grp christos kyriacou pim taecharachkij jasmeet lall alex beaumont aniruddh mehta
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biodiversity
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christos kyriacou kyr11325896
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what is biodiversity?
Biodiversity describes the variety of living organisms co-inhabiting the Earth. When initially dissecting the brief, our aim was to explore the relationship which urban citizens currently hold with the natural world.
From this, we devised four main themes for further delegated exploration titled, the Humans as products of their environment, How we control biodiversity, Intercultural behavior and Evolving attitudes of humans.
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the other thing theory
The Rain Room experience marked the beginning of collaborative research and development in preparation for Green Week. We documented this by creating a tumblr account and facebook group as a basis for total communication and dense dialogue.
The blog logo is a repeat pattern representing our group name, The Other Thing (TOT) created by Alex. Conveniently, the flexibility within the complex central element resembled a flower and therefore, formed the basis for our later soon to be developed, Plant Off concept.
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questionnaire
believe they do not do enough for biodiversity
believe that there is not enough biodiversity in their local area
would like to participate in increasing biodiversity
We began our primary research by creating an online questionnaire. Our results outlined the lack of contact or care for biodiversity within London whilst indicating a willingness to change through communal togetherness.
To a large extent, this became the catalyst for a participatory campaign involving active members of the local community.
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reaching the audience
Week twelve provided the opportunity to work with Master in Arts students in order to express instant methods of reaching an audience. This was achieved via a series of small activities including both quantitative and qualitative targeting.
The geographical session encouraged tactical space and audience spotting whilst the balloon activity involved relating to ones close relations with a communal idea. This added a ‘street branding’ dimension to our development process.
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green advertising
When examining the progressive field of environmental design, we collectively gathered a large body of research depicting exciting methods for which to promote a street campaign on a large, yet manageable scale.
In particular, these design methods offer a greener alternative by displaying the contrast of nature’s cleanliness to that of industrial pollution within the urban landscape.
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greenhouse gardening
Our foundational concept triggered further research into mass planting and natural regeneration of abandoned or unwanted city spaces. Fortunately, I encountered The Jardin Vertical Garden project. A proposal which utilizes a former Tobacco Factory in
Alicante as a public educational route for exhibiting samples of vegetation native to the Spanish Province. Our aim was to apply a similar, yet more manageable and ‘physically active’ concept to London. This graphical style heavily influenced our identity.
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contact with nature
The Urban Trees lecture invited a group of professionals from various environmental organisations, all of which, shared an interest in reconnecting us to London’s nature. Matthew Firth, the chief executive of the London Wildlife Trust expressed that health and safety culture is distancing people form nature,
evolutionary biologist Elenor Michel talked science, instigating a group visit the Natural History Museum whilst Katie Roberts from Trees for Cities encouraged us to take part in tree-planting. Overall, deepened our scientific and statistical knowledge whilst encouraging active involvement.
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moss graffiti test
The Sick Science moss graffiti tutorial provided the initial spark for fun experimentation. One weekend, we purchased all required ingredients and created our own piece on Pim’s garden wall.
It was a cold and damp day and our amateurish attempt was unsuccessful, but nevertheless, this was a strong learning curve for future progression with an alternative idea. This marked the beginning of our Plant Off idea.
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native plants
Using the Natural History Museum’s postcode database, I began by searching into the variation of garden worthy plant species throughout Londons city scape in the hope of finding the most appropriate seed for the plant off activity.
These particular examples display London’s species variation from one area to the next Islington’s Common Poppy, Hackney’s Slender Thistle, Kensington’s Field Pansy and Kennington’s Yellow Vetchling. This determined plant choices for varying London participants.
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refined brief
PROPOSAL A participatory campaign which re-introduces native plants into the urban landscape, in turn, encouraging the community to re-connect with the benefits of biodiversity.
We presented the vague Plant Off idea to Ken and Sophie. At this point, it was evident that our initial brief was not specifically outlined and therefore all group members had varying perceptions on the concept. Also, the large scale was ambitious considering the time frame.
Upon reflection however, we immediately outlined a revised project proposal accompanied by brand guideline graphics. This was the creative basis for our developing eco-brand.
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plant off concept
Plant Off is a guerilla plant-tagging competition based in Elephant and Castle. The idea encourages locals to nurture their plant as a pet. We specifically targeted the ‘broadcasting generation’ and any keen environmentalists.
We aimed to showcase this concept by trialling during Green Week. Hoping success would come, we wished to develop a long-term campaign for the future functioning via an application. This instructional infographic was created by Alex and was used both on the facebook group and Ani’s video.
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trees for cities planting activity
I contacted Paul from Trees for Cities, with regards to volunteering for the tree planting activity in Ray Park, East London. Planting trees was a great outdoor experience. In total, we managed to plant on average, 500 trees between a dozen of us.
