Selling Communities

I created a simple brand for the newspaper as a cue to the rest of the graphic piece.  I didn't design anything to distracting because the images are the most important element.

In my professional practice I find keywords that reflect the personality of the product, service or person.  Thatcher, otherwise known as the 'iron maiden', was 'cold' and 'harsh' during her rein so they dominate the over all effect of the graphic.  Blue is a known to be colder colour and works in tune with the Conservative brand, I have used a cool grey to emphasises the tone.

The concept for the brand is based on the fact that the Right to Buy scheme was put forward by Thatcher.  Cameron is merely regurgitating what she did before.  Thatcher, sitting on top, is harsh and bold in appearance to illustrate the originator of scheme.  Cameron sitting below in small caps with a semi transparent grey colour emphasises the age and repetition of the Right to Buy event.  The typeface is a 1980's favourite, 'Century Old Style', a serif based type to represent the upper classes of the politicians.            

Logo Design for Newspaper

I wanted to add a slogan to make that connection with the 'estate agent' more real and create an impact message for the piece.  The 'selling communities' idea is based on the way that the government allowed private investors to buy and sell the houses for a profit.  The scheme was also responsible for a divide in the community because not everyone could afford to buy up their homes, leaving a 'that one's private, that one is not' situation.


References

(2010) Creative Pro.com: 10 Typefaces from the '80s (Online).  Available from
http://www.creativepro.com/article/10-typefaces-80s

Advert Designs

Using the house portrait shots that I felt represented council properties, I develop 3 more adverts for the paper.  Each house is different which illustrates the diversity of our country.   

Advert Design for Newspaper

Advert Design for Newspaper

Advert for Newspaper

I printed the images on newsprint paper which is used for newspapers today.  The images were too perfect on normal copy paper especially against the stark white colouring .  The paper also helped to exaggerated the texture within the house materials which are a really beautiful element to these images.  

While running a few tests prints off, I found that the paper seemed to dull the colours too much.  To resolve this issue, I had to heightened the contrast settings on the house portraits.

New for 2012

I decided to create the advert in Illustrator because of it's flexibility with type.  I have used Helvetica for the  main typeface because it is commonly used in newspapers around the world for it's simplicity and legibility even at smaller dimensions.        

Advert Design for Newspaper

Following the template of the other agents design I replaced the text that usually describes the area of the house, to illustrate the ownership of the house.  The cost is of course the in money terms, but the highest price is the message that the advert has been created for.    

Looking through a few local newspapers, I researched into other estate agents design layouts and found that  a lot of them were very small because they had some many houses on the market.  Unless you are really looking for somewhere to live, you probably wouldn't catch all of the houses on a page.  I didn't want the advert I produced to get lost within the other houses and felt that it would be confusing to mix my images with the normal homes that are for sale, so decided to produce four other adverts to complete a whole newspaper page.     

I See What You Mean

Moving forward from my last post, I thought about the creative ways in which I could communicate the issue with the 'Right to Buy' scheme that has already caused devastation for this Country.

My first thoughts were to develop a poster that would centre on the sale of a house, but with a clear message of the impact that it may have on their future family.    

Poster Concept - Rough Visual

While drawing out my ideas I found that the poster lacked impact and originality.  Loosely based on a property advert it sparked my interest in producing something specifically for a newspaper.  The cheap quality of the newsprint paper and throw away attitude of the medium creates an interesting parallel with the low price housing and potential loss of our future homes.          

I felt that it was important to design something with a very clear statement as cited by Fletcher, 'The terms "Show me", or "I see what you mean" indicate a connection between sight and subject which is very real' (2001: P.165).  Using the medium that we currently associate with property will strengthen the legitimacy of the piece and most importantly reinforce the key message of the issue.  

Example of Property sales in The Worcester Standard
- 9th January 2012 Edition 

Using the above as a template the advert will take place centrally within the sales page so that the graphic stands out.  I feel that the design should be based on this modern paper to illustrate the re-birth of the  Right to Buy scheme and portray the immediacy of the issue.

House Portraits 2

I went back out to photograph more houses within the Worcester council estates.  Again shooting on instinct and on the buildings that I felt were raw and beautiful in texture.

House Portrait 1B

House Portrait 2B

House Portrait 3B

House Portrait 4B

House Portrait 5B

House Portrait 6B

House Portrait 7B

I did visit my Nan's neighbourhood to see if there was anything left of the original style, however I was most disappointed to find that not even the an old metal gate existed.  It was within another estate that I finally found a few of the gates that I used to swing on as a child, and of course the accompanying wired fence which can be seen in 'House Portrait 3B'.  Amazingly 7B is the exact colour that my Nan's used to be all those years ago!        

