OUGD503 - Studio Brief 02 - Initial Party Game Ideas & Feedback

Inspired by the guessing game played amongst my friends and the research made regarding dopamine, I sketched out a rough concept for how a card game could work. Essentially, a card would be drawn by a certain player. This would rotate each round. A question would be asked to a group of players and each would guess what they think is closest value. The player that wins the round gets to keep the card.

A certain number of cards is agreed before starting the game - once a player reaches this they win and the game is over.

As the target audience is 16-26, questions would need to vary in difficulty. They should be challenging and quite fun to keep this age group as engaged as possible. Some of the questions that I have included in my idea sketches came from research online and asking friends and peers.

I presented my idea to the group in a set up meeting. Overall, the group liked the idea of using a card game as opposed to a board game due as I explained the research I had made regarding this. One of the points made however was that some variety could be introduced as the game could become quite repetitive. Oli presented a board game idea and Harrison presented a meme party game idea. Whilst Grace had not yet managed to come up with an idea, she helped to give feedback on which ideas she thought would be suitable. As a group, we all thought that the meme idea had the most potential, as it brings current online trends into a physical, offline game. As the target audience of 16-26 constantly browse the Internet on a daily basis, they see memes on a regular basis; therefore, a party game based on this would be appropriate because it is part of the digital culture today.

As we now had a rough subject and idea on what the board game would be based on, we went off individually and completed some further research and idea generation.

OUGD505 - Studio Brief 01 - Leeds Public Spaces - Idea Generation & Feedback

To generate some poster ideas I read through the research made and created a quick mind map of possible directions that could be taken. This can be seen below. The mind map was used to inspire a variety of intial poster ideas. At this stage in the process, ideas focused more on the concept than quality of visuals. As the Carnival is open to all people to enjoy - not just West Indian people - I was able to present my ideas to a small crit group of students to see which ideas they thought are the most celebratory and appropriate for the Carnival.


The first two ideas focus on celebrating the fact that it is the 50th Anniversary of the Carnival. The first sketch highlights how a purely typographic poster could be produced, advertising the anniversary as simply and clearly as possible, whilst the second sketch highlights how aspects of the Carnival, such as costumes and 'Kings' and 'Queens', could be combined together to produce an illustration/symbol that can be used to represent the 50th Anniversary. People in the crit liked the second sketch much more than the first; much of the feedback given was that the illustration/symbol produced has a lot more character to it, whereas a purely typographic poster would not promote the qualities of the Carnival as effectively. People suggested that I develop the illustration made and combine it with some typography, to create a composition that is both symbolic and informative. This led to the first digital poster being later produced.



The second two ideas are less focused on celebrating the 50th Anniversary, and are more focused on aspects of the Carnival itself. The first sketch highlights how the poster could show a timeline of the Carnival, displaying historic events that have occured since its establishement; whilst, the second sketch highlights how the poster could be much more ambiguous, simply taking a variety of exotic colours seen at the Carnival and using them as the main focus of the poster. In the crit, many people preferred the ambiguity of the second sketched idea, as the rest of the ideas created are quite obvious in relation to the imagery and content used. Whilst people thought that the timeline idea would be very interesting to read, much of the feedback highlighted that people thought it would be too detailed and text-heavy, as the history of the Carnival is extremely extensive. For this reason, the ambiguous use of colour idea was later developed into a digital poster.

The last main idea was to make use of some of the quotes and old Carnival photographs found in the research stage to promote the qualities and aims of the event. A few quick mockups of this idea were made to highlight how the quotes could be combined with old photographs found. Informed by the research made, only positive imagery was used to follow the theme of the Carnival's previous posters. Yellow type was used to link the message to the 50th Anniversary (through the Golden Jubilee reference). People thought that this was the most celebratory idea out of those presented, as the use of old Carnival photographs and quotes visually highlight the tradition and culture behind the Carnival. 'By the people, for the people' was considered as a much more appropriate tagline to use than 'Carnival is not just a legalised rave', as people said that the message is more unifying and less about addressing a negative viewpoint against the Carnival. I wanted to see whether people thought a landscape orientation could work for the final print; however, people suggested that I should stick to portrait, as almost every poster that will be shown in the exhibition will be in this format. For this reason, I chose to develop the 'By the people, for the people' idea in a portrait orientation, using the same photograph chosen of Arthur France celebrating the Carnival.

OUGD505 - Studio Brief 01 - Leeds Public Spaces - Chosen Event & Further Research

After researching into a variety of events I found Leeds Carnival to be the most significant, ongoing event that is celebrated. To find out about the history of the event and various cultural aspects I completed further research into the Carnival. Notes made can be read below.



