TASK 3: Contacting organisations

I have tried to contact the organizations and charities which deal with Intergenerational relationships, the elderly and other generation people, sending them emails with questions about my project.

From some of them I still haven`t got any response, whilst some of them replied and either answered some of my questions or directed me to more competent people who can help or share experiences similar to my project.

I have started my project researching locally and tried to approach local and official authorities.

................................................................................................................................................

These are the questions directed to them, after explaining the project:

"The cycle of life, all generations sharing stories

I am working in a brief about researching the possibilities of

creating an event or programme that will bring together the

relationships between the young and elderly whilst promoting their social activity.

I would like to organise a workshop in which different (the elderly

and the youngsters) generation can communicate, talk,

tell stories and share experiences which would lead to making a

scenario towards a drama performance as a final product of their

social activity promotion.

The idea is to research the possibilities that they themselves create scenario and play it in a

drama as a final product of the project."

 1. What do you think about the idea?

 2. Would you be able to assist and what would that be?

 3. Would you be able to provide us with a space for workshop and later performance?

 4. What would be the best timing to organise this event so they don’t clash with your other activities?

 5. Would you be able to assist with printing of promotion material, or direct us to any charity organisation that   could assist?

6. How would you manage that kind of workshop?

 ...or if you could direct me to any charity organisation which could be helpful for the above intent?

...................................................................................................................................................

I have started with a local library where they directed me to Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, their reply was:

"The idea sounds fine and you may find HistoryTalk a useful contact as they have organized intergenerational activities similar to this."

...they have given me some other links which I contacted via email. 

Contact the elderly

AgeUK Lambeth

Open Age 

Westway (community projects)

New Horizonts ( a multi-activity centre for older people) replied to me and directed to another contact...

"...thank you for getting in touch, I would recommend you contact B. L. at Age Concern Kensington and Chelsea, he deals with intergenerational projects and has done similar projects and has connections with schools etc and is best placed to help with this.  I'm sure he would be happy to answer any questions you have. However if your only looking for a couple of sessions then we could provide a room during term break for a workshop or performance and we could publicise through usual channels, but we couldn't contribute towards payments for printing or other promotion."

They provided me with contact-email for Age Concern to whom I have written, sent them the questions from questionnaire and asked for advice for project; I am waiting for a response. 

I have to mention that during my interviews in the streets, I passed  Westway-citizen advice center  and started doing my interview with a woman at the reception and she firstly gave me very hopeful answers till the end when she signed her personal name regreting to put her company name instead (she did not accept to take picture for records as well) and her answers were like...

"I think that this is a very good idea, 

I would have been assisting younger`s as a mentor,

Hypothetically speaking (if it happens)  the organisation would be able to offer a space...all the evenings, 

One of her answers were that if it happens we can assist with printing of promotion material..."...nevertheless I am trying too contact them via email,

 

Social Isolation and Loneliness

Here are some interesting figures of the elderly loneliness & isolation ...

"Currently, in Greater London, 250,000 people over 65 do not see a friend, neighbour or family member, at least once a week and 150,000 have no contact with friends, family or neighbours at least once a month. Those figures rise to 3.1 million and 1.8 million, respectively, UK-wide.  Loneliness and social isolation can have severe social, financial, physical and mental repercussions, not only for the elderly themselves but also for the families and for the welfare systems that support them.  The elderly, and all those who help care for them, are thus looking for solutions that address the twin problems of loneliness and social isolation. "

Source "Participle", Get together project....

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Statistics on loneliness and social isolation

Other research carried out over the last few decades has consistently shown that 10% of older people feel always or very lonely. Recent estimates place the number of people aged over 65 who are often or always lonely at over 1 million.

The percentage of the population who feel isolated and are therefore, at risk of loneliness is significantly larger:

• 12% of older people feel trapped in their own home
• 6% of older people leave their house once a week or less
• Nearly 200,000 older people in the UK don’t get help to get out of their house or flat
• 17% of older people are in contact with family, friends and neighbours less than once a week and 11% are in contact less than once a month
• Over half (51%) of all people aged 75 and over live alone
• 36% of people aged 65 and over in the UK feel out of touch with the pace of modern life and 9% say they feel cut off from society
• Half of all older people (about 5 million) say the television is their main company

Source "Campaign to end loneliness"...

Business for design - Company name

After a lot of carefully thinking, while considering the time I think that the best name on my recent list of names for my creative design agency and that represents what I want to be in the future is "superminds". I began working as you can see on identifying the keywords which represent my vision and identity for my company. I would like to combine the name with my initials in the future as a symbol if that is possible.

