A project based around the idea of gathering research in a more visual and exciting way, with the intension to solve a social issue that is effecting the local area where I live currently in London. This paper will feature photographs, drawings and recorded thought processes which I produced when working on this exciting project. It will show you that you don’t have to look at projects with in bland and boring usual ways and allow you to understand new ways in which you can personally produce work and find fun ways to gather research which will strengthen my final outcomes.
By Sam Hamer
My chosen Social Issue I have chosen to explore is Happiness. I came to this idea after looking at the area I live in, this being Clapham Common and finding that their isn’t really much regarding a social issue or big problem to solve here. The local council, Lambeth has put a lot of money in to solving some problems and currently working on improving parts of the Park and road surfaces which were all things that first came to mind when starting this project but I discovered that they were being solved already.
So what could be a Social Issue in Clapham Common? This area of London seems to be a good location to live. Judging by what is available, work in progress to improve things and the general lifestyle that can be lived here I can only see positives everywhere I look. This lead me to think that if the area is so good then the people who live here must be really happy and cheerful folk, enjoying their surroundings they live around. I will ask the question What is happiness to the people of Clapham Common and see if people have got to offer me, using visually stimulating ideas to research this issue and provide a strong, fun exciting and of course a happy outcome for this project.
I wanted to start this investigation by going around the area and start to investigate how people thought about Happiness and decided to see how many smiles I could collect also asking the simple question “What is Happiness?” Collecting smiles proved to be hard as people did not feel comfortable having their photograph taken and getting a little piece of someone’s time was hard. I found by asking people who were working I could get an answer from them a little easier than people from the street. This was not the case and also was a hard task. I needed to find something that people would want to interact and at the same time collect information.
The first task when starting this project was to see if I could collect some thoughts from the street I live on firstly, that being The Chase in Clapham Common. I put this quick flyer together which I was hoping would achieve a response from everyone on the street and give me a insight to what people saw to be hindering the area or if they already knew of a possible social issue that could be tackled in this project. I did not receive one of these back even after posting out one hundred of these happy looking wonky looking flyers. I wanted to create it like this with hand drawn type and illustration to attract the eye and stand out from other mail that fell through their letter box’s that day, and also not look like a delivery menu or a piece of junk mail but unfortunately i think this was the case, so the only way was up and on to the next idea to collect some thoughts from the folk around me.
After this i decided to go out and react to negative vibe i got from the leaflet and wanted to go out and replace the negative feelings i was getting with positive ones. So my idea was to go out and collect the happiest thing there is, smiles. I went out again with my camera and captured some lovely smiles from people in the area. The next few pages are a few photographs of clapham folk sharing there smiles and happy thoughts with me. It gave me the idea to see if i could spread this happy cheer with the rest of the people in clapham. Judging by the lack of communication i got with my flyers i was feeling that maybe people needed cheering up and some fun needed to be brought into their lives.
Happy Coffee maker This man has been working in Clapham now for just over five years. His name was Markus He told me that he thinks the area has a lot to offer people who live and visit the area. He love the common and enjoys sitting in the hot heat of the summer months there. He was a very happy man who loved life and was very happy that day when i spoke to him.
Happy Postman This is Patrick and he is a postman who delivers to the area. He was a tough cookie to crack and was not sure about the photograph, but i managed to make him laugh by pulling a silly face to him. He enjoys his job but wished he could sleep a little longer some mornings.
Happy Ice Cream Maker Here is Alice she works in the local ice cream shop here in Clapham Common. I asked her how would you define happiness? She replied with “Happiness is all around us you just have to realise what you have and go with that, anything else is a bonus, but just be content with the life you live and what and see what happens in it...anything could happen which could be exciting� She loved her job and enjoys sharing her own love for ice cream with others. Also what a great smile.
Happy Pub Owner Lloyd here is the owner of one of the pubs in the common. He really enjoys his job as he has created his own environment which he thinks is perfect for socializing in. He told me that he loves to talk to people and enjoys the social life his work brings him. The idea of making people feel special and being friendly to all people keeps him feeling positive. Asking for a smile from him was easy, he was always smiling and is a very happy person who loves the area.
I was finding it hard to get anything from approaching people of the street and people working in the area, although i had managed to get some responses from people it was just not enough. Many hours were spent trying to gather answers to what may appear to be a simple question but seems to put people in a tricky situation and not able to answer it straight away. Knowing that clapham folk found it hard to answer on the spot i needed to come up with a solution where there was time to stop and think about the question i was asking and then give me a recorded answer well not being in the same location. i decided that i should make a poster that was interactive with the user via a simple pen to paper idea. This i was hoping to attract peoples eye by positioning outside opposite a busy cafe and a junction road which was opposite a local cafe.
this i hoped would cause a interest from people using the cafe and also people passing while crossing the road. this had worked and i had finally started to get some thoughts and feelings from people, which were not just yes or no’s but more personal things were coming out on to the paper. It was nice to see and read some of the things people had written on the poster.. So chose to be humourous in the answers and some used it to express what they were really thinking and what really makes them happy. This was interesting to read as it gave me a better idea of what kind of personalities people had in the area, just by using this simple but effective idea to gather information. This poster was left in position for around six hours and between these hours. For around three of those hours i sat behind a bin filming peoples interactions with it, this was a slow process and i was forced to stop as i ran out of battery juice for my camera. I also walked around after taking this short video and ask people what is happiness. Lots of people didn’t want to stop and talk but i managed to record just a few responses and these are to the left of this page, go have a listen to some of the other responses on the below web link to see what kind things people said. Video of this very slow process is available to watch on happyclapham.tumblr.com
Here are some illustrations that came from the big yellow poster. I wanted to turn peoples ideas into drawings which give their personal feelings an image to been seen with. There were lots of nice and silly ones so i chose to look at these firstly and come up with imagery which would make the viewer laugh and enjoy themselves when seeing each drawing.
I wanted to get these illustrations back on the street for them to be viewed by the public but each image was taking a long time to produce and we really needed to be pushing our actual idea more, as this was the start of something i decided to see where i could take the idea of drawing and wanted to find a way which people could offer create their own drawn outcomes and also see others.
A
fter seeing what people would choose to write by themselves using my poster idea i decided to revisit my area once again with a note pad and pen and ask people things that make them happy. This was a similar idea to the poster but i wanted to see if i could find more visually exciting answers from people. I tried to direct my question to people that were doing things that may spark a funny answer, so walking around the common and along the high street i found a few people having the greatest time which all gave me brilliant answers to work with. With this idea I wanted to collect as many answers and translate them into a collection of weird and wondering illustration, which would form a twelve page full colour newspaper that i could then give out within Clapham to share my own findings.
I saw this idea as a good way to make someone who was not feeling so positive about their own day or even maybe the current state of their personal life to take a minute and read some humorous drawings. By sharing what i recorded that day from the area it may also change the perception that people may have about one and other in the area. When people know how someone is feeling they can feel comfortable around them which can only create positive feelings, if I could use this paper to allow people to know how everyone was feeling in the area. I believe that this idea would be possibly a great solution to making the area of Clapham Common a much more happier place in general but i felt it could be pushed some more and thought that it would be nice to try and bring these people that were saying these things to me together and allow them to share there thoughts with eachother. From the homeless community in the common, business men walking to work, the local butchers and the people who dream of the hot sun to sit under during the colder months of the year all are searching for ways to keep positive and happy so it would be a fantastic thing to bring all these people together and let them talk with each at a special event.
Street Talking
The next few pages were things i people said in the area. It gives you a little idea of what the newspaper may of looked like and how it would feel when looking at it, i think its super fun and gives of a good vibe to viewers who would of seen it.
Alex Ostrowski I found inspiration from the above man, Alex Ostrowski. He is a graphic designer who created a book called “The Happiest Book In The World” He had found out that there had been a study into where the happiest place was to live in the world, the answer being Denmark. This idea was really nice a lead me on to look further into his work. I found another interesting project where he looked at a similar thing.
It was a project in which he attempted to make an entire block of flat smile using the lights from each flat inside. I enjoyed how he had approached it and how he captured it visually. A lovely mix of personal accounts from people of the area and also photographs of the event on the final pages, although he didn’t quite manage the entire smiling flat idea he did produce a amazing insight into an area and shared some really nice things within his broadsheet about the idea.
In one way or another we are all looking for happiness. Some people even say that man's sole purpose for existence is to hunt down and capture this intangible and elusive treasure.
Drawing Club After visiting an event that took place at Drawing Club in east London a few days ago it filled me with great inspiration. I experienced a great sense of community and an atmosphere which was amazing to be within. I really enjoyed that everyone was welcome and people from all over had come to take part in the event. I wanted this in my work in someway as I believe it is a great way to provide an activity that everyone could do and it offers a happy social event people can have fun at and is
also a great way to connect the people in clapham, making for a much happier and friendly place to live and visit. Acknowledging this event i wanted to go away from this and see if i was able to create an event similar to this. As i am unknown unlike Drawing Club i needed to find a way to advertise the event in an exciting and eye catching way leaving people wanting to go and see what the event is all about. Also i would need to give my event some originality so i was not just taking everything from this idea here.
