What does your favourite song look like?
Most of us know what our favourite song feels like.
It might remind you of a specific person, a particular room, a long drive, a bad decision, a good holiday, or a version of yourself that only exists when the first few notes start playing. Songs are emotional storage devices. Small containers of memory, rhythm, language, and atmosphere.
But what if a song could become something visual?
Not a poster of the artist.
Not an album cover.
Not a lyric printed in decorative type.
What if the structure of the song itself could become the artwork?
Lyrics in Colour is an Arthouse Editions project that transforms song lyrics into a unique visual artwork using Python code. Each piece begins with the words of a song, but the final artwork does not display the lyrics as readable text. Instead, the lyrics are translated into colour and arranged in concentric circles, creating an abstract artwork that echoes the shape and spirit of a vinyl record.
The result is a print that does not simply reference a song. It is generated from the song.
It is part code, part design, part memory object.
How does Lyrics in Colour work?
The process begins with a simple rule:
Every letter of the alphabet is assigned a colour.
Once the colour alphabet is created, the lyrics of a chosen song are entered into the system. The code reads the lyrics letter by letter. Each letter is then replaced with its assigned colour.
So, instead of seeing the word as text, you begin to see it as a sequence of colour blocks.
For example, a simplified colour alphabet might work like this:
letter_colours = {
"a": "#F94144",
"b": "#F3722C",
"c": "#F8961E",
"d": "#F9C74F",
"e": "#90BE6D",
"f": "#43AA8B",
"g": "#577590"
}If the song contains the letter “a”, the artwork uses the colour assigned to “a”. If it contains “b”, it uses the colour assigned to “b”, and so on through the alphabet.
The code then moves through the lyrics in order, building the artwork one colour block at a time.
A very simple version of the logic looks like this:
lyrics = "your song lyrics go here"
for letter in lyrics.lower():
if letter in letter_colours:
colour = letter_colours[letter]
# draw a colour block using that colourThat is the small engine inside the project.
A song goes in > The alphabet becomes colour > The lyrics become a sequence > The sequence becomes art.
Why concentric circles?
The colour blocks are arranged line by line in circular bands, forming a composition that resembles a vinyl record.
This is important to the feeling of the piece.
A vinyl record is already a visual symbol of music. It carries nostalgia, ritual, collection, and touch. You do not just listen to a record. You hold it, place it, turn it over, display it, keep it.
Lyrics in Colour borrows from that visual language.
The finished artwork feels like a record of the song, but not in the usual sense. It is not a recording of the sound. It is a visual record of the words.
Each circle contains part of the lyric sequence. Each band continues the song’s journey. Each colour block is tied to a specific letter. The result is abstract, but it is not random.
It is your chosen song, transformed through a coded system.
Why every song looks different
Because every song uses language differently, every Lyrics in Colour artwork is unique.
A song with short, repeated lyrics will create a different rhythm from a dense, word-heavy track. A ballad will not look like a punk anthem. A love song will not behave like a protest song. A chorus-heavy pop track will produce a very different visual pattern from a sprawling folk song or a long-form rock classic.
The artwork is shaped by the DNA of the lyrics.
The colour system stays consistent, but the song determines the sequence. That means each artwork becomes a visual fingerprint of the lyrics you choose.
Two songs may share a mood, a genre, or an artist, but they will not produce the same image.
Why code?
Code might seem like a strange tool for making something emotional, but that is exactly what makes the project interesting.
Python gives us a way to build a clear visual system. It can read text, follow rules, assign colours, and draw each part of the artwork with precision. The computer handles the structure, but the artwork still begins with a deeply human choice:
Which song matters to you?
That choice is where the emotion enters the work.
The code does not decide what the song means – you do.
The code simply gives the song another form.
A personal artwork without displaying the lyrics
One of the most interesting parts of Lyrics in Colour is that the final artwork does not need to show the lyrics as words. This gives the piece a quiet privacy.
To someone else, it may look like a bold circular artwork full of rhythm, colour, and movement. To you, it carries a specific song. It may point to a person, a memory, an event, or a particular chapter of your life.
It becomes a private signal in a public space.
A guest may see an abstract artwork.
You see the first dance, the roadtrip to Cape Town, the chorus you played far too much or the song that got you through a break-up.
That hidden layer is what makes the work personal.
More than a music poster
Lyrics in Colour is not a band poster. It is not album artwork. It is not a lyric sheet in a nice font.
It is a custom artwork generated from a song’s lyrics through a colour-based coding system.
That makes it ideal for:
- wedding songs
- anniversary gifts
- favourite albums
- birthday gifts
- songs shared between friends
- tracks connected to a specific memory
- music lovers who want something more personal than a standard print
It is a way of taking something you usually hear and turning it into something you can live with.
The beauty of the hidden system
The final artwork can be enjoyed without knowing how it was made. It can stand on its own as a circular colour composition.
But knowing the system adds another layer.
Every colour block has a reason for being there.
Every band follows the lyric sequence.
Every artwork is generated from a specific song.
The piece is decorative, but it is also encoded.
It is not just “inspired by” a song. It is built from one.
Choose your song
The best part of Lyrics in Colour is choosing the track.
It might be a song everyone knows.
It might be something obscure.
It might be sentimental, ridiculous, tender, dramatic, or quietly devastating.
It might be the song that played at your wedding, or the one that got you through a year you do not particularly want to repeat.
Whatever you choose, the process turns that song into a one-of-a-kind visual artwork.
A song becomes colour.
Colour becomes pattern.
Pattern becomes print.
And the print becomes part of your space.
Your favourite song already has a shape.
Lyrics in Colour gives it a way to appear.
