Romanian bikes come in the color of the rider’s city

The Pegas Urban Color app enables cyclists to order a bicycle in any color, sampled from their urban surroundings, using an in-app dropper.

Many great designers have turned to urban landscapes as a source of inspiration, and now Romanian bike brand Pegas is encouraging its customers to do likewise with the Pegas Culoare Urbana — Pegas Urban Color — project. Pegas is enabling customers to submit a color scheme for a bicycle drawn from the world around them, making the possibilities for shades and variants virtually limitless.

Customers can download the Pegas Urban Color app and take photos of hues that catch their eye. Then, using the in-app dropper tool, they take a digital color swab. Whether it is a particularly blue corner of the sky, the faded grey of a concrete car-park or the yellow of their morning egg yolk, customers can sample it, name it and see a simulated view of how it would look on a Pegas bike. They can then proceed to order their unique dream bike. Users can browse other people’s submissions within the app and Pegas has already adopted some of the ‘found’ colors for their 2015 line — those who submitted them were rewarded with a free bike in their color.

The scheme gets customers engaged with both their surroundings and the design process. It is a creative way of sparking the customer’s imagination and strengthening their attachment to the brand. Are there other ways to engage customers with product design?