Phase 1 - Week Three — Alice Wheal

Week Three

I began the week by looking through some of the feedback that I received on my ideas wall post;

This is really helpful from Lizzie but i had also seen the Culture Bid previously last year when I was doing research into different elements of the City - It is on the list to research now!

Another task this week is to look at my question is a different way, I will try different ways of unpacking and rephrasing to help it develop.

Continuing with the research question that I decided on at the end of last week, How can we build creative communities through design? I wanted to continue my research surrounding the subject, really exploring what other creative people had done.

Me & EU

https://www.itsnicethat.com/features/nicer-tuesdays-march-2020-community-010420

A project that was started in response to brexit, the creative industry was really focussed around remaining within the EU. Feeling misunderstood, they wanted to do something about it that focussed on positivity and unity. How do we connect and get peoples voices heard? Postcard allows the need to design something that was heartfelt on the front to personal on the back. Collectively they create a much larger picture. Say about what we personally feel about something. 115 entries from across the creative field, collective approach. They sent them to the EU and then they started getting responses to the postcard that was sent. They want to take this into an exhibition and a publication. This case study really showed how the creative community came together over something that upset them which was really interesting.

Warriors Studio

https://www.itsnicethat.com/features/nicer-tuesdays-march-2020-community-010420

Graphic design festival, warehouse in glasgow - invited designers and graduates. Live 2D project that took place within the site. Invited people from across the world to take part in an international poster competition which then led to creating an exhibition. Transformed the space into a gallery. Three days of workshop took places throughout the festival. The festival wanted to give the scottish people and graphic designers to collaborate together. Felt it was good to do something that allowed the young people to feel inspired. Launched a campaign that went along the project. Which then allowed them to make a business plan that allowed them to create their studio and festival.

Both of these talks show a clear community focus to each of the projects; It reminded me of…

Webinar Feedback

Within the Webinar this week discussing a good research question, I discussed my research question and was given feedback of areas that I could Improve.

Define Creative communities
What is the locality?
Think about a sub question, how can the lessons we learn be applied to..?
Previous City of Culture - Great Yarmouth - Communication Tool that could be used to connect with other artists
How does the long list for city of culture work?

From this it was clear that I needed to do more research on the City of Culture and how this related to the artists that were involved as well as looking at how I can focus my research question.

Peer to Peer Feedback

This week within the Peer to Peer feedback, I was discussing how I wanted my outcome to be an exhibition or a festival that could bring together the creatives within my city. From this Cat recommended some links that she thought would help. One of the links I have already have a brief look in from my research this week but both were an insight into what is already being done within Scotland.

Graphic Design Festival

https://graphicdesignfestivalscotland.com/2020/

As I had seen within the above research, Beth Wilson and James Gilchrist, created Graphic Design Festival, which has been taking off for the past couple of years. They run a studio along side this mission which is called Warriors, on their studio site it talks through the creation of the communication strategy for the festival. “This involves the festival's communication strategy; annually refreshing the brand identity, website, social media and campaigns across print, digital and environment.” “In the name of innovation and collaboration within an industry which is always changing, we invited our friends at Freytag Anderson to work with us on the identity and campaign – embodying the collaborative attitude of the festival.'“ Once they had created this one poster for the campaign, they sent it public and uploaded it to the internet so designers al over the world could download it and reimagine it. 83 designers replied and recreated the work of which 8 were selected for the final run. I love the abstract side to this project and their need for collaboration across not only scotland but the world.

https://warriorsstudio.com/work/graphic-design-festival-scotland-16

INTL

https://intl.international

From Graphic Design Festival in Scotland, due to the amount of international contribution that took place they rebranded to INTL which is now a global creative festival. They are still on their mission to collaborate and inspire the creative industry. Their mission remains similar to Graphic Design Festival;

– “Encourage creative thinking
– Provide opportunities for people to learn, develop skills and grow
– Build and strengthen a creative community
– Connect people in different creative communities around the world
– Provide a platform for up-and-coming talent
– Create links between education and industry
– Celebrate the best in the creative industries
– Empower creative people

Networking and socialising play a key role in everything we do. Through INTL we aim to build longstanding relationships and a supportive community which spans world-wide.”

