Kromofons

Lee Freedman has waited a long time, but he thinks the moment is finally right to spring on the world the color alphabet he invented as a 19-year-old at Mardi Gras in 1972. For 35 years, Freedman has been working on Kromofons - an innovative alphabet in which the 26 English letters are represented solely by individual colors - waiting for technology to catch up with him.

And now, thanks to the Internet, the ubiquity of color monitors, Microsoft Word plug-ins and his being able to launch a Kromofons-based e-mail system, Freedman thinks he is finally ready.

It may seem confusing, but it's actually very simple, in concept at least. The letter 'a' is represented by a bright yellow, 'b' is a light blue, 'c' a pale pink, 'd'is grey, 'e' is orange and so on. Freedman pointed out that for the entire history of the written word, humans have been reading in black and white. Now, with Kromofons, he argued, people will begin to read in color, both in static words and animated phrases.