Community and coloring? Yes please!

I have to admit it—I love engaging advertising.

This video, by the Dulux Let’s Colour Project, combines some of my most favorite things: time-lapse film, music, color, and community.

I’ll spare you my nerdy lecture of how much I love time-lapse video, how great I think the music of Sigur Ros is (even if I don’t understand his lyrics), and how much color rules my world to focus on what really captures me: community.

Without verbalizing anything, Dulux took two minutes of my life and challenged my concept of community engagement and urban improvement. Drab, gray, graffiti-ridden sets of walls were transformed overnight into a vibrant, cohesive, village full of life.  With a lot of hands, and a little organization, the locals of this video greatly improved the look and feel of the places they live.

This makes me think about places in my own area and hometown. It seems that cities have been afraid of color for so long, that we’ve locked ourselves away in beige, gray, and blue cells—waiting for our electronic devices to set us free and connect us to each other. Imagine how great our communities would be if everyone got together and colored—if people signed off of Facebook for five minutes to paint a wall with their neighbor. I know I would feel a little happier about going to the dentist if his office was located in a canary yellow building. I also wouldn’t feel so awkward passing by my neighbors in the hallway if I spent an afternoon making our concrete building look a little livelier with them.

Where can you add a little color to your life? What can design do to bring you closer to your neighbor? I think a can of paint, a plan, and a few brushes is not such a bad place to start.