Is it possible to use design to explore the identity of a location and its people?
This week I had received feedback from my proposal, some amendments to be made and very informative feedback. I had included some ideas and suggestions for outcomes as I believed this to be what had been asked of me from the previous webinar. Truth is, I have no idea about a final outcome or what I want this project to be in the end. Right now I do know that I am trying to piece elements together to take this project onto the next step. I had struggled with the question in part, I knew that I had to include design and knew that I wanted to explore location and identity. From this I had been struggling to refine my key question. It had been suggested in my feedback that I could pose a question such as: Is it possible to use design to explore the identity of a location and its people? Or maybe I need to develop upon this to ‘make it more my own’.
I have a meeting this week with Dr Paula Crutchlow, of Blind Ditch. Dr Crutchlow is a cultural geographer who has become involved in the into-Bodmin project. Her role is to work with organisations in the town and tell stories of history and ultimately this leads into identity. I will work with Dr Crutchlow to develop new strategies of participation and collaboration with a view of combining our work into an exhibition of stories, ideas and images.
To start things moving, I have created an Instagram page that calls for collaboration with people of Bodmin, I should also explore the use of Facebook as there are more community groups that I can utilise. I also changed my website into the identity project where I hope to collect responses from questions proposed about identity and location. These responses will be designed from a range of demographics. I aim to work with a software developer to embed a design tool into the website where visitors are able to design a ‘poster’ or ‘postcard’ to answer the question of Identity and location. I need to be very specific in what the question asks and it should be inclusive and aim to connect with people who may not have any design experience. This is in response to the feedback that I was given from my initial proposal. I need to build a project that is participatory and that aims to add value to the user.
Partcipatory research aims to collaborate and gain an insight perspective from its end user. In this project I will need to adopt this approach to research in order to gain understanding of voice and identity from a location. This recent finding comes from an Open University paper that aims to conclude on the value and impact that Participatory research can have in finding a voice to those taking part. The project sets out three main goals, it starts by identifying an understanding of voice in the view of the researcher. This should form part of my question and purpose within my work. I can start to frame my question around voice and identity through the use of Design by asking the question: Is it possible to use design to identify a voice and identity of a location.
I believe that thus far I have been considering my role in this wrongly. It was suggested in my feedback that I should not collect information and then ‘design’ it based on my assumptions or own view point. I should be focusing this project on people and their input, allowing them to create, curate and define the voice and identity of Bodmin. To do this through the use of design I will take inspiration from the Southampton pride of place project that focuses on collecting designed artefacts from the public and exhibiting these to create a public exhibition. Through my work with into-bodmin I believe that I am in a position to create a new exhibition that collects designed artefacts of Bodmin rather than my collection of views and interactions designed as an outcome.
What I need to do now: Develop a series of touchpoint for the public to engage with. I need to develop visuals for an exhibition in the town that focuses on people and identity. This will be an open call for students, artists and everyone in between to share something creative and visual about Bodmin. The purpose of this is to one: start a collection of visual artefacts that help shape the voice and identity of a location. Two: the exhibition will also enable me to create a network of people that I can then interview and talk about their artefact. This will then become part of a film / documentary that catalogues the process of the exhibition. The exhibition needs to take place more than once to build on momentum and participation. I believe I aim to gather further insight from Dr Crutchlow when I speak with her next week.
Bibliography
Southampton Pride of Place exhibition
Pixels and Serifs. 