- CollegeCentral Saint Martins
- CourseBA (Hons) Graphic Communication Design
- Graduation year2024
How can public large scale advertising be more sensitive towards its direct environment? My intention for this project was to create a form of documentation using my communication and design skills to disrupt the power of commercial hierarchies. I wanted to experiment with techniques that would re-figure an interpretation within society and to the general public. To do so I pushed boundaries within public spaces by interfering with rules. This allowed me to provide a platform for local businesses who advertise themselves in the back of the Islington Tribune newspaper (a free paper for all residents of the London borough of Islington).
Final work
Local Buisness For Local People
This video is a visual documentation of my process, showing me out in areas of the London borough of Islington bill-posting classified adverts over the top of current 6x3 metre billboards. This is an attempt to reconfigure the subject of what is advertised to us in our community through manipulating, re-contextualising and promoting local businesses for local people.
These are businesses that have used a costless method of exposure due to it being one of the only free options to advertise their trade. These adverts felt somewhat neglected to me. Once they are published they feel like hopeless attempts at trying to draw more attention to the people that serve the public and are vital to the community. During the project I became interested in the techniques behind traditional bill posting. I watched footage of bill posters and perfected my method and refined my technique. My approach to help these businesses was far from unachievable and did not rely on huge technical skills but more physical. How can something as simple as enlarging the scale and being placed in a more engaging space have so much more success at achieving its original goal? I wanted to explore a communicative method which does not rely on tech-savvy expertise, but rather a process which felt physically laborious and hands on. I thought maybe this would be more comprehensible for the wider public as a result. Paper, water based paste and a brush are in the possession of most homes. I wanted to question whether we need contemporary technology to reach modern audiences or whether we should be reverting back to easier, more accessible approaches to visually communicate successfully.
