Initial Research

To start this project, first it makes sense to look at existing work on the street. The street has had a graphic designer working on the project for over a year now, and the work that they have developed is very corporate, clean and minimal. Its effective in portraying a message of the redevelopment to the masses, but it is certainly not what the client is after and what I want to show. There is little thought into the actual street itself and there is obviously a lack of personal contact with the street. My aim is to create work that has more of a connection with the street rather than 'stock redevelopment design.' That is design that you would see on any redevelopment site. It captures the vision of the street but not the heart of the messages that the redevelopment is trying to capture. 

I like this image as a whole (it is difficult to see because of the origional size that it is shown on the website http://www.fargosfordstreet.com/the-vision/, a larger image can be found here: http://www.fargosfordstreet.com) and it conveys everything that the Fargo Village project will be developing. However it does not convey the vibrancy and the creativeness that the redevelopment will be encouraging. It is informative, but for my work to be successful I must show something different to this (there is no point in reproducing existing work and messages), I want to show the street from my perspective and from my experiences of it. 

The information that can be found on the website is of interest to me, it is very informative and factual. However, it is again corporate messages, they are not individual and from an experience which is what I want to convey. 

The history page of their website is particularly informative. I have learnt a lot from reading it. Far Gosford Street has many grade listed buildings and its history is so unique. 

These are current advertisement leaflets/newsletter etc for Fargo Village and Far Gosford Street. There is a consistency with all of the designs. There is one logo for Fargo Village and one logo for Far Gosford Street that is used throughout the advertisement pieces. Circles seem to be a common theme. I think this is probably because they are in vogue in the design world at the moment and it is quite a simple solution to design in circles. The illustration that you see in the below image at the bottom I think is effective. It is a vector illustration of an idealized redevelopment of Far Gosford Street. Perhaps this is a starting point for my designs? Creating an idealised street that is perhaps collaged from the existing street (however I could imagine that the outcome for this would be quite similar to the first image looked at in this post). There is a constant colour scheme through these pieces of pan-tones of green. They suggest an environmental aspect to the design (which I am not sure that they have). I like the fact they have highlighted key features of the street, a lot of the features that they have chosen to show are features of the street that I am most interested in too. The designs are fit to purpose. They are designed to be mass produced and show the development as a commercial build. It would be effective possibly to produce work that are one off pieces that go against the nature of the design work already existing. I have spoken to Paul about if it is important to use the colour scheme and logos of the redevelopment in my work and he has advised against it. He is keen to see work from a completely different approach and produced from my own perspective and understanding of the street. This is the key focus of the outcomes for this project. The outcomes will ultimately be used to advertise the street at trade show events and around Coventry. Therefore I must capture the aims and objectives of the redevelopment.