Everyone has an

impact

by Sherony Lock and Jack Watkins

Bristol is a thriving city, full of a wide variety of people, most of whom use public space in their everyday life. Public spaces in the city are communal areas in which any person can go free of charge, regardless of age, ethnicity or background. This booklet focuses on the interaction of people with public space and the impression they leave on it. These impressions left on public space speak volumes about the people who occupied it.

Litter: People who leave their things in public places have a direct impact upon the space, causing people’s opinions of that space to be linked to the litter.

Litter is usually seen as a negative element within public space, but there is something interesting to be said about objects being left behind. Each object has a story behind it which provokes questions such as: who owned it?, Was it left or forgotten?, How long has it been there?

It also gets you thinking about the future of the object, will it be thrown away, picked up by a new person or be stationary in its position for years to come?

The war memorial in the centre of Bristol is adorned with poppies on remembrance day accompanied by personal messages. These handwritten farewells establish an emotional connection with the space, and fulfil the purpose of it’s construction. It gives people somewhere they can express their grief and pay their respect in a shared way, which comforts people and instills a sense of belonging within the community.

Publicremembrance

Interaction with public space can be a cause for controversy; areas are often claimed as ‘turf’ in gang culture and ‘tagging’ of a space is commonplace.

Non-artistic graffiti – crudely drawn images of a lewd and offensive nature are often found in public space. Even with laws in place to fine offenders, graffiti is still a common practice.

Signs are often defaced and vandalised, perhaps due to teenagers’ expression of rebellion against things which attempt to control them.

Graffiti

The debate persists – is graffiti creativity or vandalism?

Street Art

Stokes Croft is one of the most visually creative parts of Bristol, mainly because of the vast amount of graffiti art that adorns the sides of the buildings.

Although graffiti is against the law, the sprayed images along Stokes Croft seem to have been accepted as a positive contribution to the space, even if some of them were illegally carried out.

Indeed, some say that the graffiti art is actually an essential part of the culture of Bristol, and if it were taken away because of the law, a large chunk of the city’s character would be lost.

Signs If you walk along the highstreets in Bristol, you will see many temporary signs, showing information or personal messages. The hand-drawn nature of these signs gives the area a more friendly and approachable feel. These signs have an impact on the public because they are placed within public space, specifically for people to see them. Some signs can be very expressive and artistic and therefore can have a larger impact.

Some signs are personal messages that suggest a story, and make you engage emotionally with the message, like this plea for ‘Cherry’ to come home.

Viral stickers are used as an advertising tool to promote and/or raise awareness about a certain issue/company/game etc. Some of these sticker designs may contain information such as a website to go to, but most of them leave the viewer intrigued and wanting to know more. By placing stickers all around a particular space, it ensures that the people that walk through that space regularly are repeatedly being exposed to the message/image. Mere exposure to viral stickers affects people, at least on a subconscious level, and often causes them to question and investigate, usually through the Internet.

Viral Stickers

An example of a viral sticker campaign is the ‘domo kun’. This sticker relies on the viewer having previous knowledge of the internet/video game it is promoting, or more importantly relies on people who understand its meaning sharing that knowledge with their peers. If those peers share the information, it starts to become viral (the information/message spreads exponentially like a virus). In this way, viral stickers cause conversation and word of mouth becomes the main form of advertising, which reaches people cheaply and on a more personal level than large billboard campaigns would.

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