Get the app for $7.99 this week!

To celebrate Albers’s birthday, we are pleased to offer a temporary discounted price on the app – for the next week, the app will be downloadable from iTunes for a mere $7.99.

Happy birthday to Josef Albers, who was born on March 19^th, 1888 – 126 years ago today.  The renowned artist and legendary art and color theory educator spent significant portions of his career as a teacher at the Bauhaus and at Black Mountain College before becoming the dean of the School of Art here at Yale University in 1950 and staying for 8 years, until he retired from teaching.  We recently heard a story – equally entertaining and harrowing – about the admissions process under Albers’s tenure as dean.  He hand-picked each student to be enrolled in the Yale School of Art.  Applicants would bring their portfolios to Albers in person, in his office, where he would review, critique, and deliver an on-the-spot decision about whether a student was to be admitted.

While at Yale, Albers wrote the enduring, iconic textbook for teaching courses on color theory: Interaction of Color. Originally published as a book by Yale University Press in 1963, it was a limited edition masterpiece with 150 silkscreened color study plates.  It was published as a paperback in 1971, and has remained in print continuously since then, one of the most influential texts on color worldwide.

Last year, on the 50^th anniversary of the publication of the original book, Yale University Press released a groundbreaking app version of Interaction of Color.  Designed for the iPad, the app has received widespread critical acclaim:

“The gateway to an entire way of thinking. . . .It will blow your mind.”

—Liz Stinson, Wired

“There are things that even one of the most beautiful books in the world cannot accomplish—things this app seems born to do. . . .  It is for anyone who wants to get under the hood and understand why and how we see the world the way we do. . . .A visionary work.”

—Malcolm Jones,Newsweek/Daily Beast

“Amazing. Beyond groundbreaking…. This is the example the world has been waiting for. An extraordinary piece of education and inspiration.”

—Debbie Millman, Design Matters

and numerous awards:

Winner of 2013 Best Interactive  Product in the Tablet/Handheld category, from Communication Arts

Winner of 2013 Spark Award for Best App

Finalist for Best Education/Reference App, 2014 Digital Book Awards

We’ve been utterly fascinated by the app since we were able to download it to our iPads.  Here’s a slideshow of some of the color studies we’ve completed:

And stay tuned for more Albers-themed celebration over the next week.