Empowering Streets with Temporary Floor Graphics

This Girl Can, funded by the National Lottery and led by Sport England, is one of the UK’s most influential empowerment campaigns. Since 2015, it has inspired more than three million women to get active and resulted in around 148,700 additional women participating in sport weekly (source: itsnicethat.com).

With a bold philosophy — celebrating real women “in all their sweaty, jiggly glory” — the campaign’s latest phase, “Belonging Starts with Inclusion,” sought to reach underrepresented communities.

About the project

This Girl Can, funded by the National Lottery and led by Sport England, is one of the UK’s most influential empowerment campaigns. Since its 2015 debut, it has encouraged more than three million women to get active, resulting in around 148,700 additional women participating in sport weekly (source: itsnicethat.com). Its unapologetic creative approach celebrates real women — every body type, every background — “in all its sweaty, jiggly glory.”

The most recent phase, “Belonging Starts with Inclusion,” focused on broadening representation and breaking barriers for underrepresented groups. For this milestone, creative agency Rarekind, known for large-scale public murals and experiential activations, was commissioned to design a vibrant, city-centre statement piece.

Since launch in 2015, the campaign has encouraged millions more women to be active and continues to evolve its message to centre inclusion and belonging. For a bold city-centre moment, creative specialists Rarekind commissioned a large-format, temporary intervention that would live in the public realm, perform flawlessly under heavy footfall, then disappear without a trace. They needed a production partner experienced in public-space floor graphics and safety-critical install, one who could translate an expressive creative into a precise technical build. Wallace Print was appointed for our track record in Printed Floor Graphics, end-to-end control, and documented compliance.

They needed a print partner capable of matching their bold creative vision with technical precision — producing a huge, safe, temporary floor installation that could withstand footfall, meet compliance, and disappear without a trace. With its proven track record in printed floor graphics and public-realm installations, Wallace Print was the natural choice.

The Brief / Challenge

The brief demanded a 20 × 10 metre removable floor graphic, installed overnight on a public pedestrian area and fully compliant with local authority safety regulations. It had to deliver immediate visual impact while being environmentally responsible and entirely reversible. Non-negotiables included:

• Certified slip resistance (R12) and fire-safety documentation appropriate for public concourses.
• A removable adhesive: strong enough for public footfall yet engineered to lift cleanly with no residue or surface disruption.
• Zero damage to the substrate and no trip hazards.
• Tight programme: install post-close, complete before dawn; remove post-media with the site fully reinstated within minutes.

Meeting this specification required precise planning. To de-risk the job, our consultants aligned with the client and site operators on performance criteria, surface condition, and the sequencing for install, handover and removal. We also scheduled contingency for weather and footfall barriers. Wallace Print’s print consultants collaborated closely with Rarekind and site managers to select and test materials, document compliance, and gain written approval prior to production. The team provided detailed technical data sheets and risk assessments, ensuring every stakeholder, from campaign directors to city council safety officers, had total confidence in the process.

This format demonstrates the power of temporary activations: high-impact brand presence without permanence or disruption. Deployed in a high-footfall corridor, the piece encouraged organic discovery — commuters and families encountering the message unexpectedly — which in turn drove shareable content. The overnight workflow gave press teams a pristine set and preserved daytime access for the public. For purpose-led work, this approach blends creative ambition with responsible, reversible use of public space.

Operationally, the project underlines how tight integration between creative intent and technical planning produces better work: colour continuity across 200 m², precise panel geometry, and certified slip performance working together to tell one story. It’s the intersection where our large format production capabilities meet civic-space practicality.

Our Solution

Wallace Print deployed its full direct-to-media printing expertise for this project. The team specified an aluminium-based, R12-rated floor graphic film engineered for outdoor, short-term installations. The chosen media offered dimensional stability, anti-curl properties, and certified resistance to water and temperature fluctuations — essential for unpredictable UK weather.

We specified an aluminium-based, R12 slip-rated floor graphic system with a removable adhesive designed for rough, external substrates. Aluminium-based constructions conform well to texture, resist edge-lift, and maintain slip performance without needing a separate laminate — ideal for short-term activations. Full technical data and certificates were issued up front for stakeholder assurance.

