Research into Community Projects in Leeds

Community Foundations (http://www.leedscf.org.uk/all-about-us/community-foundations/)

What is a Community Foundation?
Community Foundations make a difference by bringing together local philanthropists (who wish to give money to support their local community) with dynamic local organisations who need funding and other resources.

Founded in the heart of local communities, each Community Foundation is unique, identifying local needs and mobilising local resources. We work with donors, large and small, to make sure their gift has the greatest impact. This distinctive and personalised approach to philanthropy means many different kinds of donors use community foundations to manage their funds – individuals, companies, charitable trusts and government agencies.

Local Help for Local Needs
The Community Foundation movement started in Ohio, USA in 1914 and was based on the concept of “local help for local needs.”  Today there are 1,440 independent Community Foundations in over 50 countries across the globe.

The first Community Foundation in the UK was established in 1975 and today there are 58 independent foundations. The Community Foundation Network (CFN) is the national network linking, promoting and supporting community foundations throughout England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Together, Community Foundations are one of the largest non-government grant-making bodies in the UK. In 2010-2011, the network awarded 26,000 grants worth a total of £62 million to local groups.

Leeds Community Foundation

The Leeds Community was registered as a charity and company limited by guarantee  and was formally launched in 2005. Since then we have made incredible progress and are now ranked 2nd in the scope of our annual grant-making and 5th for our endowment, of all the UK-based Community Foundations.

To date, we have delivered over £15 million in grants to local groups, representing over 1,700 projects that have touched the lives of well over 100,000 people. We are very proud of our success in such a short period of time, made possible only through the support of our staff, volunteers and supporters.

We are an entirely independent organisation and, although we maintain close links with Leeds City Council and other statutory partners, we don’t receive any core funding from them nor do they control or direct any of our activities.

Who runs the Leeds Community Foundation?
An independent board of Directors / Trustees, elected from the local private, statutory and voluntary sector, are legally and financially responsible for the Foundation. The day-to-day management of the Foundation comes under the responsibility of the Chief Executive.

How do you know what are the real Needs in Leeds?
Local knowledge is a key part of our expertise. We are constantly looking at ways of refreshing and updating our knowledge about Leeds and how it is growing. At a practical level, we work closely with all the groups we provide grants for to understand both their needs and the needs of their communities. In addition, our staff sit on a number of strategic committees involving statutory and third sector partners in Leeds. We keep informed about current research written by organisations such as Joseph Rowntree Foundation and the Young Foundation, among others, as well as on statistical and census information about how Leeds is changing. Often, we contribute to research on the sector and we conduct our own research as well.

Where can I find more information on Community Foundations?
Go to the Community Foundation Network website to find out more about the Community Foundations in the UK (www.communityfoundations.org.uk)

Communication Is A Virus

'Get people to tell the truth more'

Group Members:

Nikki
Mikey
Nathan
Martin

We've done some brainstorming at a group and have a fair few idea's.  Our intention is to get a reaction out of people in the public domain and also end up with some visual work generated by ourselves and the public.

Most of our idea's stemmed off from the idea of having an honesty box to pay for goods.  You see these much more often in the countryside and it would be interesting to see what would happen if you used them in a city.

'All men profess honesty as long as they can. To believe all men honest would be folly. To believe none so is something worse.'
John Quincy Adams

'DIET' - Crit an analysis technique.

'D' Describe - What is visible? What is the audience looking at?

• A poster of flowers with a rain cloud in amongst to convey the hidden positivity of rain.
• A poster of a rain cloud.
• A poster of words explaining that rain makes nature beautiful.

'I' Interpret - What does it mean? How does it function? 


The vivid green colour represents the green of our beautiful rolling hills and has connotations of freshness, countryside and forests.


'E' Evaluate - How successful is it? What context best suits it?


The posters work better as a set and I will have to re-work one of them for the competition.  I picture it to be placed in train stations/ airports so people travelling to the UK see it.  It could also brighten up dull stations.


'T' - Theorise - Does it solve the problem?  How else could it solve the problem better?


I think as a set they convey a good reason about why rain is beautiful but looking at it now, there definitely could be more information however I do like the simplicity of it.

Possible Final Designs for Critique

D&AD Development on Illustrator

I'm going to document my process here so I can come back to idea's.  I'm finding it quite difficult to choose colours and intend to ask my peers their opinion.

I think the design actually looks better minimalistic without the second layer of low opacity green flowers it looks less confused.  However I'd really like to do something in this sort of style:

 http://someotherpeople.tumblr.com/post/277943517/poster-lixeira-trash-empty-trash-recycle

D&AD Brief

You are required to design a series of three posters A2 size that communicate:


"It always rains in your country.  Make a poster for visitors to the UK explaining why so much rain is attractive.  Don't be sarcastic.  After all, rain can be romantic, useful or beautiful."


Initial Idea's

I have decided to go with the idea that Britain is beautiful, but for rain the UK would not be as pretty.  Rolling green fields all year round, snowdrops in winter, daffodils in spring, all sorts of flowers in summer.  Everyone likes flowers :).

What is a line..?