I photographed these houses on a high aperture setting to capture as much detail as possible within the materials and while editing all of these images from there RAW files, I decided not to crop to heavily because they are as much about the environment as they are about the architecture.  Even though the houses were chosen on instinct I shot these in a documentary style to purely record how they are today, knowing that within a few more years they will have changed again.  

The house portraits were a wonderful excuse for reminiscing on times past, however it is still important to remember that their very existence has become blurred in a world of greed and materialism.  We are potentially in a reviving 'Right to Buy' era which caused the lack of homes and massively growing housing waiting list that we have today.  People will buy their homes if it becomes easier too because it can be a great investment, but do they understand the consequences if the government don't hold up on their end of the Right to Buy promise, to replace the homes that they sell?
                            

The Attraction to Social Housing

I never really understood my attraction to social housing or the areas that they reside in other than the feeling for community I get from them.  I love the way that neighbours talk to one another over the fence with bags of shopping that they have got from the local shop, walk into each others houses freely and chat about the weekly goings on in the street.  There are no secrets here, raw emotion is lied bared on the streets and this unrefined texture of life is engrained in the spaces that they live in.    

I was fascinated to come across a book which had been published about an exhibition in 1991 at the Museum of Modern Art, which was dedicated to 'British Photography from the Thatcher Years'.  The new policies and legislation had changed Britain substantially and brought new photography that was more thoughtful in technique and toward social issues of the time.  The catalogue for the exhibition by Ms. Kismaric (1991) describes that.....


           'The current radical changes in British life have charged these photographers with an artistic mandate to look closely at the people and at the landscape in which they live. While the earlier British documentarians photographed the 'other', those outside their social class, and generally of a station less fortunate than theirs, these photographers embrace what is closest to them. Their work reflects an affection for their country and fellow citizens that is unflinching in its description of the country's most extreme ills and the complex manifestations of economic change that are restructuring its society.' 


Looking and recording the places where we live adds another layer of meaning to the pieces of art that we create.  It becomes more than just a documentary piece as it is lead by emotions and meaning rather than just a desire to press the shutter.

John Davies is just one of the five photographers included in the exhibition.  Davies produces large format black and white images from a high view point to really capture that mixture between man-made and nature-made.

Allotments, Easington Colliery, County Durham (1983) by John Davies  http://www.johndavies.uk.com/

Easington Colliery, County Durham (1983) by John Davies http://www.johndavies.uk.com/ 

Visually very exciting, these images help to convey the mass repetition found on council estates.  They depict the raw openness of the chatting occupants on the street and feeling of communal similarity that I love.          

References

Kismaric, S (1991) The Museum of Modern Art - British Photography from the Thatcher Years (Online). Available from http://www.moma.org/docs/press_archives/6891/releases/MOMA_1991_0020_15.pdf?2010

(Accessed on 10/12/2011)     

House Portraits

I had a real desire to visit a local council housing estate and capture these houses.  Remembering back to my childhood, I had a particular image in my mind of what I thought was a 'council house'.  During the shoot I was reminded of my Nan, she had purchased her council home during the Thatcher years, however because she lived on her own she didn't have the money to alter it for a long time.  I have so many wonderful memories of that house, the cement porch, the wired fence, the orange rusty metal gate that let Nan know someone was there.  I loved that gate, I used to sit in the top part and swing from side to side while picking off chunks of paint to reveal all of the colours underneath!    

Usually semi-detached or terraced housing, the council estates were a mass of plain duplicated houses.  Of course I was mindful that some houses (like my Nan's) are now ex-council however, they will always have those tell tale identifiers from when they were built.    

  

House Portrait 1A 

House Portrait 2A

House Portrait 3A

House Portrait 4A

House Portrait 5A

House Portrait 6A

Photographing other peoples homes is quite daunting, it was a case of making sure that my settings were ready to go, clicking and moving fast.  The homes I chose were not the most attractive or tidiest but I felt most drawn to all of them, the textures are just beautiful.  I keep going back to House Portrait 1, my Nan's house was nothing like this but the gritty effect of the front and that entrance with the small blast of colour in the background lures me inside.  I want to go back and see what's down there!  Perhaps I could I when I go out shooting again.................?