Pre-press and artwork. Our Artwork Setup & File Checks team validated colour profiles, panelisation, and bleed. Given the overall 200 m² scale, we tiled the artwork into manageable panels optimised for handling, registration and on-site alignment. Registration keys were embedded outside the finished area to speed laying without visual artefacts.

Printing. Using high-resolution Direct to Media Printing on our UV platform, we delivered dense colour and crisp typography in a single pass. UV-cured inks provide scuff resistance and outdoor durability, essential for a pavement install subject to moisture and abrasion. Our UV Flat Bed Digital Printing technology ensured uniformity across all panels so large colour fields read as one continuous surface.

Finishing. Panels were trimmed and calibrated via Print Finishing workflows, then precision-cut using Plotter Cutting to sub-millimetre tolerances. For pedestrian safety, panel corners were micro-radiused and edges prepared to minimise any snag potential. Each panel passed a visual inspection for ink lay, edge integrity and adhesive consistency before packing.

Site method and installation. Our dedicated Print Installation crew mobilised to the site after closing hours. Steps included:

• Surface preparation: dry sweep, degrease, and targeted patch tests on representative paving.
• Dry-lay alignment: snap lines established to control panel geometry over the full 20 m run.
• Apply and roll: panels were butt-joined (not overlapped) and consolidated using weighted rollers and edge tools to eliminate micro-air and ensure conformance to texture. Particular attention was paid to edge consolidation in traffic vectors and at panel interfaces.
• Safety checks: walk-through with site reps, checking joins, transitions and slips underfoot.
• Handover just before dawn, meeting the press timeline to the minute.

A dedicated print installation crew mobilised the night before launch. Working under strict time conditions, the team cleaned and degreased the pavement, laid each panel sequentially, and used precision levelling tools to maintain seamless joins and eliminate potential trip hazards. Safety checks and client sign-off were completed by dawn — precisely when the media team arrived for first-light coverage.

This seamless workflow showcased Wallace Print’s end-to-end production and logistics control, ensuring creative intent translated flawlessly to the real world.

The Results

The final result was a striking, high-impact installation that transformed a city walkway into a vibrant stage for This Girl Can’s message.

Visual presence at civic scale. The floor graphic translated the campaign’s unapologetic identity into a civic statement. From ground-level photos to overhead social content, the piece delivered a cohesive 200 m² canvas with continuous colour across panel joins — a direct result of careful colour management and panel mapping during pre-press and finishing.

Safety and performance under load. Throughout the activation window, the R12 surface maintained traction in damp conditions and resisted edge-lift under persistent footfall. No remedial touch-downs were required — a function of the aluminium-based carrier’s stability and the installation method.

Removal in under 30 minutes. Once media activity concluded, our team reinstated the site rapidly. Panels were lifted at a shallow angle to reduce peel stress, with protective bagging to prevent adhesive contact with the paving during extraction. The substrate released cleanly, leaving no residue, staining or surface disturbance — the public realm restored to its pre-event state.

Client response. Rarekind and the campaign organisers highlighted three factors: clarity of technical options and documentation; the calm, methodical overnight install; and the “clean exit” that made the activation feel like a purposeful apparition — here for the message, not the mess.

“Wallace Print understood the ambitions of our campaign immediately. They offered full technical transparency, delivered a flawless installation overnight, and then removed everything without a trace. The result was simply magical — the graphic appeared and disappeared like it never existed, all while delivering an incredibly powerful message for This Girl Can. We’re eager to work with them again.”

Why Wallace Print?

Time-critical public-realm installs demand a production partner who is comfortable being invisible: rigorous behind the scenes so the work can be visible out front. Wallace Print combines specification support, colour and panel engineering, certified materials, and experienced installation, all under one roof. For agencies and brands, that means fewer handoffs, clearer accountability, and a smoother path from artwork to activation. When the brief says “appear overnight, vanish without a trace,” this is the process that makes it real.

For agencies like Rarekind, this means confidence: the assurance that design intent, safety, and schedule all align — even when projects unfold overnight in the heart of a city.