Designing a User Interface for the Pico Image Processor

The Pico image editor was developed at Bell Labs in 1984. The program includes a small pseudo-mathematical image transformation language. Although being well-designed, the functionality of the program does not meet modern standards. It only works on greyscale images and it runs in a command-line interface. To make it work on modern digital images the program must be extended with color support and additional features. The task also includes finding a solution for incorporating the functionality of the program and displaying the images in a modern graphical user interface where usability and effectiveness are prioritised. By using principles of image processing theory and graphical user interface design theory an extended version of the Pico program and a graphical user interface was created. It was built as a web browser application using HTML, CSS and JavaScript. The dynamic parts of the prototype program were built using the Nodejs framework. It has extended functionality combined with an easy to use interface. The program can be used for educational purposes to demonstrate the principles of image processing and as a creative tool for generating images and creating art.