Making "Color Selection" Fun

Introducing "Ideas to Make XX More Interesting" from Dentsu Inc. young art directors. This time, Yusuke Imai presents "Making Color Selection Fun."

"Amazing!" over "Good"

──Why did you choose "color selection" as your theme?

Imai: I've always been fascinated by how things appear. My father is an illustrator. When I was in elementary school, I often spent summer vacations at his studio drawing pictures for environmental poster contests. Once, I painted water in a glass aqua blue, and he told me, "Water is transparent, so draw it transparent!" That moment clicked for me. I've always found it fascinating how color alone can change perceptions—like how someone's complexion or autumn leaves on a mountain can convey emotion, health, or season, even when the shape remains the same. As an art director, I work daily with visual design, constantly considering how people think and feel. I often realize that human perception can shift with the slightest thing. This piece shows how something with the same shape, simply changing color from red to orange, then orange to yellow, starts to look like something different. The boundaries are ambiguous—where does the tomato end and the orange begin? I wanted to express that kind of fun. It's about how we usually understand things, and how easily that understanding can shift—the ambiguous fun of human perception. That's why I chose this theme.

Back when I danced, I found hearing "That's amazing!" more rewarding than being told "You're good." It felt like I'd surpassed the viewer's expectations and truly delighted them. In design, I aim to create something simple yet full of discovery and surprise – something that elicits that same "Wow!" reaction.

New discoveries from things that catch my interest

──Tell us about something you're currently obsessed with or interested in.

Imai: I've always been very curious, and every day, all sorts of things catch my attention. For example, things I'm working on professionally, a friend's wedding, something I saw in the news. One trigger can make me curious about related shops or people, and I jot down these daily interests as they come. When I worked in sewage-related jobs before, I found myself curious about all sorts of things because it's a part of daily life we usually avoid seeing. Things like how water becomes sewage the moment it leaves the tap, the boundary between rainwater and sewage, or how both toilets and sewers work invisibly for us. New discoveries emerge from these observations, connecting me to different jobs and people—it's fascinating. Thinking about these things is kind of my job, but I'm incredibly happy right now because the line between work and interest is blurred.