I think their mission is still very present and they have evolved immensely since their first project inviting people to collaborate on the posters. I feel taking their work to the next level would of course be creating something that that everyone was able to access.

When looking through their website, there are conferences and workshops that anyone is able to access from across the world. Each day of their creative month, there is something new to do and explore. Although their workshops come at a cost, I think the knowledge that they are providing is invaluable and due to the recent pandemic It would be easier to have things placed online. I know I will be keeping my eye on these workshops in the future.

Edinburgh Creative

https://www.creative-edinburgh.com

Creative Edinburgh is another company that looks at the creative thinkers across the city, “providing a space for creation, collaboration and connection at every stage of your career.” There seems to be a mentoring scheme as well as an events space that allows for meet ups and collaboration to happen within the group. Some of their events are online that allows for creative across Scotland to be involved within the group. The website also seems to link jobs and opportunities that are related to Edinburgh. This seems to be another helpful platform that connects the creative community across the city.

This week, I wanted to try and create context and more information surround the A4 draft, For this I wanted to look at tools and methods as well as the purpose and target audience.

Background

City of Culture 2025

https://southampton2025.co.uk

Southampton is wanting to try to be the City of Culture 2025, they have got through to the Long list of the Bid. I want to explore the reasoning behind why they want to be the City of Culture and what they are doing about it. The bid video can be seen above, it focusses on many aspects of Southampton, showing the areas that I assume need improvement or what they do well? The Main thing that is mentioned across the website and the information available is this is all for the young people within the City. They want to bring in investments to make it a better city for all.

But how are they Including the creatives within Southampton?

They put on a grant scheme to get creatives to be involved within the City and awarded 10 artists £500 to support the development of their art and creativity. The 10 people that were selected are from a multitude of backgrounds, one of the people that were selected, listening to their stories on instagram - seems to be all related to the university and the connections that they have made through that. One of the artists mentions the ability to collaborate with anyone, but how are they really making these collaborations?

https://aspacearts.org.uk/news/our-time-a-new-talent-development-programme-for-young-people-in-southampton

From the above article, it was made clear that for the bursary you needed to be 18-25 to apply, which was an interesting age range that allowed for the university students to apply as well!

Overall, I feel that there potentially is this underlying community that surrounds the university with creatives but it pains me to see that it feels like a one of loyalty club!

Gary mentioned within the webinar that Great Yarmouth also applied to the City of Culture but they did not get it - One of the reasons that he mentioned was that creatives were unable to communicate. https://www.norfolklive.co.uk/news/norfolk-news/great-yarmouth-knocked-out-city-6040759 Within the article, it talks about how from this bid, Great Yarmouth have seen that they need to focus on the arts across the city within the future, “The shared experience of collaborating on ideas and skills across our two councils has also been hugely positive, while the support for the bid from our cultural and other sectors has been overwhelming and we thank everyone for their hard work and commitment to our cause.”

Which I guess, compared to Southampton’s grant scheme that they are wanting to initiate for the young people then it seems to have let Great Yarmouth down.

Arts Council

When looking at some of the websites to do with the city of culture and the galleries within Southampton- they all seem to be supported by the Arts Council. On their website, they define what they do as the following; ‘We are the national development agency for creativity and culture. We want to grow skills, knowledge and networks to help establish the conditions in which creativity and culture can flourish across the country.’https://www.artscouncil.org.uk/about-us/developing-creativity-culture

They also had a part on their website that looked at the projects that they are currently on to do with Creative people and places. One of them that was mentioned was Culture in Common, which is based in the New Forest which is within Hampshire and not far from Southampton. On the website, this is the description of the Culture in Common; '“Culture in Common New Forest is Hampshire’s first Creative People and Places project. It was one of 11 brand new projects announced by Arts Council England in December 2021, securing £1 million. The investment covers the first three years of a 10-year vision to bring the disparate communities of the district together to enjoy Culture in Common.Our consortium blends arts, community engagement, heritage, physical activity and health expertise. We are all passionate about collaborating and building authentic relationships with New Forest communities.”

I am so pleased to see that something is being done to bring together the community and collaboration within the New Forest Communities. https://www.energiseme.org/about-us/our-projects/culture-in-common/ I think that taking this project as an example, which would allow me to see how it relates to Southampton’s current scene.

Audience

Within the webinar, ben mentioned that I needed to expand on who my audience was as creatives seems to be a large area, which can be anyone from musicians to designers. Taking all of the above into account, I want to really focus on the artists and designers within Southampton as this is the area that I feel is lacking the communication.

From the research above, I thought that I needed to focus my question, so taking it from - How can we build creative communities through design? To

How can design help build creative communities in Southampton City?

Tools and Methods

After exploring some case studies last week, I felt the need to focus on different tools that I could use to approach the project plan of my project and starting to think about the areas that would help me create a plan for the upcoming weeks;

Ingrid shared this on the ideas wall last week and I thought it was actually really interesting as well as the lecture video below I went back through some of the resources from GDE740.

Within the talk with Tim Ingold, Ingold explained around thinking through making, which related to one of the Lectures that Ben James did last week. Ingold talks about how the learning is changed from doing lectures to actually going out in the world and learning for ourselves. The 4 different disciplines were merging into one discipline, really focussing on the exploratory part that opens up when collaborating. When looking at how we look at making in the first place, Ingold looks at the differences with how making happens- thinking of other kinds of forms that can be made out of materials. This has really changed how I am doing and creating as a designer and how sometimes opposite can cause an interesting disruption to the norm and all how we look at things with this fresh perspective.

Within previous modules, I really connected with two different resources that allowed me to plan aims and what I wanted to achieve over the upcoming weeks.

The first resource was Design Genius, the ways and workings of creative thinkers by Gavin Ambrose and Paul Harris. I reviewed this article last module but It was good to recap again from a different perspective with fresh eyes. Some of the points that were clear within the article were, “Allow the Random”, this approach allowed for a combinations that provoke a solution which is always something I forget to do within the design process. This project I really want to start designing earlier on within the process which will hopefully enable me to think the design through for longer. Another point was “Remembering to Play”, within the article it discussing Micheal Lebowitz dicussing how his son plays in order to create concepts with blocks and different materials. Often visualising of using other methods to see things allows us to see them in a new light which is another point I want to focus on.

In a discussion between Gavin Ambrose and Emma Thomas, there was a point that surrounded craft and I connected with the response from Emma Thomas; “The design of the form, the processes and the materials used in a project, are just as important to us as the design and typography. They are just apart of the language that communicates the message… It thinking of designing things as objects even though they are 2D; they are still things that people are going to have in their hands and are going to experience in that way”. I think that this section, Thomas really wants us to focus on the overall presentation instead of just one part to the overall message. Creating this well rounded project is something that I need to again focus on this module, I want every part of the design to connect.

https://content.talisaspire.com/falmouth/bundles/5d81fc15c1af246607360854

The second resource was, Creating the perfect design brief by Peter Phillips. This book really helped me at the beginning stage of the ideas and how to plan out the rest of the project. I felt it would be great to retouch on the main points that he focussed on. For me the main point within this was the business objectives and design strategy; within this Phillips talks about laying out the problem so that the solutions can be made and objectified. Having an objective that is then laid out with how you will achieve it will help to plan the things that you need to achieve. I feel there is also another important point in this about the project scope and planning a time line - Last project having a plan really kept me on track of the whole project and it was something that I was able to stick too!

https://issuu.com/samrudhiipalshetkar/docs/creating_the_perfect_design_brief_h

Draft Project Proposal

After the above I thought it was time to start planning out the draft project proposal for what was needed in terms of information:

Week 4 is the formative deadline for your project draft summary, which should include the following:

