Synesthesia is a colorful way of life

Do you see numbers or letters in color?

You're not crazy. It's rather common.

It's called Grapheme synethesia.

I never knew that what I see had a name. So often people looked at me like I was crazy when I said I see numbers in color. I stopped telling others.

I thought it was cool. I liked that it helped me memorize things in school, and do math in my head.

So I dug around to learn more. Here's a little bit of what I've found so far.

Synesthesia definition

The short of it...Hank on SciShow.

The longer Wikipedia bit...

Synesthesia from the ancient Greek, "together," and "sensation," is a neurological condition in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway.

In one common form of synesthesia, known as grapheme → color synesthesia letters or numbers are perceived as inherently colored, while in ordinal linguistic personification, numbers, days of the week and months of the year evoke personalities. In spatial-sequence, or number form synesthesia, numbers, months of the year, and/or days of the week elicit precise locations in space, or may have a (three-dimensional) view of a year as a map.

Synesthetes often report that they were unaware their experiences were unusual until they realized other people did not have them, while others report feeling as if they had been keeping a secret their entire lives, as has been documented in interviews with synesthetes on how they discovered synesthesia in their childhood.

Facts (so far)

• Over 60 types of synesthesia.
• Runs in families.
• Eight times more common among artists, writers, poets and other creative types.
• Once thought to be uncommon, but exists in about 1 in 25 people, 4% of the population.
• Known for hundreds of years, science just now studying it.

Some fascinating videos

V.S. Ranachandrum at Beyond Belief 2.0, From Molecules to Metaphors
One thought about how it happens...crazy? memory from early childhood? just metaphorical? No, it's a concrete sensory phenomenon. See what happens in the brain. Watch part 2 and 3 too.

Synesthesia: A film by Jonathan Fowler
Another theory, by David Eagleman, involves excitation and inhibition of certain parts of the brain. The experience can wax and wane, or be affected by alcohol or antidepressants so it has more to do with giving off or receiving certain signals in certain parts of the brain. But it's not the same as a hallucination.

Seeing Life in Colors: Crosswired Senses
An ABC news report. One sense—taste, sight, hearing, touch or smell—gets jumbled with another, creating what Dr. Richard Cytowic, a neurologist, describes as a blending of the senses.

Big Think: David Eagleman
An inroad to how different brains see the world differently.

Extrordinary people—synesthetes
One woman who has several forms of synesthesia—unusual.

2012 MAPS film school
Love that one young man composes music using his synesthesia. For example, listen to his piece that exhibits all the colors from "Where the Wild Things Are" children's book.

Entertaining visualization

Michal Levy creates delightfully designed animations based on the involuntary sensations she gets from jazz music. Love this.

Here's what I see

The numbers are definitely colors, some letters too but not all, and the days of the week and months of the year are colorful. Working my way through the year is definitely a 3D pathway, as are simple math calculations.

1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  0 or 0

So what does it all mean?

Here's what I take away from this new-found knowledge.

For the most part, it doesn't really matter. We are all unique in our own ways and we should celebrate that in ourselves and in others.  (At what age do we stop clapping for all the marvelous things our children do. Never, I say.)

But to that person it does matter. It helps them interpret the world and their experiences in it. It feels like a gift to some, a leg up, but not in a superior way, to others—just how it is to be them. Let's be curious and supportive.

For me it's a happy discovery. I'm thrilled to learn this new thing about myself (at my age!) and I want to explore and create and augment any talent I can find. Maybe it could help me be a better artist. Maybe it's why I love metaphor or see meaning in everything. Could be the start of another career or hobby, who knows.

Hope you discover something new about yourself, at any age. It's never too late.

And, by the way, it's a great conversation starter. Let me know, in the comments, if you have some form of synesthesia.

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Strengths

"You cannot be anything you want to be—but you can be a lot more of who you already are."

"When we're able to put most of our energy into developing our natural talents, extraordinary room for growth exists."

