Designing Beyond Colour
- Jul 24
- 1 min read
The Fountain of Technicolour Beads is an interactive public installation exploring how colour-dependent urban spaces can exclude people with colour vision deficiency. Giant engineered-stone beads combine precise colour contrast with tactile surfaces, seating, wheelchair access and a digital app that simulates different forms of colour blindness.
Created by onebite DESIGN with material partner Leigei Stone for Clerkenwell Design Week 2026, the project also includes an open-source toolkit for designers and urban planners.
Why I saved this: I was interested in how accessibility is embedded across colour, texture, material and interaction rather than added as a single feature. For design students, it shows how sensory redundancy can make products and spaces easier to understand.
Worth considering: If colour disappeared from your design, would users still know how to use it?
Try applying it: Replace one colour-only signal in your project with texture, shape or text.
Design themes: Inclusive design, accessibility, placemaking, engineered materials, phygital design
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