R11
drab dark brown
In 2012, the Australian government set out to design a unison cigarette pack to be used by all brands. However, rather than looking for the most commercially attractive design, it sought the opposite. Along with health warnings and gruesome medical pictures, the chosen color for the packaging was Pantone 448 C, known as "drab dark brown" or more colloquially - "The Ugliest Colour in the World", for its surveyed association with "filth," "slime," and even "death".
The title given to the color is the basis for Project R11. The project refers to color as part of a spatial system, making use of perceived ugliness and undesirability as catalysts for design. This reference to color raises the question of whether titles of ugliness can determine the fate of objects and spaces, or can ugliness be re-contextualized by design.
In 2012, the Australian government set out to design a unison cigarette pack to be used by all brands. However, rather than looking for the most commercially attractive design, it sought the opposite. Along with health warnings and gruesome medical pictures, the chosen color for the packaging was Pantone 448 C, known as "drab dark brown" or more colloquially - "The Ugliest Colour in the World", for its surveyed association with "filth," "slime," and even "death".
The title given to the color is the basis for Project R11. The project refers to color as part of a spatial system, making use of perceived ugliness and undesirability as catalysts for design. This reference to color raises the question of whether titles of ugliness can determine the fate of objects and spaces, or can ugliness be re-contextualized by design.
