A few months ago, I was contacted by POP Magazine and asked to participate in a special contest. Swatch, the iconic brand of watches that originally launched in 1983 (and have gone on to become the most successful wristwatch of all time) is going back to its roots by launching a series of monochromatic plastic watches called Colour Codes.

I immediately agreed to take part on POP’s behalf because I’ve been a huge Swatch fan since middle school (I think I still have the neon splashed version my mom bought me in the 7th grade around here somewhere). When Swatch came out with the Typically Square model featuring the Swiss flag, I wore it for three years straight.

But, back to the brief. We were asked to create images of Swatch watches that focused on color co-ordination with clothes and surroundings and were given complete creative freedom.

For the advertisement design, my brother and I each decided that since we each had drastically different styles, it would be fun to each take a shot at one. For mine (above), I went with a clean and classic Swiss-inspired poster feel since Swatch is Swiss-based and the Colour Codes collection is meant to go back to their roots.

In contrast, my brother referenced 80’s Swatch ads with his design which tend to be very bold with contrasting themes and multi-angled designs. In the end, our submissions were tied amongst the POP art directors so they made a hybrid of the two which can be seen below. This is the version that went to print:

Thanks to POP for inviting me to participate as well as Swatch for providing the watches and brief. I’d also like to thank my brother for art directing, styling and taking all of the photos. Oh…..and to our beloved bear rug for so kindly assisting!

The POP issue featuring our ads should be arriving at newsstands worldwide right about now. You can view all of the Swatch Colour Codes entries on the Swatch website. Please vote for us under POP!