The Interaction of Color app is now available for purchase two ways: as a free download that includes Chapter 10 (text, video commentary, two interactive plates, and the palette tool) with the option to buy the full content through an in-app purchase, and as a complete, unlocked version, with no in-app purchase necessary.

The app includes the entire text of the book, the full plate commentary (in some cases adapted for the app), and almost the entire series of original plates from the 1963 edition. Only eight of the original plates were omitted, as these related to obsolete color printing systems or could not be legibly reproduced or re-created.

Interaction of Color was created as a classroom teaching tool, and it has been used continuously in color courses for more than fifty years. In addition to the many features that made the book so useful, the app provides numerous new functions that expand the ways it can be used to explore color.

• The Plates and Commentary section enables students to go through the original plates in the order designed by Josef Albers. They can examine the original studies, and then experiment with color by creating their own versions using the color palette. Just as a color course would advance through a semester, the exercises become more challenging as they progress. The videos that accompany many of the plates will help students understand even the most challenging of Albers’s principles.
• The app makes it possible to take the course remotely: students can be assigned a sample chapter and plate to work on, and then e-mail their completed studies to the teacher or post them to a Facebook or Pinterest wall that the teacher creates. Discussions and critiques of the studies, including considerations of the varying successes of the solutions of different members of the class–an important part of Albers’s own teaching method–can also be carried out remotely, with students voting on which solutions are more or less successful, and explaining why.
• The Albers as a Teacher essay and video segments feature former students of Albers describing their experiences in the master’s classroom, and provide a rare look at Josef Albers explaining his teaching methods and theories.
• The History of Interaction of Color essay and video detail the fascinating background of the creation of this landmark publication, from the original 1963 boxed set of text and plate folders to today’s interactive app.
• The seven inspiring Color in Practice videos present professionals in a variety of art and design fields demonstrating how they use color in their work. (In an eighth, bonus video, the renowned graphic designer Peter Mendelsund explains the difference between RGB and CMYK color systems.)

The color studies can be used by all grade levels and ages, from kindergarten through graduate school. Many people grasp the concepts fairly quickly just by studying the plates and experimenting with color. Albers’s text was written for his college students, and requires a higher level of understanding, but would also be appropriate for some high school classes.

The app features over two hours of archival videos, new interviews, and commentary, as well as features on Josef Albers and the history of Interaction of Color.

You have to be online to download and purchase the app. Once the app is downloaded, it can be used without an Internet connection, with the exception of the videos, which require an Internet connection.

The app is currently available only for iPad.

The app works on all generations of iPad, including iPad mini.

The palette tool features 526 colors, similar to the colors that were available to Albers’s students.

Once you complete and save your studies and palettes, you can e-mail them to yourself or others, and import the saved .SVG files into your favorite design software.

The free download allows you to view Chapter X, including text, commentary, and two interactive plates, and to experiment with all the features, including the color palette tool. The full version of the app includes the complete text, over 125 color plates, over 60 interactive studies, and a wide range of video commentaries, interviews, and additional features. The full version is available as an in-app purchase.

We recommend that you have at least 500MB of available memory on your device before downloading the app.

Please adjust your Side Switch settings from “Mute” to “Lock Screen” to ensure that the app’s audio will play properly. Please consult Apple’s description of the iPad’s side switch tool for more information.