The finished lit frame works well, with the backlight colour correctly matching the air pressure. However, the effect was not quite as expected. First, I was expecting the colour to vary a lot, which is not really what happened. Air pressure doesn’t just go up and down every day. In fact, some values only occur at certain times of the year.
Looking at this graph of UK air pressure in 2017, it’s clear that some months have very little variation compared to other months. On the one hand I want the art to change colour from red to blue reasonably often. On the other hand, I want the colour to accurately reflect the air pressure.
Because the design features translucent panels on the side of the frame, it produces a ‘glow’ on the wall around it. This is actually remarkably pleasant, but it has an interesting side effect. I found that I was beginning to look at the colour in order to see what the air pressure was. In other words, I was using the device as a barometer!
So it’s nice, but actually, it would be better as two separate objects, a piece of lit art that changes colour, maybe sequentially or randomly, and a barometer, maybe with an interesting display.
Lighting art 