On the surface, Color-My-I might seem like a typical phone repair company, but its mission is to reach beyond the usual corporate divide between customer and salesman. After repairing his colleague’s iPhone in order to avoid a hefty bill from Apple, MU law student Daniel Romine eventually gained the experience and clientele with co-founder Johnathan Lopez to create a company that caters to individual requests.
“When we realized that there was a demand for iPhone customization, we decided to not only repair phones but also to start customizing them,” Romine says.
All initial inquiries are answered directly from owners Romine and Lopez for questions concerning repairs and requests. Upon purchase, prospective clients can personally speak to the artist designing his or her phone and have the ability to collaborate in the way tattoo artists work with their human canvases. There is no middle man.
“You’re really not going to find better customer service from another iPhone company,” Romine says. “We provide a much higher level of service and many more products than our competitors, things that other people haven’t even tried to do yet.”
As of now there is no targeted demographic, but there has been a big demand from a younger audience and Mizzou football players to have their phones customized with MU-themed designs. In this day and age, Romine notices that mainly college students can appreciate an iPhone, and believes that “your iPhone is almost a part of yourself and a reflection of who you are.”
The company’s first and main artist, Genine Gonzalez, was inspired by her mother, who is also an artist, to make her love for art into a way of life. Gonzalez has been able to mix different styles of design to give finer details to an image, taking flat images and adding perks such as detail to hair, shiny lips and a gleam in the eyes.
“I don’t stick to one thing, but I do tend to lean towards realistic art,” Gonzalez says. “I use a technique called glass painting, and it’s in reverse. There’s actually a huge subculture that has produced some pretty incredible pieces.”
Gonzalez approached Romine and Lopez about stepping up their phone customization from color plates to custom designs a few months ago. This collaborative effort takes Color-My-I to a place where other companies have yet to venture and led to a new pioneering innovation: iPhone art.
The standard rate for repair is $150 and custom designs are available for $100. The money (and time without a phone) spent to simply have your phone fixed can’t compare to quality repairs, a custom design and saving time.
