Memory of Colors Review

Globalization has changed almost every element of our lives: from the food we eat to the clothes we wear to the bed we sleep in. It has saved us money and offered us more choice. Your iPhone or iPad? Designed in California. Made in China. Your car has been around the world and back if you were to take the sum of its parts. All the while, it’s made things more accessible and less expensive. So what’s the downside?

Countries consist of cultures, and those that are big enough to reap the benefits of globalization relegate domestic cultures to the side. Memory of Colors joins the last stand to show the world the beauty of these cultures. “A message of peace and respect for mankind’s last treasures before it is too late” reads the poem by Jaime Ocampo-Rangel, a Colombian-born, Spanish-educated resident of France. In 1999, he discovered the Kogui people of Colombia – life was never the same after that. Memory of Colors reflects that.

The application is “a rainbow” of 1300 photos across 40 different cultures, created in 18 countries across 5 continents in 12 years. It is the world as you’ve possibly never seen it before.

Memory of Colors wants to take you on a journey. Within the “journey” box you’ll find everything spread across two categories: people and colors. The former subcategorizes into eighteen countries, and within those countries all the relevant cultures that Jaime has taken photos of are found. For example, in China there are currently three, in Brazil there are eight. And within the Chinese ‘Yao’ culture are fifteen eye-opening photos for your viewing pleasure. Repeat this across 39 other cultures and you can begin to appreciate the diversity of the world we live in. The ‘colours’ section takes those same 1300 photos and spreads it across fourteen different colours, if you’re looking for something a little more artistically specific. A slideshow is built in.

The design of the application is relatively simplistic, but effective in its delivery. A single tap hides everything, making the photo full screen and centre-stage (there’s a small copyright at the bottom right of each photo). Information about each culture is derived from Wikipedia, and a film-role style box provides a quick snapshot of all the photos. Options to share via Twitter, Facebook and Email exist, as well as the ability to save the photo photos as wallpapers. You can gift the application to a friend or family member if you like, too. Finally, photos can be starred and saved, so you don’t have to go through a myriad of options to get to where you want to be.

1300 photos for $2.99, right on your iPad over 3G or Wi-Fi, isn’t much. That works out at 0.0023c per photo. And Memory of Colors does more than just show photos – it reveals an aspect of the world that leaves little to the imagination.

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