ensure that I pause and notice the beauty and colors of NYC.
From what I have learned through my time in design thinking class is that it about looking at common problems in a different way along with focusing on empathizing with the people and going to the core of their problems and complaints and coming up with an “out of box solution”. The whole experience at Color Factory made me wonder about how could someone come up with such a unique idea using something all of us have seen around since childhood -COLORS!!!! to create an experience that you want to keep going back to again and again. Color Factory is a unique blend of technology, business, and user experience; words we usually hear in our design thinking class and I was lucky to experience it through Color Factory. Design thinking includes creating new products, services, and experiences and through Color Factory I could sense that some very bright, creative, and innovative design thinkers must have worked hard behind the scenes to design such an unforgettable experience and inspired me to work on improving my innovative and creative skills as well.