We shuffled a mix of seven or eight different breeds of trees and planted them roughly two feet apart in minitriangles. This gave each tree a fairly equal space to grow. We became familiar with the planting process which is the core of Plant Off.
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longevity & practicality
Tutor Chris outlined the importance of longevity and practicality. I then focused on purchasing easily more common, spring seeds at a low cost via Thompson and Morgan website. I encounteread a range of Bennial, Annual and Perennial plants. The cheapest pack avereaged at ÂŁ2 per bunch.
This variety helped solidify a long-term project whereby geurilla planters may track their plot for a substantial length of time after taking part. Conclusively, we used converted A4 spring seed paper into business cards. Once bought, these would be provided with a tag ready for planting.
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visual research
At this point, my particular role was to experiment with logo design whilst creating a range of posters. I applied a surrealist look and feel as it emphasised the fun of planting colourful organisms within a bleak area of London.
I wanted to build anticipation by emphasising scale and colour to illustrate the approaching event. These delicately illustrative styles and overlaying techniques merged well with our clean/textured image.
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initial branding & promotion
These are my intial visuals for a potential poster, considering the forthcoming pitch. The ammunition pack was designed by Pim and from this, I aimed to maintain a consistant brand when designing a series of poster drafts.
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group pitch
Each of us took on a particular role when collectively presenting our findings. Ani shot and edited the video, Pim deisgned colourful team tags to the scheme, Ani both filmed and edited a short video, Jasmeet created an infographic depicting our statistical research,
Alex designed the PDF document containing our proposition details, whilst I displayed the longevity plant research alongside this refined poster. Overall the tutors were impressed with the visual and conceptual idea behind the ‘street team’ campaign and as a result, we were given the green light.
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sub logo variation
Once provided with the initial Other Thing Theory logo from Alex, I began to experiment with a combination of Adobe Illustrator tools in order to finalize a triptych series of possible subteam logos, whilst aiming to stumble upon any additional purposes for the symbol.
I became inspired by the construction of flower petals. In hindsight, this improved my logo- designing skills and awareness of branding strategy. I then chose three main logos for each team, contributing to the group’s existing brand identity.
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adjustment & application
I then re-applied the logos into the tag shapes in order to emphasize the colourful team banners against the faintly textured background. As a source of inspiration I took from the blade-like paper arrangement of this hand-made octagon.
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further promotion
I then began to explore an alternatively illustrative style to in contrast to our majoritively clean image, in order to discover whether or not this style communicated the same message.
Also, this allowed me to increase my Adobe Photoshop capabilities by newly combining collage with imagery in order to create a simplistic utopia.
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eco apparel
As Plant Off is a long-term idea, I continued my illustrative style by designing a series of possible eco warrior uniforms for the future. I utilized our current colours, texture, typeface and instructional icons for which to generate a variety of clothing for both male and female.
To bring a sense of reality to the idea, I aimed to print at least one or two clothing items ahead of green week.
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accessory design
As an extension to the uniform, I chose invented a wacky selection of rambolike accessories, structured around existing headbands and bracelets. In particular, I applied the illustrative pattern within the green perspective poster, in order to emphasise the triangular planting technique.
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discovering new craft SE1
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In order to generate excitement for Green Week visitors, I created a series of badges from the improved sub logos. The development designs were based on the previous logo variations and symbols, combined with a circular crop of the textured posters for the background.
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These badges were created live during the exhibition which visually drew out visitors into our idea.
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inverted application
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PLANT OFF
Prior to Monday, I designed a rough promotion stencil, which we printed onto our three main team flags, the outdoor banner and one item of clothing. This multi-functional format helped establish branding consistency.
I had intended to maintain the white symbols when printing the prototype hoody however, the entire brand became suited to a black logo outline which followed the original logo. We therefore, printed an inverted version of the original logo.
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promoting outside
At the beginning of Green Week we began printing on agricultural materials, whilst incorporating our promotion into the few natural elements of the city, we maintained an anti-commercial yet proenvironmentalist feel to our idea.
This banner was wrapped around a tree, situated directly outside the university for all students and visitors to see.
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green week exhibition
Our project was exhibited on Wednesday whereby we requested a large wall space for a projector or monitor, three large team banners, and a series of seed paper planting cards and badges. Due to complications however, we were allocated a central space with iPads instead.
This was however benifitial as the facebook group, shop and promotional video was promoted more flexibly from all angles through hand-held devices. Overall, our project was received well as badges and the majority of seed cards were taken by keen visitors.
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To conclude, I thoroughly enjoyed collaborating with a range of diversely talented individuals, experimenting with new formats, practicing unfamiliar crafts and improving all aspects of my design practice. I hope to continue collaborating with other creative minds on a regular basis.
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