The Nameless Paint Set: An Alternative Way of Understanding Color

As companies like Crayola dream up more inventive and brandable colors for their crayons like “inchworm” or “mango tango,” a young designer duo from Japan created this alternative way of exploring colors by doing away with names altogether. Nameless Paints are a set of 10 paint tubes designed by Yusuke Imai and Ayami Moteki that replace more familiar color names (which can be a tad more ambiguous, see: “jazzbery jam!”) with visual depictions of the primary colors magenta, yellow, and cyan mixed inside. The visual labeling system also relies on proportion to depict more or less of different colors to create additional shades of green, orange, or blue.

“By not assigning names to the colors we want to expand the definition of what a color can be, and the various shades they can create by mixing them,” says Imai.

While using written names may ultimately prove more useful (and more fun) in the long run, Nameless Paints are a fun way to explore how color works. The design originally won a 2012 Kokuyo Design Award, and has undergone refinements over the last few years. The set finally go on sale in October of 2015 in Japan for roughly $15. (via Spoon & Tamago)