Finsta Graphics Finsta is an illustrator artist from Sweden. His approach to graphics is unique and holds a really personal touch that you can see in his work with companies he has worked for , such as the one to the left for the oysters to go shop. It is also nice to see that he has spent time and effect on a poster that has been stuck outdoors to advertise an event. The contrast between the environment it is situated in and the content of the poster works really nicely and makes for a more visually exciting piece. It attracts attention to something you would not find yourself looking at normally in the street, This is something I wanted to do when advertising my event and also work with the restaurant to incorporate my ideas within their menu’s and window space. I wanted to use his approach to design, using my strengths within illustration to help get my point across like Finsta does in his inspiring works, buy his book it’s really nice on the eyes.
I needed to find a location where I could host my idea. The position of my idea for an event had to be a known place in clapham so I took myself over to Venn Street. It is home to a few exciting little cafes and restaurants and also holds a weekly foods market that attracts locals and visitors to come and buy amazing fresh food. I thought it would be a nice thing to get a local business involved as it would benefit their income and also introduce new people to their menu. I really liked how Gastro looked and seemed visually interesting internally and externally little french cafe on Venn Street.
My drawing event I started to think on ways I could publicise my idea to the people in the area. It needed to be exciting and something that would stand out. As it is an area which there is near to none wall art or graffiti I starting thinking on these lines. Although I am not a massive fan of street art I do agree with some and it needs to be of a certain type and also hold purpose to it most importantly, but I do have respect for those who go out and produce silly little scribbles as it most likely is fairly fun running around the streets of London writing tags all over the place so I do support them, but just don’t like what they choose to scribble. Anyway I thought if I could make lots of cartoon looking characters which were playful and were funny to look at but at the same time had meaning and direction to them that they would pass my own theory about street art and would work well within my idea to create interest in drawing and coming together to produce a collection of drawings then it would be ok to attract people to the venue of the event in this way.
It was an adventurous idea and would need funding and most likely the local councils permission and most likely the owner of the walls i was wishing to deface for the benefit of this project. I decided to then produce my ideas using my computer and making mock ups of my idea to give people a better understanding of what i was thinking of doing, hoping that this may sway peoples vote when it came to asking for premisson from people who can say “Yes go on sam you are great let your creative juices flow all over our walls of Clapham woo!” The idea was to create these visuals to direct you to the event, as if the figures were taking their favourite pen or pencil to go and draw happy things with everyone else who were off to draw. You would read the directions by seeing which way the figures were faced. It was a way to stimulate the viewers mind and prepare them to get creative when arriving. Well this didn’t happen because i didn’t send the email but realistically i don’t think it would of been allowed, but hey...was a good idea at the time and we can’t have everything we want in this world, so these mock ups will have to do to help get my idea out there and for you to see the progression in my thought process.
So to concluded the paper I will finish on my final idea which I worked towards. The idea to host a drawing event at a local cafe or business to encourage the community to get together and enjoy the activity of drawing. It would of been an amazing opportunity to socialize with others from the area. It would of been beneficial to the local business involved if they choose to take part in my idea, as it would bring them income and gain interest in their business but sadly they didn’t get back to me when asking to talk with managers about them hosting this event i had in mind. It has now become just a concept for a possibly event which would of be a fun and vibrant event and a chance to share happiness, positive thoughts and general pleasant atmosphere with everyone in the area and a brilliant chance to be creative. Sharing with others drawing of happy things that have occurred in peoples lives and realizing that life is not all that bad can bring great reassurance to people and by knowing what other people are thinking and going through can make all the difference when trying to coupe with certain pressures in life. If I were able to create a space to hold this event and then exhibit what people decided to share within their drawings producing nice prints from each, displaying them in a public space for people to come and see would be really nice. It would also of been nice to print illustrated newspapers of all these drawings and to of had a pop up shop to sell prints made, the money made could go towards a local project that would benefit the community in some way...that would of been good fun. This is the end of my paper, hopefully it has helped explain how I got to my final idea of a drawing event to share happiness and show that it can be enjoyable to share with people your thoughts could benefit others in the area which would then raise community spirit in the area of Clapham Common and this would surely be a good thing because if people are happy then everything is great, so I think i have found an the issue of unhappiness, turned it into happiness and came up with an idea which would solve anyone from being grump ever again, just draw a photo of how you feel and frame it for everyone to see, I bet it would of worked if I managed to of made this really happen.
a little bit more can be viewed and listened to at: www.happyclapham.tumblr.com