Overcoming the rainy day blues with magic street paintings and magic mugs

A group of designers from South Korea have found a way to overcome the doldrums of the monsoon season with the help of Pantone, bringing colour back to the streets of Seoul with vibrant street paintings that only appear when it’s raining.

Titled “Project Monsoon” and inspired by South Korea’s culture of emphasising the importance of the flow of rivers, the paintings use Korea’s natural features to fill every street with color and life throughout the annual monsoon season where it can rain for as long as 3 weeks at a time.

“We painted the streets of Seoul with hydrochromic paint -
 the paintings utilize Korea’s topographical features that create a flow and puddle of rain water in every street to fill the streets with color and life.”

Augmented reality billboards which interactively display a teaser for the project have been set up around the streets of Seoul to provide people with an insight into the project as well as something to look forward to in this year’s monsoon season. A geo-location feature allows the gallery to pin point the precise location of the painting.

For something a little closer to home and in homage to the 80's and the era of the hyper colour t-shirt, check out these hyper colour mugs that change colour and display invisible print when filled with hot water. As they cool the print disappears and the mug returns to its plain colour. Suitable for most designs, the mug is both aesthetically pleasing AND practical!

Sources:

http://www.boredpanda.com/street-murals-appear-rain-project-monsoon-south-korea/

http://portfolios.saic.edu/gallery/23964881/D-AD-Pantone-Project-Monsoon?adbid=658130372937388032&adbpl=tw&adbpr=9313022&scid=social54353586