20 Lines

• Bakerloo Line
• People
• Drugs
• Shops
• Drawings
• Music
• Line Dancing
• Bricks
• Underground Map
• Line-up (Gigs//Festivals)
• Soldiers
• Cakes
• Hair-Line
• Cross
• Roller Coaster Tracks
• Cars
• Penguin Show
• Portaloos
• Stripes
• Thread

20+ Things I like :)

• Music
• Festivals
• Friends
• Good English Tea
• Ice-Skating
• Chocolate
• Roast Dinner
• Leeds
• Stars in the sky
• Countryside
• Raves// Parties
• Illustrations
• Reading
• Films
• Sunny Days
• Gypsy Caravans
• Incense
• Dresses
• Sheep Hat
• Flowers
• Feathers
• Dream catchers
• Interior Design
• Harry Potter
• Mexican Food
• Strongbow
• Camping
• Swimming

Linking up the Lines and Likes with Logics:

Cakes - Illustration - Publication

Drawing - Festivals - Colour Theory

Bricks - Sunny Days - Photography

Underground Map - Dresses - Typre and Grid

Penguin Show - Ice skating - Publication

Music - Traditional Gypsy Caravan - Publication 

• Make a publication of illustrated Cakes
• Take photographs of bricks on Sunny Days (Could be quite creative... if we get any sun!)
• Design a publication of a gypsy caravan playing music.

End of Module Evaluation

1.  What skills have you developed through this module and how effectively do you think you have applied them?
Throughout the 405 module I have developed skills within illustrator, discovered new techniques and came up with new design idea’s.  I also feel like my typography designs have became much more aesthetically pleasing since the beginning of this module.  I am happy that my pieces of work from the 100 things project, all carry the same design style and you can tell they are related whereas in the past I often found it difficult to make things work in the same style.  Also in the second part of this module (100 things), the design sheets I drew up in the beginning were very helpful for generating ideas and developing early imagery, unlike in the ‘how to’ group project, I only completed a few design sheets and then went on to lose them.  Also I have become much better at sourcing the research I need.  I created my first survey and also carried out an interview.  I now understand qualitative and quantitative research and this was useful when it came to finding the information I needed about my project.
2. What approaches to/methods of design production have you developed and how have they informed your design development process? Throughout the module I have mostly used illustrator as it is a quick way of making good designs.  Instead of screen-printing my t-shirts and bag, I used photo-transfer paper, which you just need to iron on.  This method is quick and easy and you can use as many colours as you like.  The only downfall is that they don’t look as good as screen-printed items.  In the future I would like to be more organised and leave enough time to screen-print.  My approach to the projects have also been different throughout this module as I have planned out in the beginning what I intend to do instead of just jumping straight into designing.
3. What strengths can you identify in your work and how have/will you capitalise on these?
During OUGD405, I have had to organise my time much more.  Recently (since Christmas) I haven’t had the use of a laptop at home and therefore I had to make sure I was completing designs at college and often stayed late in the mac suites using the software there.  In the beginning I thought this would be a major disadvantage however it proved useful as it meant I kept on top of the workload and kept my work out of home-life.  I intend to get a new laptop very soon, however I wish to stick to the way I have been managing my time more recently.
4. What weaknesses can you identify in your work and how will you address these in the future?
My skills on photoshop are very limited and I intend to broaden them by using and practicing with the software more.  I feel like I have limited myself recently to computer-aided design when really I enjoy more hands-on designing so I intend to try out more of the workshops available to us at college.  Since the last module I feel that I have become better at blogging, but I still feel like I need to blog my process instead of just the beginnings of a design and the final outcomes.  I also need to engage more at the beginning of projects, for example the individual ‘how to’ I wasn’t interested in at all and rushed my research last minute.
5. Identify five things that you will do differently next time and what do you expect to gain from doing these?
Be more organised prior to the hand-in, instead of rushing around trying to find lost design – sheets. Work as hard at the beginning of the project as I do at the end. Experiment with different processes, which will then give me different outcomes and a broader knowledge of what process would suit which project. Complete tasks as I receive them, instead of getting in a panic the day before they’re due in. Keep all blog pages up-to-date.
6.How would you grade yourself on the following areas: (please indicate using an ‘x’)  5= excellent, 4 = very good, 3 = good, 2 = average, 1 = poor
	1	2	3	4	5
Attendance				*
Punctuality			*
Motivation				*
Commitment			*
Quantity of work produced			*
Quality of work produced			*
Contribution to the group			*
The evaluation of your work is an important part of the assessment criteria and represents a percentage of the overall grade. It is essential that you give yourself enough time to complete your written evaluation fully and with appropriate depth and level of self-reflection. If you have any questions relating to the self evaluation process speak to a member of staff as soon as possible.

10 Designs in Context

Line up Poster

Stickers

Map/Line-up Hot Dog Book

Critique Feedback

Design Direction:

• Works well as a set
• Lots of outcomes
• Images link to one another
• Relatable

Design Development:

• Designs have developed into lots of products
• Made it work for each one
• Increase information on map? Photography?  Able to relate to?

Visual Quality:

• Eye-catching
• Effective
• Colourful
• Relevant
• Really Good

Technical Competence

• Used different variety of skills
• Thought outside the box

Additional Comments


Maybe experiment with wristbands further but they look amazing still.


I agree with the feedback I have been given and I would have liked to make the map more legible however I think photographs would not fit in with the style of the design and might stand out and look funny.  If I was to re-design the wristbands again I would like to have them printed on the real paper wristband stock if I could get my hands on some.

Postcard Design

Original Photo's:

Edited Photo's:

Pictures of snowflakes STILL hanging in our flat.  Nevertheless they're very pretty.  I chose to edit them with a violet tinge as it makes them quite cold and sinister.  Below are some screen shots documenting my progress;

Colour Balance: 

Brightness and Contrast:

Clipping Mask:

Layers/Changing Opacity:

Layering up the images I took gave the image a complete new look.  I think it's really effective so I have decided to do this instead.

Tote Bag Design

Julia Pott is a massive influence on me as I find her work really quirky and interesting.  Here are a few images that helped me get to my final design of the TOTE BAG.

My Design: