stoke newington scouts

The 4th Stoke Newington Scout GroupSelf Initiated Project

The 4th Stoke Newington Scout Group.

Design a solution to raise the profile of the Bric-a-Brac sale held by the 4th Stoke Newington Scout Group.

The 4th Stoke Newington Scouts Group has a place in the community as providing an institu-tion for many of the children in the neighbour-hood to take part in activities that contribute to their child development.

Stoke Newington, a district in the borough of Hackney, North East London is described by Time Out Online as having, “zest, charm and charisma”. It has also been said to have a village atmosphere as you don’t have to leave the area if you don’t need to and is known for having a sense of community.

The area is often called “Stokey” by the local residents (the majority are young profession-als and families) and by those familiar with the area.

The 4th Stoke Newington Scout Group have a Bric-a-Brac sale on most weekends for their on-going fund raising (Next year, they will make a trip to Switzerland, one of the causes that they fundraise towards).

The Bric-a-Brac Sale is held in their Scout Hall off of Stoke Newington Church Street, the main road that makes up the area and where the majority of the retail stores and independent boutiques are. The current promotion being used is very basic could do with some regenra-tion as a way of:

- Bringing more footfall into the Bric-a-Brac Sale.

- Raising more money for the Scout Group

- Highlighting that the Scouts accept donations to keep the Bric-a-Brac stocked and successful

- Preventing the Bric-a-Brac sale from being overlooked as a place to buy items whilst help-ing a good cause.

- Raise the profile of The 4th Stoke Newington Scout Group in the community.

- Communicate that buying and donating at the Bric-a-Brac allows you to participate in a small but direct economy.

As a starting point for the project:

- Interview the Scout Leader to determine the scope of the brief.

- Research/Observe/Document the wider com-munity of Stoke Newington to understand how to place the design solution into context.

- Attend a Bric-a-Brac sale and analyse it.

Research began by documenting a Bric-a-Brac Sale.

The space is never arranged to a set plan as it varies on the items they have and how much is put out so I would have to take that into consideration.

These images show the outside of The Scout Hall and the

As a way of collecting research, I wrote down words that either described the physical sur-roundings or observations as I was sat in the space of the Scout Hall.

Puzzles

BooksPots and Pans

Kid’s clothes

Rails for clothes

British

Electronics

Children’s toys

Victorian furniture

Signed T-shirt

Cuddly toys

Random

ChangingEchoy

Benches

Nostalgia

Stuff layed out

Dusty

Peaceful

Calm

Silent

Empty

Setting up alone

Unorganised

Not classified

No division of stuff

Greg and Audrey

Big space

Beautiful space

Old

Wooden floors

Spacious

High ceilings

Old fashioned

Vintage

Sun

Sunny

Cheap

Bargains

No Scouts

These boards are placed at the top of the road to bring attention to the Bric-a-Brac Sale.

Greg, is the Scout Leader of The 4th Stoke Newington Scout Group.His mother Audery, is on the left.

He doesn’t have a mobile phone or home telephone so having consistent discussions and meetings with him became an issue throughout the process but he was incredibly supportive of the project.

Looking at how the branding of the Scouts.

It was immediately noticeable that the labels for the price of items was inconsistent.

To research on the local area, I went on a “flaneur walk” on a few occasions and docu-mented the area.

It was perceivable the importance of quality of life for the residents of Stoke Newington.

People in the area gave an impression of liking to take the time out to eat well, to shop locally and at independent shops, were interested in culture and music.

The sense of support for the community seemed to be confirmed too.

On the same flaneur/observation walk, I documented all the shops and businesses in the area. I focused on Stoke Newington Church Street and Stoke Newington High Street.

Documenti ng an occasional pop up Flea Market in the area.

It was successful for the traders.

Att ending a lecture by Bethany Koby, she had discussed a project she collaborated on a project called The Dalston Slice. A mill and wheat fi eld was set up in Dalston, Hackney (the next neighbourhood to Stoke New-ington) that encouraged the community to come together and bake a bread coin which acted as a local currency.