Leeds Carnival Facts

• It is also known as Leeds West Indian Carnival or the Chapeltown Carnival.
• It is Europe’s longest running authentic Caribbean carnival parade.
• It attracts 100,000 people annually.
• It was started in 1967 as one man’s remedy for homesickness.
• This year (2017), it will be celebrating its 50th anniversary.
• It is held annually on the last Monday in August

History – Origins

Leeds West Indian Carnival began in 1966/67 with an idea of Arthur France, MBE, who settled in the UK in the late 1950s from the Caribbean island of St Kitts-Nevis.

In 1966, with 2 of Arthur’s friends: Frankie Davis from Trinidad, and Tony Lewis from Jamaica, both students in Leeds organised a carnival fete at Kitson College, Leeds (now Leeds City College of Technology). Ian Charles, originally from Trinidad, was also there.

The success of this carnival indoor fete inspired Arthur France to embark on the ambitious idea of organising a carnival parade through the Leeds streets, together with an indoor festival of music and costume.

Many people thought Arthur’s idea was crazy, but he persevered with his ambition, with the help and support of Ian, as well as from others including Calvin Beech, Willie Robinson, Samlal Singh and Rose McAllister. As a result of their efforts, Leeds Carnival hit the streets for the first time in 1967.

Arthur is still the Chair of the Carnival Committee, and Ian is the Treasurer.

Although there was a Caribbean carnival presence at the Notting Hill fair in London in 1966, which included West Indian people from all over Europe, in national costumes, the Leeds West Indian Carnival in 1967 was the first exclusive West Indian parade organised solely by British Caribbeans and composed mainly by black people in carnival costumes with Caribbean steel bands. Notting Hill street fair did not become a solely Caribbean style carnival until the early 1970s largely due to the success of the Leeds Carnival.

Arthur devotes much of his free time and energy to the Carnival every year, mainly because as a child in St Kitts-Nevis, brought up by strict religious parents, he was not allowed to participate in Carnival, largely due to the often inter-fighting between rival steel bands. However, he remained fascinated by the spectacle and sounds of Carnival. When he arrived in Leeds, this memory of his native land stayed with him, fuelling a dream of staging and recreating a Caribbean carnival in Leeds, thereby reminding him of Caribbean home. Arthur France has stated that on first hearing the St Christopher Steel Band in Potternewton Park with the pans around their necks he knew his dream had been fulfilled.

Celebration of Rights

Arthur France stated in 1994:

“Carnival also reminds us of our roots, the struggle our ancestors had to bear, the oppression of our leaders, and great role models, but not in vain, for while we continue to celebrate carnival their achievements well remain with us forever.”

The late Dr Geraldine Connor (ethnomusicologist and artistic director of Carnival Messiah) said in 2007:

“Carnival is not just a legalised rave – lest we forget, millions lost their lives in the pursuit of liberty. Today, Carnival best expresses the strategies that the people of the Caribbean and black British citizens have for speaking about themselves and their relationship with the world, their relationship with history, their relationship with tradition, their relationship with nature and their relationship with God. Carnival is the embodiment of their sense of being and purpose and its celebration is an essential and profoundly life-affirming gesture of a people.”

In Max Farrar and Geraldine Connor’s essay in August 2002 on Carnival in Leeds and London, UK: Making New Black British Subjectivities, and the Chapter on The UK Carnival: The Context of Racism, they assert that one aspect of that history is the anti-colonial struggles for independence in the islands of the English-speaking Caribbean (James 1985, Parry and Sherlock 1971, Richards 1989). Another is the experience of Carnival.

They assert that Carnival was created in Britain as one of the responses by black settlers to the “disenfranchisement, blatant racism and victimization they experienced in the 1950s and 1960s”.

They reference in their chapter Brian Alleyne (2002) (Radicals Against Race – Black Activists and Cultural Politics, Oxford and New York: Berg). They state that Brian Alleyne points out that the development of Carnival in Britain in terms of “a struggle by West Indians to make a public expression of a collective identity in the face of a structurally racist and hostile social reality in Britain. They have treated the carnival as one instance of the ongoing struggle of Black people to forge social and political space in Britain.”

In the conclusion of the chapter, Max Farrar and Geraldine Connor argue that “Carnival, which is normally non-confrontational, understands that the anti-human negativity of racism is effectively challenged by the embodied, human performance of art – an art that has been created “By the people, for the people”, which occupies and transforms public space.



Costumes

According to Max Farrar, in his article in the Leeds West Indian Carnival Magazine’s 21st Anniversary 1988, Ian Charles, one of the original founders of the Carnival in 1967, was born in Trinidad and joined a Sailor Band, a Mas Camp, at the age of 16 years old, just after the Second World War, when he arrived at College in Port of Spain from his home town. Annually at Mas Camp, until he came to Great Britain in 1954, Ian learned all about costume-making.

