Design Strategy

BIG APPLE RED
Pantone 19-1664 became the visual anchor of the system.

Its bold, raw quality was chosen as a visual interpretation of New York City: dense, energetic, and unapologetically bold. The color was renamed Big Apple Red, connecting Pantone’s color system to the project’s New York setting while giving the campaign its own signature color.
Its bold, raw quality was chosen as a visual interpretation of New York City: dense, energetic, and unapologetically bold. The color was renamed Big Apple Red, connecting Pantone’s color system to the project’s New York setting while giving the campaign its own signature color.
Big Apple Red became a recurring element across the identity, icon, packaging, product line, DOOH, and social media campaign.
However, the system was never intended to be limited to red. Other Pantone colors were introduced throughout the sensory product line to reinforce the breadth and versatility of the Pantone color system.

Red established the identity; the broader palette demonstrated
the possibilities.

FIVE SENSES

The product strategy was intentionally designed as a journey through the five senses, transforming Pantone’s traditionally visual language into physical experiences.

Sight — Infinity Mirror Cube
Hearing — iDot Bluetooth Speaker
Touch — Tactile Blanket
Smell — Scented Candles
Taste — Ceramic Fruits

The sensory products used a variety of Pantone colors, while maintaining a noticeable presence of Big Apple Red throughout the collection.
Additional products—including T-shirts, hats, totes, notebooks, and the 19-1664 swatch card—extended the concept into a more traditional Pantone merchandise system, allowing the color itself to become the focus.
This created two complementary product directions: Kusama’s artistic language shaped the sensory experience, while Pantone’s branding language shaped the color-focused merchandise.

TWO VISUAL LANGUAGES

The visual identity needed to bring together two distinct worlds: Pantone’s precision and color-centric design language and Kusama’s immersive, expressive visual language.
A less expected Kusama pattern was selected as the primary graphic element. Rather than relying on her more recognizable linear dot compositions, the chosen pattern offered a more distinctive and adaptable system that could translate across products, packaging, and spatial applications without becoming overly literal or cliché.
The sensory products leaned into Kusama’s visual language, using her pattern vocabulary and a broader color palette to create an immersive and playful experience.

Conversely, the supporting merchandise leaned more heavily into Pantone’s branding language, making the color itself the hero through the campaign logo, icon, and Big Apple Red swatch.
Packaging and shopping bags provided a minimalist counterpoint to the expressive product line, using black typography on white, asymmetrical compositions, with imagery of the experience integrated into the design.
Together, these two visual languages created a cohesive Pantone × Kusama universe—one where Pantone provides the system and Kusama provides the immersive expression.