 

SIMPLE                    easy to understand, deal with, use, etc.: a simple matter;
FUTURE                   something that will exist or happen in time to come
PROFESSIONALS   a person who is expert at his or her work
EFFECTIVE              producing the intended or expected result
CREATIVE                having the quality or power of creating.
COMMUNICATIVE   to express thoughts, feelings, or information easily or effectively.
DESIGN                    to plan and make (something) artistic,skilfull and functional
DETERMINATION    the act of coming to a decision or of fixing or settling a purpose.
PRODUCTIVE          having the power of producing; generating & creating
AMBITIOUS             having a strong desire  for success or achievement;

I think that the agency would be positioned around and close to the some of following agencies, listed below which are well known for their innovative work for design, strategies, naming, positioning, branding, advertising, signage etc

http://www.visualidentity.co.uk/

http://www.purethoughtdesign.co.uk/

http://rareformbranding.com/

http://www.kayakcreative.co.uk/

http://www.brandlogic.com/about/team.html

http://www.brandlogic.com/

http://www.petergill.com/

 

Project scope

Here below I will show my project scope and research concentration.
After this I will be trying to make contact with individuals or organisations
which I think that can offer support for my project.

Primary research - Storytelling comparison

Storytelling comparison and its benefits  in inter generational relationships.

RSA - Custumer experience method

Here below are the details of the further mapping of our group work diagram  for intergenerational relationship event.Below you can see our work.

After my teamwork diagram I moved further with my personal mapping of Costumer experience research method, trying to put my preposition in front of the process rather than in the back.

Task 2 - RSA (continued)

I have chosen to take one part of our mapping exercise to a further stage.

Firstly, after some research and speaking with family & friends (young & older) starting research locally as advised I thought to have some consultations with a sociologist  which fortunately is one of my best friends and after a while, I came up with some ideas about the Event or Program that promotes intergenerational social activity and meanwhile I`m working on a questionnaire that involves them to my research.

I started by creating diagrams or building scenarios of my chosen part of mapping about Events and thought about naming of the program as well:

Some of my options are:

a. Intergenerational relationships day

b. Young & Older generations day

c. Circle of life 

  

Part of that program (diagram of thinking) i think that should be:

Lectures, interaction, discussions, story-telling, social networking, watching movies, learning about new tech., building family tree, debates about culture, family albums, games etc

One of the event messages directed to young generations can be:

Learn about your future, from their past.

  

I am going to aim to see if I can get part of the different generations participating on the program while researching and asking especially the Elderly generation with my questionnaire about their relationships with younger and taking their opinions 

about an event which would unite them with younger`s and with its daily program 

would include life-experiences of both generations.

Naming a Creative Bussines

This is my list of ideas for names of my creative business 

and as it is well known that working for yourself is pretty hard, the naming could be changed in the future of course. I tried to link and connect my name or initials in some cases with my supposed future activity and other solutions present that activity it self obviously without my initials.There is one example out of the box, "Apostrofi" which is translated in my language from the "Apostrophe" word which was used from someone else.

It is very interesting how could it happen that "almost all" creative names 

are used or blocked for re-selling, so if somebody is planning to start a business  

and already has  his name I recommend  to register the names/domains 

as soon as possible.

TASK 2 - RSA Design project

Mapping exercise results for RSA Design project.

Brief "Something for everyone".

DIAGRAM

The diagram below shows the process that we went through Design Journey on last friday.

I have made some modifications on this complex process and also tried to present

it on it`s simplest way.

TASK 1: Design inspiration

Milton Glaser

 

As I am interested in typography and logo design I check up

for inspiration to big names.

One of my favourite designers is Milton Glaser,

the creator of well known

"I love New York" logo and designer of hundreds of

posters & magazines.

a tourism-campaign symbol, 1973.
the campaign was an enormous success,
running for 25 years, with no end in sight. 

   

Milton was born 26.6.1929 in New York.
He studied (1948–51) at the Cooper Union Art School and
(1952–53), as a Fulbright scholar, attended the Academy of
fine arts, Bologna, Italy under Giorgio Morandi.

From 1954 to 1974 Glaser was the founder and president
of the ‘Push pin’ studio (with Semour Chwast, Reynold Ruffins
and Edward Sorel) in New York and from 1955 to 1974 the editor
and co-art director of the ‘Push pin graphic’ magazine.
In an era dominated by swiss rationalism, the push pin style
celebrated the eclectic and eccentric design of the passé past
while it introduced a distinctly contemporary design vocabulary,
with a wide range of work that included record sleeves, books,
posters, logos, font design and magazine formats.

