Patent ID: 8711063

Claim:
A method of forming a display, comprising: a) disposing a first plurality of display elements of a first plurality of types of display elements onto a substrate, each type of display element of said first plurality of types of display elements having shape or surface properties that interact with shape or surface properties of other display elements to form preferred associations with one or more other types of display elements with a degree of preference that depends upon the type of display element; b) disposing a second plurality of display elements of a second plurality of types of display elements onto said substrate, each type of display element of said second plurality of types of display elements having shape or surface properties that interact with shape or surface properties of other display elements to form preferred associations with one or more other types of display elements with a degree of preference that depends upon the type of display element; and c) inducing relative movement of said display elements and said substrate sufficient to produce association of at least a portion of said display elements with other said display elements to form a group of associated display elements, wherein said induced movement is sufficient to permit said display elements to self-organize to form preferred associations within said group of associated display elements; wherein said first plurality of display elements includes a first mixture of at least a first type of display element and a second type of display element, and said second plurality of display elements includes a second mixture of at least said first type of display element and said second type of display element, and wherein said first type of display elements occurs in a different proportion of the mixture in said first mixture than in said second mixture.