“What’s with all the painting supplies?” read the text on the bottom of an orange paint bucket stuck to the wall at a recent exhibition at the AIGA National Design Center, the headquarters of the country’s largest professional design association. It was a very good question: in addition to the orange one, three more brightly colored buckets, as well as paint rollers and other painting supplies, were stuck to the wall.

The exhibition, AIGA: 365 Annual Design Exhibition 29, was AIGA’s showcase for the winners of its most recent juried competition. Every year, AIGA honors a different firm with the chance to create something for its peers by designing the exhibition’s graphics. When Methodologie’s chance came last year, designer KJ Chun came up with a concept that turned heads and stretched the limits of what design can accomplish.

It’s standard practice for AIGA to donate leftover and spare materials from its exhibitions to a nonprofit group, but Chun saw an opportunity to maximize the benefit of this donation while giving himself a design challenge.

Rather than finding a nonprofit group after the fact, Chun and Account Manager Andreas Holmer decided to look for an organization first, and then create a design using materials catering to this organization’s needs. Their search led to Publicolor, a group that mentors at-risk youth while teaching them commercial painting skills. (And much more—see for yourself.) Chun’s artful misuse of painting supplies preserved them for Publicolor’s use after the exhibition closed.

Ric Grefe, executive director of AIGA, said about the design:

“It is responsible, it is appealing, it causes people on the street to pause ...
It was smart, relevant, intriguing, and accessible. And just as authenticity and clarity are increasingly the attributes we should be striving for, this exhibition captures all of our aspirations.”

After the exhibition, AIGA donated 7 ladders, 41 buckets, 50 rollers, 30 pans, 720 rolls of paper towels, 168 rolls of red rosin paper, and 5 drop cloths used in the exhibit to Publicolor.