According to Max Farrar, Arthur France, the main original founding member, stated that in his homeland of St Kitts-Nevis, Carnival is a smaller event, held annually at Christmas, unlike Trinidad, where Ian Charles was born, which is widely considered to be the home of Carnival, inspiring all the best carnival costume-makers all over the world.

The first carnival was memorable. Ian Charles was working away from Leeds as a survey engineer and would return home to find his home in Manor Drive turned into a Mas Camp, with three costumes being made inside, preventing his entry in both the front and back doors.

The other Mas Camp was at Simlal Singh’s home in Lunan Place. He designed and made the winning costume, the Sun Goddess, with Vickie Seal as his Queen.

Pre-Carnival History

The Carnival movement in Leeds began with two Trinidadian students, Frankie Davis and Tony Lewis, who organised a fete at Kitson College. They booked the famous Soul band “Jimmy James and the Vagabonds”.

Max reports that Arthur states that Marlene Samal Singh who later married Tyrone Ambrose organised a troupe of “Red Indians”, and that Frankie Davis got on a bus dressed in his costume to come to the fete. Arthur claims that his idea of establishing Caribbean culture and carnival in Leeds is traced back to this day of the fete.

Inspired with an idea to set up and organise his own Caribbean Carnival in Leeds, he decided to do some research with other resident West Indians in Leeds as to their thoughts on how they would feel about taking part in a Caribbean carnival here in the UK. Max quotes Arthur as saying that 80% of West Indians he talked to said that it would be degrading to take part in Carnival and that many people believed that the police would not allow a street carnival to take place.

Arthur had already, with over 22 others, formed the United Caribbean Association (UCA). Among other things, the UCA tried to work to address the political problems facing the black community and it developed cultural and educational activities, including the first Saturday school for black children.

Arthur approached the UCA members to sponsor the Carnival. Although they initially said no, Arthur was persistent in persuading and convincing every member individually to the positivity of endorsing a Carnival in Leeds.

First Carnival Procession

It left Potternewton Park and directly on to the Town Hall, where the first stell bank competition was held in front of a crowd of over 1000 people.

The Judge was Junior Telford, from London, who had brought his first Trinidadian steel band to Europe. The winning troupe was the Cheyenne Indians with Ian Charles as the Chief. Samlal Singh and Anson Shepherd organised a children’s band.

Junior Telford, along with 2 other Londoners, who had attended the Leeds Carnival took the news of the success of Leeds Carnival back to Notting Hill.



Recent Photos

OUGD503 - Studio Brief 02 - Research

My initial research focused on various different aspects relating to party games, Hasbro and the outlined target audience. The combination of primary and secondary research was used to inform my initial party game idea, which can be seen on the following design board.

Cards Against Humanity

In the briefing, Hasbro highlights that the game can be edgy, but not so controversial that retailers would turn it down. They suggest to think 'not quite as offensive as Cards Against Humanity'. Cards Against Humanity is the biggest-selling party card game in the World. In relation to the last piece of research made, it is evident that the most successful games are simple, not only in terms of rules, but also in terms of aesthetics. Cards Against Humanity just uses black and white cards with printed type. This is most likely to keep printing costs as low as possible, and to keep the highest possible contrast ratio between the two different cards for a clear playing experience. Because of the success that Cards Against Humanity has had, I kept visuals as simplistic as possible later in the project.

Guessing Games

One game that a lot of the boys in our class play is a guessing game, where everyone takes it in turns to guess the nearest value to a certain question. It always gets very competitive and people become extremely determined to get the closest right. Because of this, I made some research into what physically pushes people to competitive. The main answer is dopamine, which is considered to be the brain chemical that fuels will. The neurotransmitter’s effect in certain regions of the brain is strongly related to rewards, and the anticipation of pleasure. In this sense, games are successful when they create anticipation and phsyically affect the way people's bodies react. This inspired me to propose a guessing game in the initial idea stage.

As all four members of our team researched into different, yet relative, party game areas, I simply gathered enough research to produce an initial idea. We were able to discuss all the individual points found together in the following stage, where we started to think about a main party game concept. 

OUGD505 - Studio Brief 01 - Leeds Public Spaces - Initial Event Research

As a starting point, I researched into a variety of historic events that occured in Leeds and tried to find one that is still very much significant to the city.

The Black Prince Statue

This was revealed in 1903 to the city, and was commissioned by Thomas Harding, the Mayor of Leeds, to celebrate Leeds' new status as a city.

