Despite the workload, I decided to sign up for a project with some students from Beirut held on wednesday, thursday and friday last week. I felt as though working on a quick and pro-active project might get me into more of a practical mindset with my own work, and in the end it was really beneficial for that! I was lucky with my group too I think (Najwa, Christine and Maya) as we all got along and enjoyed the experience.
The idea was that we’d be sharing our different ways of approaching graphic design. I really learnt from their organisational skills and how realistic they were with regards to getting something done rather than trying to overthink the concept beforehand. We were all unsure before we got out there and acted, but it seemed that this risk-taking was such an important part for the project for it to be interesting/exciting.
I had a feeling that their university teaches to be quite slick and professional in what they do (realistic for getting a job I suppose), but this seemed to be more of a problem in other groups! There were certain compromises that had to be made when working, as in any group, but generally they seemed as open-minded as anyone at college to the blue-sky thinking that CSM encourages.
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Each group was given a different bridge across the Thames, and we were to somehow improve life for the bridge’s visitors; our bridge was Westminster (Southside), and straight away on the wednesday we were required to visit and document as much as we could while we were there.
The main difference about our bridge, we decided, was the real diversity of people, what with the London Eye, Houses of Parliament and St Thomas’s Hospital right nearby. We spoke to people and asked them why they were there, and there was a huge contrast straight away; one couple from Canada (wearing waterproof jackets and smiles) were on holiday, and the man we next spoke to was going for a scan at the hospital, supported by his wife. Fantasy and hard reality were passing each other on the bridge and they didn’t even know it.
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First of all we came up with all sort of ideas for objects that we could leave around the bridge, to catch people’s attention subtely before telling them a story about someone who could be walking past them. We looked at guerrilla tactics used in advertising, and ways of interacting with the bridge’s architecture. We thought about objects that might interact with the gusts of wind, or a series of 8 or 10 different shapes that would be hidden around. From the way our ideas all built up and merged together without being concerned about who was to take credit, I think our group dynamic worked well!
We went to the shops with the intention of attaching a balloon to the side of the bridge, with some sort of message on, and the alternative idea of having pieces of paper on string that would blow in the wind. We soon realised that these were quite unrealistic in some ways, and would be a lot of work for the allotted time.
So instead, we decided on the idea seen in the video, which was so much simpler in that we created a system that would write its own stories! We asked people why they were there, though the messages were so much more diverse (becoming even more demonstrative of the diversity than we’d planned for!)
Using Christine to place the messages on, the work became a spectacle that helped to gather crowds. It tended to be tourists who got involved, but there were a number of businesspeople and locals who contributed too luckily. My favourite note was from a man who looked cheerful, as he instantly knew what he was going to put: ‘Visiting my friend’s new baby at St Thomas’s Hospital’.