Focusing on strengths rather than "opportunity areas" in the workplace, and as a way of managing or leading, makes so much sense to me. It just feels right.

I've been reading StrengthsFinder 2.0, and Strengths Based Leadership in the last few days.

Their research proves that feeling out. People who do have the opportunity to focus on their strengths every day are six times as likely to be engaged in their jobs and more than three times as likely to report having an excellent quality of life in general, according to the Gallup organization.

"If you focus on people's weaknesses they lose confidence."

When you are not able to use your strengths at work, you are six times less likely to be engaged in your job. You are more likely to dread going to work, to treat others poorly, to achieve less on a daily basis, and to have fewer creative moments.

Not good for a designer, right?

I recommend taking the assessment and having a candid discussion with your employer about where you can begin using your strengths every day.

At the very least it will validate what you've already known and give you permission to stop trying to be more of something you aren't.

. . . that performance management should be like. . .

...good typography, a balanced interplay between positive and negative space, with focus on the positive.

No one pays attention to the negative space, alone, in a letterform. It's counter intuitive (pun intended). When the counter becomes dominant the beauty and function of the letterform is lost in a jumble of shapes that have no meaning.

Likewise emphasis on team members' weaknesses render their positive contributions meaningless.

Strokes, terminals, shoulders, ascenders, descenders, serifs--line and shape make up the contour map of the alphabet. A repetition of curves, verticals, horizontals, and serifs are combined to bring variety and unity to well-designed fonts.

I once read that the greatest potential for growth is in one's areas of strength. Recognizing these strengths and cultivating them through activities that thrill and challenge a particular team member can help them accomplish exponential results personally and as part of a team.

Focus on the positive. Foster the strength. Allow the counter space to support the whole, but recede into the background.

Quotable

The most important thing I have learned is that legibility and beauty stand close together.
~Adrian Frutiger

Earlier Posts

May 26, 2007

...that in a flattened world where everything is digital, virtual, and mobile, immediate results are expected.

Not only expected...demanded. As designers we may be given an assignment with one breath and then in the next asked "when can we see screens?" This kind of flattening of time and respect for the creative process is damaging to the designer, good design, and eventually the whole experience.

I recently had the good fortune to sit in on a truly collaborative, creative discussion and work session. We had full blocks of time where ideas, markers, white boards, and people were all that mattered. The birth and growth of a new and living concept were all that mattered.

We put aside the deadening effect of business philosophies—'implement, implement, implement', 'faster, better, cheaper', and 'digital, virtual, mobile'—for living thought and design...slow, careful, provocative, manual, interactive, searching, collaborative, old-fashioned, deliberate, exciting.

The pure creative process reverses the flattening of the world and makes it full and rich, vibrant and living. Adequate and abundant time and space, and real respect for the creative process will always yield results in a way that technology, politics or demands never will.

Designers crave it, good managers protect it, smart companies foster it.

Quotable

“Slow design is not just about duration or speed, but about thoughtfulness, deliberation, and—how else to put it?—tender loving care.”
—Michael Bierut, 2006

“Slowness is not time-based. It doesn't refer to how long it takes to make or do something, but rather describes the individual's elevated state of awareness in the process of creation, the quality of its tangible outcomes and a richer experience for the community it engages.”
—slowLab/ideas

October 16, 2006

...about making meaning.

I'm always looking for meaning in everything. Experience design and designers make this possible in a way that has not happened before.

Meaning is the point where you connect with the user on a deeper level. Does this design/concept/product make a difference in their life?

New technologies should make things more meaningful to the user. Users are asking "Is this good for me? Does it improve my life? Why should I care about your product/website/service?" We as designers should have these user goals in mind as we design, and not just the traditional better/faster/cheaper goals of some technologies.

For example the know-how behind weblogs allows bloggers to use technology to try to make sense of their lives, and to connect with others who may have had the same experience. They are looking for meaning, shared meaning.

The new rebranded iLife 05 packaging makes an effort to bring meaning to the use of technology. As Cameron Moll of ALA puts it, "Personal computing was no longer something done to accomplish something else more efficiently, but rather a part of everyday life, even critical to communication and social interaction...the organic styling and seed metaphor--a perfect representation of "life" itself--steal the show."

I know of two projects within my experience where two different designers designed the same page with different goals in mind. One from a user experience standpoint, and the other from a data representation/ compliance point of view. Both complied with standards and systems requirements, but one design on each project was more focused on adding meaning for the user rather than just presenting the numbers or functionality. Users want meaning..."What do these numbers mean to me?" "Show me the content grouped in the way I think about my tasks". In one case usability studies proved out the more meaningful display, and in the other, schedule and politics forced an acceptable but technology-based, systems-driven solution.

The future of successful design is not in new technologies alone, but in connecting with users to make meaning in their lives.

Quotable

“The least of things with a meaning is worth more in life than the greatest of things without it.” —Carl Jung, “Modern Man in Search of a Soul”

August 23, 2006

...that the greatest potential for growth is in your areas of strength and not weakness.

In the book Now, Discover Your Strengths, authors Buckingham and Clifton with the Gallup Organization introduce a program to help readers identify their talents and build them into strengths. It introduces 34 dominant "themes", and reveals how they can best be translated into personal and career success. In developing this program, Gallup has conducted psychological profiles with more than two million individuals over a 25-year period to identify these strengths.

I took the StrengthsFinder® Profile questionnaire and here is what surfaced for me. These are the top five areas that come more naturally to me and make me a better graphic designer.

Learner – I love to learn. I prefer a classroom setting where I can process and think after each session, but I also enjoy reading and researching on my own. Digging in and learning about a client’s business, what they need, what they want, etc. is very important to beginning to visualize a design solution.

Analytical – I like the statistics behind a business objective or user research; I want substance to back up my designs. What do users want and do and think? What’s happening in the industry and with competitors? What is the client concerned about and why? This gives me the reasoning and explanation behind a design solution.

Responsibility – Combined with my ethics this theme makes me utterly dependable. Give me a project I’ll get it done, whether it’s helping a new employee adjust, resolving an issue with a developer, juggling multiple projects, meeting a tight deadline or being prepared for the next presentation.

Restorative – I’m a problem solver. I like to fix or restore something that’s gone awry or help make an experience more efficient or easy or fun…whatever the goal is. Good effective design is problem solving and not just a “make it pretty” exercise.

Intellection – I like to think. Paired with Analytical and Restorative I tend to be very focused. I am an avid reader and read widely just for the constant hum of mental activity.

Focusing on areas of strength leads to satisfying personal development and success in a way that focusing on “areas of opportunity” never will.

Quotable

“Success is achieved by developing our strengths, not by eliminating our weaknesses.” —Marilyn vos Savant

July 31, 2006

"It's more important to know where you are going than to get there quickly. Do not mistake activity for achievement." —Mabel Newcomer

I was unable to discover the context for this quote, but the meaning is clear to me. To skip usability research and studies, to jump into requirements without adequate visioning, to begin development without good planning is to guarantee project swirl, political posturing, a forgotten user, and shabby results.

I hear "there's no time or budget for that usability study or overarching design work", or "just get it out there and we'll fix it later". This short-sightedness is characterized by the existence of work-arounds, low usage levels, user dissatisfaction and frustration, and rework.

Worthwhile achievements are based on sound strategy and sufficient planning and, especially for quality websites, adequate design and usability involvement.

Quotable

“Why is there never enough time to do it right, but always enough time to do it over?” —Old adage

June 21, 2006

...that web designers have 50 milliseconds to make a good first impression. An interesting study in the Behavior and Information Technology Journal points out that the initial response to a website is physiological and immediate “reflecting ‘what my body tells me to feel’ rather than ‘what my brain tells me to think’, with cognitive appraisal occurring after this first response.” The “data suggest that a reliable decision can be made in 50 ms”.

The article points of earlier studies that state "the strong impact of the visual appeal of the site seemed to draw attention away from usability problems...Thus, in the presence of a very positive first impression, a person may disregard or downplay possible negative issues encountered later."

A negative first impression also creates a bias that fails to be overcome even in the case of subsequent positive evidence. “Hence, even if a website is highly usable and provides very useful information presented in a logical arrangement, this may fail to impress a user whose first impressions of the site was negative.” The study goes on to detail just how long it takes to make that first impression.

We always talk about successful websites as being useful, useable and desirable. But what this article says to me is that desirable is the first and foremost attribute. This is another way that designers add value to the brand and bottom line.

Next time the project team or business lead question color, images, layout and icons, I have my reply...desirability is number one.

Quotable

“[Users] make their credibility-based decisions about the people or organization behind the site based upon the site's overall visual appeal.” —Stanford Persuasive Technology Lab, 2002

“If a site is perfectly usable but it lacks an elegant and appropriate design style, it will fail.” —Curt Cloninger, 2001

May 15, 2006

...that everyone loves a good story. Good storytelling is accomplished through pictures and dialog, and has many positive outcomes. In the business world this is call visual explanation. The main goal of visual explanation (diagrams, narratives, graphs, mapping, models, rich pictures) is to create a shared understanding. Some of the outcomes include having a clear shared picture of the project, “completing the puzzle”, establishing a background or baseline, explaining a concept to others quickly, knowing how to apply a concept to a new situation, defining a problem, and discovering missing pieces.

Read more about it:

Communication is design. Use it as such. Luke Wroblewski

Visual Thinking School, Dave Gray

Dynamic Diagrams white paper

Mind Mapping explained

Storytelling with Conceptual Comics

May 11,2006

...that designers have the ability to actually show the problem visually in a more compelling way than a bulleted Powerpoint deck or complicated flow chart ever will. Diagrams or narrative storyboards that illustrate what is happening and why go much further in convincing others of needed change. Visual thinking and communication is about using pictures to help you define and solve problems, think about complex issues and communicate more effectively. Having this communication ability gets the designer invited to the table earlier in the development process where strategy is shaped.

A good designer is a strategic partner. So, share the vision, tell the story, provide the context, illuminate...communicate.

May 8, 2006

...that experienced knowledgeable designers, thorough user research, and imagination should drive the technology solution for a project and not vice versa.

The limitations of an assumed technology solution make it easier to estimate costs before initiating a project, but if it does not suit user needs/wants and possible interface innovation, the hands of a designer are tied and often the user is the loser. The potential of creating an interface that is not as useful, usable or desirable is high.

Involving a designer early on during project ideation and visioning opens the door for an innovative solution that will meet user needs and expectations, and allow for the most appropriate technology to support the best user experience. Some time and resources are expended before dollars are committed to a project, but the efforts are likely to lead to a more successful project outcome, and a win for the users.

A good designer and wise managers know that the technology is only a means to an end, not the end itself. What really counts is how and why you use it.

March 21, 2006

...that working with a team to envision a web site is not easy. Sometimes, to lift a phrase from Edward Tufte, it's BOGSAT design...a bunch of guys [and gals] sitting around a table designing. They all feel they know what the user wants and needs. Or it's BOTE...back of the envelope design, where one strong voice puts down the first thought that comes to mind and is rarely opposed.

But, occasionally, there is pure synergy where all ideas are considered and valued; where one idea builds on another or a great thought spawns an even better design.

I'm the first to admit...that I don't have a corner on the market of ideas and designs. While I may be the assigned designer on a project, other team members have great ideas and love to design. I let them. I listen, I guide, I sketch, I help envision, I influence, I persuade...and I listen some more! It empowers.

I've learned that you get power by giving away power. Give it to the users and they'll love the web site and tell their friends about it. Give it to the developers and they'll be more likely to jump through hoops for innovative ideas. Give it to the business or project sponsors and they'll defend the design. Give it to the project managers and systems analysts and they'll make concessions in the schedule.

I don't always get the credit, but the design is better.