Bird Box by Renee Walker

How might a visual evoke the sensation of hearing a bird? These p5 sketches explore the conversion of sound into visual data, capturing bird songs in rhythmic visuals. Together on the page, they can be turned on and off to create your own 'bird soundscapes".

The color patterns in the bird song visualization are inspired by the typical color identification used by birders, focusing on key parts of the bird's body, such as the wings, belly, head, and beak. The circles are distributed in a ratio that generally matches the scale of the bird's body parts. Multiple colors can be selected for frequently multi-colored areas like the wings and head.
This approach produces an iconic symbol that mirrors the bird's coloring. The resulting graphic provides a dual-channel output, pairing sound with visual elements, which can enhance the retention of the bird song and its associated colors in memory. The diagram below illustrates how the dual channel output enhances our perceptual understanding of the bird.