Colour Sonic Dictionary | Land ahoy studio

Project

Introducing Land Ahoy Studio’s first creation, the Colour Sonic Dictionary app.

CSD (Colour Sonic Dictionary) introduces a new way to design. Where sound, colour, and emotion converge to unlock deeper creative expression.

Born from the science of sound and the psychology of emotions, CSD turns abstract emotions into tangible design choices. More than a tool, it’s a muse.
A translator of the invisible; bridging the gap between what we feel and what we create.

In a world where design often rhymes with aesthetics, CSD’s powerful algorithm goes one step further, mapping the hidden symphony between colour, sound, and emotion to generate instant associations that help designers infuse meaning, intention, and emotional depth into every creative decision. This is design as experience, built for the future. Where design is not just seen, but felt.
This way, CSD supports creative teams to co-create richer, more resonant work by exploring emotion as a shared language. Whether you’re designing a product, a space, or a brand identity, CSD gives you the tools to craft intuitive, strategic, and human-centric work.

Welcome to the future of emotionally intelligent design.

Please check our CSD web site for more information.

Colour Sonic Dictionary

The intuitive and dynamic CSD interface invites you to step beyond the duality of form and function, inviting you to explore the full spectrum of sensation. By bridging colour, emotion and sound, CSD offers an environment where designers can add depth and meaning to their creative outputs. Rooted in scientific data, CSD integrates psychology, acoustic research and linguistic databases, constantly referencing these datasets and frameworks as guiding sources.

CSD is built on a system that links every HEX colour code with patterns of sound and emotion, using scientific datasets such as the World Colour Survey (hue foci), Plutchik’s Wheel of Emotions (eight basic categories), NRC Emotion Lexicon (National Research Council Canada), Color-Pedia, and Emotify+ (music/psychoacoustics).
When a user selects a colour (in HEX), CSD draws on these resources to identify the most closely associated emotion: Joy, Anticipation, Surprise, Trust, Anger, Fear, Disgust, or Sadness and pairs it with a matching sonic profile. Then, CSD automatically selects and reconstructs a MIDI phrase that best matches the emotional tone, using findings from psychoacoustic research (Emotify+, PDMX). This becomes the “sound expression” of that emotion.
An “emotional character” is also generated, based on one of eight core emotions. The chosen colour is thus transformed into sound, given a personality. By interweaving vision, sound, and emotional language, CSD serves as an intelligent creative dictionary for crafting emotionally resonant, memorable experiences.

The logo is simple yet captures the essence of the experience when using this app. It visually represents the action of seamlessly and intuitively exploring vast amounts of data, like flipping through the pages of a book. It conveying a sense of infinite exploration.

Credit

Creative director: Simon Taylor
Creative/Art director, Graphic designer & Character designer: Yuko Kondo
3D modeling & motion directer: Taishi Yagyu
Technical & Sound director: Manabu Shimada
Strangest & planner: Lucie
Technical assistant: Keisuke Sasaki