COVID has taught us that we are perhaps not as dependent on the internet as we might have thought. Social distancing has shown us that sending kissy emojis is not enough. Wandering virtual galleries and libraries doesn’t give us the same stimulating feeling as breathing in the smell of old books and oil paint. Mmmm.

With all of the destruction that COVID has brought, we’re seeking refuge in beauty. From street murals to good old fashioned posters, it all feels fresh and relevant again. As public art is helping our cities recover, we’re falling in love with the tactile world all over again. 

Thanks, but No Thanks, Mr Roboto

Remember when computers were as big as a house and they said we’d all end up married to robots, watching the world go by from the windows of our flying cars? Sure, you can upgrade your Henry Hoover to a Roomba and get one of those dreamy Japanese toilets that clean in a way that you didn’t know you needed. Yet here we sit with our all-too-human partners that fart (or, as I like to call it, fluff) in bed and don’t know how to work the telly remote. So, are we as humans in the 21st century really any different? 

Life is undoubtedly easier than it was when the washing machine was a river and the toilet was a bucket, but those are just mod cons. While we all love having our chores simplified, life’s little pleasures can’t be delivered by Amazon or Deliveroo. At least not all of them. 

We still crave our public spaces. We still need our Aperol Spritz picnics, children still need to play together in the sand. Even 21st-century dogs still like to sniff each other's arses in grassy parks. 

As much as we embrace technology, we have drawn deep lines in the sandpit. We don’t want our children staring at a screen for 18 hours a day. We still want to be the kind of people who climb mountains rather than binge-watching Everest (well, okay, maybe we want to do both).

With the World in Our Pockets 

Working in the world of design, there is nothing better than seeing the international collaborations that the internet has brought us. 

You might see what Camille Walala is doing in London and Hong Kong, and say, why not here? Why not add a bit of life to the streets of Adelaide or Austin like Sandra Chevrier and Shepard Fairey did? If you’re not clued up on urban art, you might just walk by and think, oh, yeah, that’s really nice. But it is so much more than that. 

Why Urban Art and Public Spaces Matter 

You have probably heard of the broken windows theory. According to social scientists, visible signs of anti-social behaviour like broken windows increase crime. It’s kind of like when your kitchen is already a bit of a mess, it’s easy to keep cooking, letting the spices fly everywhere and the dishes pile up. Meanwhile, when you’re at your neat freak design desk and everything is PERFECTLY in order, you instinctively search for a coaster. Cities work much the same way. 

When our environments are pristine, we are more likely to be on our best behaviour. And we’re not just talking about cleaning up the favelas of Río de Janeiro. The Dutch have found that cleaning up graffiti and picking up litter reduces theft, and we’re seeing the same phenomena with issues big and small. 

Project in the Paint

With its infamously grey skies, the UK is most certainly on the list of places that could use a splash of colour. Luckily, we’ve got Gareth Roberts here to paint our town red... and blue and pink and green. 

Fellow designer and bloody good friend of Design-Hungry, Gareth runs Project in the Paint, a project promoting greater investment into UK grassroots basketball. His programme renovates courts and installs inspiring large-scale murals in a bid to reintroduce people back into their communities and engage them with public spaces.

Amongst the Broken Glass and Cigarette Butts 

Our favourite 5’8” wannabe-basketball star turned freelance designer, Gareth, is turning our rough spots into diamonds after being inspired on the playground. Having two beautiful children and wanting to pass on his love of basketball, he started venturing to his local courts … and quickly realised they’re the last place you’d want your two little girls. Dribbling between broken glass bottles and cigarette butts wasn’t the idea he had in mind and he quickly reached that level of annoyance that spurs change. 

Researching stats, he found that basketball is both one of the most popular sports and one of the most under-funded. According to the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, it is the second most popular sport played in the UK by 11- to 15-year-olds’ but it gets almost no great british pounds.

Project in the Paint Is Born 

This lit a fire under his arse and, within the year, he had founded Project in the Paint. To understand his artistic process better, we sat down and dug into that brilliant brain of his.

How does your design background impact Project in the Paint?

“That's what makes my involvement in the projects unique. Of course, there are people that paint basketball courts elsewhere. Coming from a design background, however, I conceptually understand the ideas behind the art as well as the execution. At the same time, I've got that bridge back to the basketball world, which I know so well. I can talk to sportspeople in their language and I can talk to artists and designers in their language, and I think that that helps a great deal,” Gareth said.

“Basketball courts are some of the biggest blank areas in parks and housing estates. At the same time, they’re held in high regard, especially on estates where there's not a lot of play space or green areas. That’s what makes them such a prime canvas. While museums and art galleries are very popular in the UK, you might be an hour from your nearest half-decent gallery, let alone like something amazing like the Tate or the VNA,” he explained.”

“There’s not always an opportunity for underprivileged inner-city people to see fine art. While I'm a big fan of graffiti art, it's not always done that well. My goal is to bring in a higher level of art and increase these public art spaces.”

What does the design process look like? Are these your designs? Are they from local artists?

“When you get people involved in coming up with the design, it doesn't need to be from a famous artist. It can be crowdsourced. You can find ten kids who use the basketball space and say: Here's a blank piece of paper. That's the shape of your court. What would you like this to look like? Pick your colours, pick your design. Let’s make this yours.”

