nicholas rougeux’s display color-codes 19th century mineral illustrations

nicholas rougeux has created a zoomable interactive display cabinet of british & exotic mineralogy. the designer spent four months mining books and collecting some 718 hand-drawn, intricate mineral illustrations by naturalist, illustrator and mineralogist james sowerby. published between 1802 and 1817, the drawings were sourced from a pair of multi-volume books called british mineralogy and exotic mineralogy, which were accompanied with their characteristics, classifications and other names.

all images courtesy of nicholas rougeux

nicholas rougeux color-coded hundreds of the historical mineral illustrations, arranging them according to hue and brightness. spanning from red hues on the left through yellow and green to blue colors on the right, users can scroll and explore the resulting collage through an interactive display as well as on printable posters, here. as you zoom in on each detailed depiction, a simple click unearths the mineral’s recording date, names, classification, description and much more.

silex fragilis, here

argilla electrica, here

calx carbonata, here

example of nicholas rougeux’s british & exotic mineralogy poster

project info:

designer: nicholas rougeux

display/poster: british & exotic mineralogy

via kottke