Leeds locals were somewhat confused when Edward the Black Prince was unveiled in stone in 1903 - the Black Prince has no connection to Leeds at all. The answer for this was that, in history, there was no figure with local associations heroic enough for the site. It was essential an equestrian statue should be selected; the difficulty was to find the subject. Henry de Lacy, the Crusader, has a place in local traditions by reason of the share he is reputed to have taken in the foundation of Kirkstall Abbey, but it was thought crucial for a larger figure in the national history to be represented. At that time there were no memorials of the great Duke of Marlborough, of Henry V, or of Edward III, and his son, the Black Prince.

In terms of a historic event, this was a symbol for how Leeds had become an official city. Similar to Marks & Spencers, whilst it is not an actual event, it could be used for a celebratory poster.

Marks & Spencers

Marks & Spencers was formed in 1884 when Michael Marks, a Polish refugee opened a market stall in Leeds, with the slogan ‘don’t ask the price, it’s a penny’.

On his arrival in England, Marks worked for a company in Leeds, called Barran, which employed refugees. In 1884 he met Isaac Jowitt Dewhirst while looking for work. Dewhirst lent Marks £5 which he used to establish his Penny Bazaar on Kirkgate Market, in Leeds.

The birth of Marks & Spencers came in 1901, when Marks moved to the Birkenhead open market where he amalgamated with Spencer. The pair were allocated stall numbers 11 & 12 in the centre aisle in 1903, and there they opened the famous Penny Bazaar. The company left Birkenhead Market on 24 February 1923.

Whilst this is not so much a physical event, it is a historic event that could be celebrated - highlighting how Leeds was the birthplace of Marks & Spencers.



Leeds West Indian Carnival

The festival has been going since 1967, and will be celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2017. Over 160,000 people flocked into Leeds for the carnival in 2016 and it is considered to be Europe's longest running authentic Caribbean carnival parade.

Started by Arthur France and fellow Caribbean students. they needed something to bring people together. They wanted to make their mark and celebrate their roots and African heritage by putting on a carnival for people to join in with.

This, I believe, shows the most potential for a celebratory poster, as it is 50 years since the carnival launched. For this reason, I am going to complete some further research into the carnival, to find out more about it and try to generate some initial ideas.

OUGD505 - Studio Brief 01 - Leeds Public Spaces - Brief Interpretation

My interpretation of this brief was to produce a celebratory A3 traditional print that focuses on a significantly important event in Leeds. As it was suggested to work with text and image, I experimented with both throughout the design process and tried to create a poster that has the potential to actually be used by the chosen event. As an analogue print needed to be created, University resources were considered and used approporiately in the process.

Before researching into possible events to choose I created a time plan to ensure that the poster would be completed on time for the hand-in date. This can be seen below. As I have not produced any analogue prints this year, I gave myself an entire week for the production stage, as I wanted to ensure that the poster would be shown at a very high quality in the exhibition. Receiving feedback in the first two weeks was also crucial, as it allowed me to receive opinions on the designs made from the desired target audience (Leeds general public).

OUGD503 - Studio Brief 02 - Study Task 01 & 02 - Chosen Brief, Team & Contract

For this project I chose to do the Hasbro party game brief as barely any people were interested in doing it at LCA. Picking a less popular brief allow more of a chance to potentially do well in the competition, as less people will be entering for it.

My three partners for this brief are Harrison (Graphic Design), Oli and Grace (Illustration). Myself and Harrison have been working together for a few months now on the Designbytwo project and collaborative PPP piece. Because of this, we have a good undertanding of how to work with eachother effectively and share very similar interests when it comes to graphic design. The chance to work with animators gave us a broader set of skills to work with, as Grace and Oli are talented at both animation and illustration. My main aim for this project was to create a board game that is fun, and one that I would want to play if I was out with friends/in a social environment. As D&AD pencils are such renown award I really wanted to produce a professional outcome that gives us the best chance to getting through the competition.

The written up contract can be seen below. Here, the team identified who would complete which roles. In terms of my individual role, I was to be in charge of all graphic design considerations, such as typography, colour, layout etc, as well as some of the communication outcomes (the design boards and walkthrough video).

There are a lot of points in the Hasbro briefing that needed to be considered throughout the project; therefore, it was continuously referenced to when developing ideas. Essentially the task is to invent a party game for young adults (aged 16-26, men and women) that is not too controversial (no drinking games), kept simple for 2+ people. It needs to be self-contained (no app or screens needed to play) and consiederations need to be made about how the game would be promoted. For the submission, a physical outcome is not absolutely necessary - the main outcomes required are a presentation video (max. 90 seconds) and research/development JPEG slides.

The initial plan of action was to individually research into various areas associated with Hasbro and areas of interest in relation to the brief set. This allowed us to individually generate our own ideas, which could be pitched together to create one main proposal idea.