“If they feel like it’s their court, it’ll be something they’re proud of and they’ll look after it. I’d like to help change people's mindset and enhance their respect for public spaces. Getting communities involved in their own spaces works and it’s an important aspect.”

“At the same time, we need to give artists an opportunity to create, especially now, following a pandemic where most artists haven’t been working. Their opportunities are few and far between so I’d like to create something for them.”

“So, that’s my two-pronged approach to this project. We can crowdsourced art from the community or gift art to the community. It works both ways.”

Your most recent court was actually quite a small one but it is so powerful. I can imagine walking through the area and absolutely having to ‘shoot a hoop’ (is that how you say it?) How have people responded to the space? 

“That’s just it. Even if you've got no interest in basketball and no interest in art, you’re just drawn towards it naturally through the amount of colour. Being physically underfoot as well plays a major role. Most people are used to seeing murals on walls and walking past them, but these are ones you can walk and play on. That's a different experience entirely. I like the thought of wandering over and getting dragged into a game. It’s one of those welcoming sports where, if you're there, and you've got the right footwear, you can play.”

Do you think that outdoor sports are being neglected now because we've all become tech addicts? When I was younger, I was always in the park or up a tree, much to my mothers dismay. Are children today less interested in the great outdoors?

“I mean, it's tough. I'm not an expert on what teenagers are up to but it definitely feels like it. When I used to play basketball in the park in the 90s, it was packed. You were never alone on the courts. That's where I met a lot of great people and fell in love with the sport. Technology hasn’t helped, of course. You can play almost anything virtually indoors these days. Especially with a pandemic, where people are encouraged to stay in a lot more,” Gareth said. 

Drawing Inspiration From Around the World 

Having lived in Asia for five years, the grey of the UK stands out to me more than ever. Of course, in the cities, we have incredible architecture but the grey space permeates much of the country. Just take my hometown, for example, where all the schools and playgrounds blend into the sky and the asphalt below in varying shades of grey.  

In the Philippines, on the other hand, you can go to an island that is literally in the middle of nowhere and float into a rainbow. Every boat is painted in radiant colours and it’s actually a method of branding. Your ‘captain’ might not know how to read or write so he draws you in with these fabulous colours. Even the schools are an explosion of colour and it makes everything so inviting. It is something we sorely lack in the UK and it’s one of the reasons I was so captivated by Project in the Paint. 

Are you ever affected by this grey aesthetic? What do you think about the role of colour and images in branding here? 

“We’re in a moment where Instagramble environments are everything. Look at Peckham levels. It’s just a pink staircase in London but look at the number of people that go there just to photograph themselves on a pink set of steps. It’s phenomenal,” Gareth proclaimed. “They’ve got a pink staircase but it's a cultural phenomenon simply because it’s vibrant and everything looks more amazing when it's backed by colour.”

“People take photographs of the beautiful houses in Portobello Road. They are just houses, of course, but they’re amazingly vibrant and engaging because of their colours. I think it comes down to the contrast of colour in our grey cities.”

“It all goes back to using colour and images to brand places and create interest. There was a study done at Liverpool John Moores University where they applied colourful paint to playgrounds and discovered that kids were infinitely more active on those colourful playground surfaces than they were on the grey ones. It comes down to colour theory, colour psychology, and the wider science behind colour. Certain colours elicit certain emotions and make you feel a certain way about things.”

Setting Big Hairy Goals 

We asked Gareth what his BIG HAIRY GOAL was and, in true humble Gareth style, he said, “I have high aspirations for Project in the Paint but, ultimately, if I can get children more interested in basketball while getting local councils and governments more willing to fund for art in public spaces, I can attack it from both ends. More public art and more opportunities for artists and our future generations is never going to be a bad thing.”

Adding Colour to Life 

If we can go beyond just maintaining our public spaces, we can create an even brighter picture. Urban art has been adding an urgently-needed dose of hope and lightness during COVID in cities around the globe. As street art started popping up around Britain honouring the efforts and sacrifices of our NHS workers, Bansky froze a moment in time where kids viewed heroes not as strong men who beat up the bad guys but smart and caring individuals who help the sick and vulnerable.

The streets of Christchurch were renewed after the devastating earthquake. Whether it was making people smile when they see a googly-eyed Cookie Monster or offering a glimpse into local Maori and Pacific mythology, street art helped in a real way. People didn’t need to sign up for an assistance programme or read through a community renewal site; they could just walk by and feel a split second of sunshine on a gloomy day. It didn’t change everything, but it transformed a little part of a community in an important way. 

Street art has been filling empty spaces and sparking life. Who knew a painted piece of pavement could mean the world to us? Whether it’s soothing the soul of traumatised cities with public art or simply making an old grey basketball court a more desirable/Instagram-worthy place to shoot hoops. Whatever the cause, the effect is profound. 

Playing Our Part 

Whether you are painting your own Sistine Chapel on the wall outside of your local kebab takeaway or creating a tactile marketing experience for customers, it’s all about keeping it real these days. As we’ve all become desensitised to the flashing lights of the online world, we’ve become even more attuned to the very real and progressively beautiful world around us. 

Whether you’re a city planner, urban artist, or a 5’8” wannabe-basketball star turned freelance designer, now is the time to get inspired to create something magical for your community.