In 1968, Glaser and Clay felker founded ‘New York magazine’.
Glaser was president and design director until 1977
(as well as its ‘underground gourmet’ - writing about good,
cheap restaurants in N Y). publication design had become
a big interest.

Since founding Milton Glaser, inc. in 1974, milton glaser, inc.,
the work produced at his manhattan studio has encompassed
a wide range of design disciplines - print graphics:
identity programs for corporate and institutional marketing purposes,
logos (among them the ‘I love new york’ logo for the new york state
department of commerce, that became the most frequently
imitated logo design in human history).

He has designed and illustrated more than 300 posters
(remember his Bob Dylan poster for CBS records?);
environmental and interior design: exhibitions, interiors and
exteriors of restaurants, shopping malls, supermarkets, hotels,
and other retail and commercial environments.
From 1975 to 1977 Milton Glaser was the design director of
‘Village voice’ magazine. 

Bob Dylan with the kaleidoscope hair,
poster for CBS records, that was included in the
singer's greatest hits album, 1966.

The World Health organization's
international AIDS symbol and poster, 1987

In 1983 he founded the company WBMG, a studio dedicated to
magazine and newspaper design work, with Walter Bernard
(former art director of ‘time’). Since its inception, they have
designed more than 50 magazines, newspapers and periodicals
around the world : among them ‘la vanguardia’ in Barcelona,
‘o globo’ in Rio de janeiro, l’espresso in Rome ‘the washington post’,
‘money’, the french ‘the nation’, ‘paris match’, ‘l´express’, ‘esquire’,
‘jardin des modes’, and ‘business tokyo’ in japan.

From the start of his career, Milton Glaser has been an active
member of both the design and education communities:
he taught design at the school of visual arts in new york
in one of america’s most respected programs.

Milton Glaser has been the subject of solo exhibitions at the
centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; the Lincoln Center Gallery, New York;
the Houghton gallery at the Cooper union, New York;
the AIGA gallery in New York; the Philadelphia museum of art,...
his work is included in the permanent collections of many
international art museums. Smithsonian's Cooper-hewitt
national design museum has chosen Milton Glaser to receive the
2004 national design award.

http://www.miltonglaser.com

http://www.designboom.com/eng/interview/glaser.html 

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Alan Fletcher

 

Alan is one of my most favourite inspiring designers so if you want 

some creative inspiration through the use of images, text, design 

and thoughts take a look at his work especially at his 

book The Art of Looking Sideways (2001)

You won’t regret it I am quite sure.

Alan Gerard Fletcher (27 September 1931 - 21 September 2006) 

was a British graphic designer. In his obituary, he was described by 

The Daily Telegraph as "the most highly regarded graphic designer 

of his generation, and probably one of the most prolific". 

Fletcher was born in Nairobi, Кеnia..

He studied at the Hammersmith School of Art from 1949, then at 

the Central School of Аrt. 

After a year teaching English in Barcelona, 

he returned to London to study at the Royal College of Art from 1953 to 1956.
 

He founded the design firm Fletcher/Forbes/Gill with Colin Forbes and 

Bob Gill in 1962. An early product was their 1963 book 

Graphic Design: A Visual Comparison.
Clients included Pirelli, Cunard, Penguin Books and Olivetti. Gill left the 

partnership in 1965 and was replaced by Theo Crosby, so the firm became 

Crosby/Fletcher/Forbes. 

Detail of an advertisement for Pirelli slippers, 1962

Two new partners joined, and the partnership 

evolved into Pentagram in 1972, with Forbes, Crosby, Kenneth Grange 

and Mervyn Kurlansky, with clients including Lloyd's of London 

and Daimler Benz. 

Much of his work is still in use: a logo for Reuters made 

up of 84 dots, which he created in 1965, was retired in 1992, 

but his 1989 "V&A" logo for Victoria and Albert Museum, 

and his "IoD" logo for the Institute of Directors remain in use. 

He left Pentagram in 1992.

Much of his later work was as art director for the publisher Phaidon Press, 

which he joined in 1993. 

For him, life and work were inseparable: "Design is not a thing you do. 

It's a way of life." (quoted in his obituary in The Times). 

Fletcher also wrote several books about 

graphic design and visual thinking, 

most notably The Art of Looking 

Sideways (2001), which had taken him 18 years to finish.

The Art of Looking Sideways

 

Here you can find and listen his words about his work on the book.