A Colourful Sint-Jansplein
Year
2022
Project type
Illustration, Campaign, Project space
Client
City of Antwerp
Role
Illustration, Visual concept, Visual system, Applications, Developed within the Shtick team
A public-space illustration project for the City of Antwerp, developed to give Sint-Jansplein a more colourful, welcoming and recognisable identity. The project brought together illustration, graphic design and community participation to reflect the people and everyday character of the neighbourhood.
Working with the Shtick team and the City of Antwerp, I developed the visual concept and created the illustrations and compositions used across the square. The resulting interventions turned buildings, parking entrances and utility boxes into a colourful portrait of the neighbourhood and its residents.
01 — THE CHALLENGE
Sint-Jansplein is a busy, multicultural square in Antwerp's Seefhoek, with a strong sense of community but also a difficult reputation. Drug use, homelessness and other issues had affected how the square was perceived and used.
The city wanted to reclaim the space for local residents and make it feel more welcoming, lively and connected to the neighbourhood. The challenge was to create a visual intervention that could help shift that perception — not by simply decorating the square, but by reflecting the people, places and everyday life that make the neighbourhood unique.
02 — THE APPROACH
I developed a colourful visual language inspired by the neighbourhood, combining local architecture, characters and everyday scenes.
With carte blanche to explore the visual direction, I developed the illustrations and compositions from scratch. Residents and local schoolchildren also contributed ideas and drawings, bringing a strong sense of the neighbourhood into the work.
I translated the resulting visual language into the different applications across the square, working with the Shtick team on the wider implementation.
03 — THE SOLUTION
The illustrations were designed as playful interventions that could make the square feel more welcoming and give local residents — especially children — a stronger sense of ownership over the space.
I used everyday elements of the square as part of the visual storytelling. Behind the existing football goal, for example, I created a fictional supporters' stand, inspired by the stands you would find in a football stadium. The idea was to turn the small football pitch into a miniature stadium, giving children the feeling that they were playing in front of a crowd cheering them on.
The visual language was then extended across the square, including large sustainable stickers at the underground car park entrances, building interventions and decorated utility boxes. Together, these elements turned ordinary parts of the public space into playful experiences rooted in the neighbourhood.
