How do you make a paint brochure for a brand that hates paint brochures?
We partnered with Color-Ville…
turn its brilliantly unruly approach to colour into something people could hold onto.
A punkish little publication filled with paint, opinion and absolutely no interest in good taste.
THE CHALLENGE
Color-Ville, has never behaved much like a paint company. Led by colourman Simon March, the brand takes its references from record sleeves, films, art, overheard conversations and the colours people actually remember, rather than the tasteful neutrals and carefully styled rooms of traditional paint marketing.
The project began as part of a creative initiative with UCA, pairing us with Simon to explore how that philosophy could translate into print.
A traditional brochure was clearly out.
The challenge was to make something that could show the paint while still feeling like Color-Ville: tactile, opinionated, slightly chaotic and culturally curious.
OUR RESPONSE?
We proposed a zine – THE WALL (st Journal)
The format came with the right history. Cheap to make, easy to reproduce and rooted in music, art and DIY culture, it gave Color-Ville an alternative to the immaculate interiors brochure without having to manufacture a rebellious personality it already had.
The paint was there. But so were Simon’s ideas about taste, colour and the strange things that influence both.
THE BREAKDOWN
THE WALL (st. Journal) is an irreverent little journal about colour, culture and the strange things that shape our taste.
The format borrowed from zine culture: tactile, inexpensive, loose around the edges and happily removed from the immaculate world of traditional interiors publishing.
The paint was there. But so were Simon’s musings about music, art, good taste, bad taste and why we choose the colours we live with.
THE RESULTS
The project continued well beyond the original brief. UCA invited us back as guest speakers, and the relationship developed into further collaborations and projects with the team there.
It also gave us the chance to work closely with Simon and translate an already distinctive creative philosophy into an editorial format of its own.
For Color-Ville, the answer to the paint brochure turned out to be fairly simple: make something people might actually want to keep.
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