Phase 04 - Week 14

Project Recap - Weeks 13 - 14
Last Week 13: Visited London Design
This Week 14:
- Catch up Crit with Ben and the other students, prepare 3 slides to discuss
- Submit critical report draft
- Work on studio practice
- Visit Creative Crawley to look out their outdoor projections and light sculptures
- Explore Guerilla Marketing (Conversation with Ben from Crit)

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Phase 03/Wk 14: Deliver

Catch up and group crit with Ben Evans James

Another week has flown by, and although it was not mandatory, Ben booked a catch-up critique session with any students who could attend.

I really enjoy these sessions as FMP module 750 can be a lonely place, and it’s great to hear about the other students’ work, insights and strategies. It is also a great opportunity to discuss our project’s natural progression (or not), discuss any concerns, and get valuable feedback and practical solutions from our peers about any insights I might have overlooked.

Who cares?!

I’m always conscious about ‘designing for purpose’ not just for the sake of something aesthetically pleasing, and I am constantly readjusting my focus to check I am answering the brief

The anxiety of ‘WHY’ and ‘WHO CARES’

While discussing our projects with Ben, I mentioned how engrossed I am with the plastic waste statistical research for this project and how one inquiry has spired into a deeper, complex series of topics - a complete rabbit warren. Having worked on my project for over 14 weeks, I am currently questioning the ‘why’. Why would my audience be interested in an app, and how can I ultimately convince my target audience to download it? My focus groups are still ongoing and inconclusive, so I am querying my process. However, my research shows that Gen Z is concerned about their planet's environment and future. I am also concerned after discovering UK statistics that approximately 80% of households in the UK report consuming one to four single-use plastic bottles daily, with some being more than 4. [1] (Khoironi et al. 2019). My other relevant statistic was that the UK market for bottled water was worth a whopping £1.6 billion [2] in 2021, with plastic waste rising considerably yearly. Subsequently, I wondered how the UK government can be made more accountable for the environmental impact of bottled water and plastic waste. This has led to another aspect of research I feel I need to develop and refine to present a good argument on why users should use the drinking water fountain. If the community were presented with hard facts and statistics about their town and the impact of the bottled water market in the UK and its inability to curb its environmental impact, would they be more likely to act?

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Led by Donkeys - Low-cost, high-impact Guerrilla marketing
When discussing these concerns with Ben, he mentioned a previous student’s approach to guerrilla marketing, a low-cost approach to promoting an idea. The example he gave was of some students hijacking a well-known high street brand by filming in their changing room.

It is such an effective way to gain insights or a political statement or concern of unjust actions from policy-makers. This reminded me of the UK activist group, Led by Donkeys [3], which uses billboards and projectors to display political messages in prominent locations such as the House of Commons, London, or the White Cliffs of Dover to alert and alarm any contradictory political statements with an element of satire and humour.

[3] Led by Donkeys

I love these political statements, designed to shock and engage critical thinking. This made me consider whether I could convince my target audience with similar statistical shock tactics, such as projecting the statistical data onto my town's locations to spread single-use plastic awareness, how our town was statistically higher than the UK’s average carbon footprint and how to reduce it. Introducing these tactics can create a strong response and encourage my audience to engage or share the content on social media, a relatively low-cost way to gain an emotional connection.

Creating my own political statements

Working on the same shock tactics, I created my sketches using statistics researched from the UK bottled Water industry. Could using these stats lit up and projected on the Jubilee Fountain, inspired by the shock tactics Led by Donkey campaigns, encourage the community to take action by using drinking water fountains over single-use plastics?

Examples of my shock statistics projected onto the Jubilee Drinking Fountain

If I am going to introduce this into my project, I need to cross-check my statistics and this might be significantly harder to do on the recycling statistics I’ve been given, as they contribute to a larger postcode.

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Ditch the plastic - Targeted Marketing campaigns

I found an interesting article in the marketing magazine The Drum, which discusses how reusable products, such as Chilly’s water bottles, could collaborate with major water companies, such as Evian and Fiji, to minimise single-use plastics.

The ‘Dear Water’ campaign featured an open letter with an image of the water companies’ logos on a Chilly’s reusable bottle on giant billboards in prominent locations around London. These studies demonstrate the need for corporate responsibility for plastic waste and urge the adoption of refills over single-use.

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Dreamy Places - Creative Crawley

While looking for further creative lighting examples and installations, I came across ‘Dreamy Place’, a festival called ‘Creative Crawley’ held in Crawley Town Centre from October 4th to 6th, celebrating Art and Digital Culture. Similar to the Supergraphics Festival in Newhaven, this pop-up festival features dazzling light installations that transform the public spaces across the town, showcasing work from established and emerging artists.

Crawley seems to have had an incredible amount of investment in its arts and culture over the recent years, and being almost on my doorstep has made me realise that this local initiative is something I should participate in for local resources and discovering possible collaborators for next year as the next step of my personal development. This is the second time I have seen a cultural initiative in Crawley aimed at creating mood-boosting installations to lift spirits in public areas. In Module GDE730, I wrote about Graphic Rewilding and have been following the work of Baker & Borowski and their vast maximalist floral designs.

Immersive experiences and accessible art
Similar to the Gilbert and George Exhibition visited in week 1 , Dreamy Places is another example of ‘free accessible art’ but leans more towards a sensory experience through lighting and shadows, but follows the same principles of how displaying in a public place, such as the middle of a shopping centre, makes art accessible to all and transforms neglected urban areas. I decided to visit (on a wet and windy night) and loved the Vessels by Limbic Cinema, which are light-powered lasers set in Pyramid sculptures.

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Reference List

Websites

[1] Khoironi, A., Anggoro, S. and Sudarno, S., 2019. Community behaviour and single-use plastic bottle consumption. IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science, 293 (1), 012002.
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1755-1315/293/1/012002

[2] Ridder, M., 2022. Topic: Bottled water market in the UK [online]. Statista. Available from: https://www.statista.com/topics/7151/bottled-water-market-in-the-uk/#editorsPicks

[3] Design Museum - Led by Donkeys
https://designmuseum.org/exhibitions/beazley-designs-of-the-year/graphic-2019/led-by-donkeys

[4] Dear Water campaign by Chilly’s - The Drum
https://www.thedrum.com/news/2022/06/16/chilly-s-and-uncommon-pressure-water-brands-embrace-reusable-bottles