Draft treatment – One A4 page for studio practice, and history and theory underpinning the MA project. On this page, include a clear research question,
- with aims,
- objectives,
- purpose and
- audience, that forms the catalyst for your enquiry.
- You should also outline the type of written submission you will be creating whether it is academic/ research based or entrepreneurial/ business based.
One A4 page critical path outlining the logistics and resourcing plan for the project – bearing in mind that the final output for the project may not be fully resolved.
Research Ethics Review form completed using the Falmouth handbookLinks to an external site.
Draft consent form completed using the Falmouth Guidebook

I started to write out all of draft treatment and the critical path outline which can be seen below: I shall continue with the ethics and consent form next week.

Weekly Reflection

This week has been helpful to get some background research on my topic and really understand the question that I am making. I still feel that my topic and research area is a broad one but feel this will begin to narrow down when I have completed more research. I really enjoy looking through case studies and seeing how they connect with creative communities and understanding what I can take from each to apply to my own project.

I also found it beneficial to research different things that surrounded Southampton as a community. For example, city of culture 2025 and the other arts council. I also found it beneficial to recap on previous modules that allowed me to get into the right zone for setting aims and targets for the draft project proposal which I have started this week and will finish next week.

Bibliography

Ambrose, G. and Thomas, E. (2015). Design genius : the ways and workings of creative thinkers. London, Uk: Bloomsbury.

ArtsCouncil (n.d.). Developing creativity and culture | Arts Council England. [online] www.artscouncil.org.uk. Available at: https://www.artscouncil.org.uk/about-us/developing-creativity-culture.

Creative Edinburgh (n.d.). Homepage - Creative Edinburgh. [online] Homepage - Creative Edinburgh. Available at: https://www.creative-edinburgh.com

Energise Me. (n.d.). Culture in Common. [online] Available at: https://www.energiseme.org/about-us/our-projects/culture-in-common/

Gilchrist, J. and Wilson, B. (n.d.). Nicer Tuesdays: James Gilchrist and Beth Wilson. [online] www.youtube.com. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0TSQnXHnWI

GraphicDesignScotland (n.d.). Graphic Design Festival Scotland Announcement. [online] Graphic Design Festival Scotland Announcement. Available at: https://graphicdesignfestivalscotland.com/2020/

Hickin, A. (2021). Culture still the focus in Yarmouth despite unsuccessful City of Culture bid. [online] norfolklive. Available at: https://www.norfolklive.co.uk/news/norfolk-news/great-yarmouth-knocked-out-city-6040759

Ingold, T. (n.d.). Thinking Through Making – Seminar. [online] www.youtube.com. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZXIP73uVJk&feature=emb_logo

INTL (n.d.). Home - INTL International. [online] INTL International. Available at: https://intl.international

Me & EU (n.d.). Nicer Tuesdays: Me & EU. [online] www.youtube.com. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2&v=vpjpOP8Zby0&feature=emb_logo

Phillips, P.L. (2012). Creating the perfect design brief : how to manage design for strategic advantage. New York: Allworth Press.

So25 (n.d.). Southampton UK City of Culture launch film. [online] www.youtube.com. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcYm_l8JE1s

Southampton25 (n.d.). Home. [online] SCOC. Available at: https://southampton2025.co.uk

space (2021). Our Time, a New Talent Development Programme for Young People in Southampton. [online] a space arts. Available at: https://aspacearts.org.uk/news/our-time-a-new-talent-development-programme-for-young-people-in-southampton

Warriors Studio (n.d.). Graphic Design Festival Scotland 16 | Warriors Studio. [online] warriorsstudio.com. Available at: https://warriorsstudio.com/work/graphic-design-festival-scotland-16

Things to remember

In this phase of the course we expect you to lead on the requirements of your final project. The phase objectives set are a guide, to help you build confidence and the strength to drive your own project. We want to see a clear project structure and a demonstration of the skills you have developed through modules 1-4.

What is your research question?

How might I…?

Who is this for?

What ethical considerations might I have to make?

What experts can I connect with?