Materials that Change Color

Book excerpt: This book presents a design-driven investigation into smart materials developed by chemists, physicists, materials and chemical engineers, and applied by designers to consumer products. Introducing a class of smart materials, that change colors, the book presents their characteristics, advantages, potentialities and difficulties of applications of this to help understanding what they are, how they work, how they are applied. The books also present a number of case studies: products, projects, concepts and experiments using smart materials, thus mapping out new design territories for these innovative materials. These case studies involve different fields of design, including product, interior, fashion and communication design. Within the context of rising sustainable and human-centered design agendas, the series will demonstrate the role and influence of these new materials and technologies on design, and discuss how they can implement and redefine our objects and spaces to encourage more resilient environments.