The original Polipix was an application that inspires you by using one main color extracted from photo to generate outfit, movie, book, interior, and album.
It was an experience to inspire people, allow them to be creative, and find new things.
Our mission was to become an assistant to people who are afraid of using color.
Color brings us joy, creativity, and pleasure; however, even for designers, we spend so much time on finding the right color palette for every medium. For people who do not consider themselves creative, the problem becomes much bigger issue. We wanted to help when people need to use color and to encourage them to use more color to inspire them.
People who believe they do not have an artistic sense or ability, they say color itself is a challenging element and not a joyful moment. If they have to figure it out on their own without any artist or designer help, people don't know where to start.
From the quick online survey to the user group who are not involved in creative industry, 97% of the respondants thought people need artistic ability when applying color in a daily life.
"I used to work in design industry for a several years, but finding the overall color scheme to achieve the look and feel that I want is always challenging."
Non-designers are not afraid of colors in general, their pain-point is the color scheme that reflects their taste or purpose. From the user interviews, top three struggle use cases were applying color schemes for home decor, digital presentation, and outfit.
Unlike professional designers and artists, non-designers did not need complicated color values such as RGB, CMYK, and Pantone names. As it gets complicated, users will struggle with the value of color. Polipix had to be approachable and keep the wording as casual as possible.
"I do not know what complementary or compound color is, I want to be informed what I can do with those colors."
- S. Park
From the interviews, one of the biggest surprises was that non-designers wanted to be a creator and a decision-maker. Finding the matching colors might be good enough for their daily life, but they wanted to feel like a creative. Polipix had to be an assistant showcasing the best options for the users, but leaving the important decision making had to be users.
"I want something that brings extra edge to my artistic skill."
Polipix's competitors are mostly color scheme generator platforms. Paletton, Canva, and Coolors are used for creative professionals and the service generates the color schemes and creates the right palette for you.
Adobe Capture CC is the biggest competitor, which stretches from color scheme generator to brush, shape, pattern, and color creator. However, the features are overwhelming for non-designers who are looking for something light and easy to use it as a daily color searcher tool.