Description:

City of Colour is an immersive collection of installations and artworks in Tāmaki Makaurau’s city centre. From the 6th to the 22nd of May, inner city public spaces and laneways are activated by light and colour to attract people back in to the city centre and to support business operators. We were tasked with designing the visual identity for the project.

With the uncertainty and strains that Covid 19 has placed on everyone, we wanted to create something joyful for city goers and business operators. Our approach was to create a visual system of abstract faces that reflect the melting pot of personalities and expressions that make the city centre what it is.

In place of conventional identity elements, the diverse range of faces were used as artworks in themselves that populate the city centre. Street flags spanning Queen St, Albert St and Karangahape Road welcomed city goers with quirky expressions – some interweaving with trees and architecture as they danced about in the wind – each flag carrying a unique expression and no two flags the same.

Across outdoor media and other collateral, the identity surprises us by grouping into crowds of overlapping faces to reflect the bustle of the inner city.

Lightboxes and physical signage elements were used as beacons throughout the city centre, illuminating the art trail during the night. Printed collateral was also produced including a set of 60 collectable postcards, each card carrying a different face artwork for people to collect.