I saw a lot of relevance in her Bethany’s project to mine because I too am focussing on a small community in Hackney.

I also like a few points that she brought up which I noted down.

By parti cipati ng (in the baking) , We have a relati onship, hopefully an ownership.I am hoping to get people to feel some kind of ownership for what the Scouts do in the in the area.

I discussed with a handful of people about their perceptions of Stoke Newington, if they knew of the Scout group and if they knew of their Bric-a-Brac Sale.

I asked a loose set of questions:

- Have you heard of the Scout Bric-a-Brac Sale?- If so, what are your impressions of it?- Could it be changed?- What kind of things would you like to see at the Bric-a-Brac?- Do you like to go to charity shops and markets to look for bargains?- Would you go to the Bric-a-Brac Sale if you knew it existed?

The general response was that people were unaware of the 4th Stoke Newington Scout Group existing and that the Scouts are no longer just for boys.

Every person liked to shop at charity shops, liked a bargain and would go to the Bric-a-Brac Sale if they knew of it’s existence.

Looking at the visual language of existi ng promoti on in the area. They have more refi ned graphics. In the case of the pet shop, fl oor graphics of animal paws lead from off of the main road to the shop.

I began to come up with a soluti on by re-branding aspects of the Bric-a-Brac Sale.

I started to come up with ideas for a poster with graphics that could represented the Scout group bett er than their current graph-ics on the boards.

I began by making a reference to bunti ng in the graphics as it fi tt ed in a the visual language of the Stoke Newington neigh-bourhood.

A main idea was to rebrand their name by referring to them as, the “Stokey Scouts”.

It was less to say and took the reference of the informal name of the area to raise the sense of ownership towards the Scouts.

I took the initial graphics ideas to a 11 year old girl to have a session of co-design in producing font and slogans.

We sat down and drew together to produce initial ideas.

From drawing together, I appreciated the aesthetic a child can bring. I knew that the outcome would have to embody that quality. However, it lacked a strength and consistency. Something that the current graphics needed.

A typeface would have to be used.

Inpsired by the floor graphics of the Stoke Newington area and continuing withembodying the hand drawings of a child to eminding people of who are in the Scouts and encouraging co-design, I asked the child helper what could you write on the floor to attract people from the main road into the Scout Hall.

I asked my helper to make a recording of the narrative of how the floor graphics would encourage people to come to the Bric-a-Brac hall.

Having in mind that the Scouts could chalk on the floor on the day of the Bric-a-Brac Sale.It’s keeps costs down and is playful.

A poster with font was developed.The font, VAG Rounded BT was chosen as it struck a balance of being informati ve and playful.

It was then traced over to create a hand drawn aesthetic.

The concept would be that a black and white poster could be given to the Scouts to colour in.

By having the base of the poster a set de-sign, the ability to identify with the Scouts would remain but the colours would be co designed by the children.

When these are stuck up in the local neigh-bourhood, it communicates the presence of the children of the Scouts.

Experiments and development of the poster.

I managed to meet with the Scout Leader at this stage.

We spoke about:

- The background of The Scouts.- How the Scout Hall space is used.- The needs the Scouts fundraise for. (Camp-ing equipment, new maps and compasses, money to subsidise events and individuals, capitation fee)

I also showed the Scout Leader the poster idea. He initially was resistant to the use of “Stokey Scouts” but then he understood the references behind it and supported it.He informed me of the other necessary details of information that would have to go onto the poster.

We spoke about the potential scope of the project after the rebranding of the poster and the chalk graphics on the floor were done.

Refining the composition of the poster with the new information of:

“Free Admission”

“Donations Welcome”

Posters with purple bunting were to made to tie in with the colour scheme of the Scout logo.Some posters were completely blank to give the children total freedom to colour in.

Labels that can be hung off the edge of a table were made to replace the current labels as a way of providing consistency of branding.

Stencils were made to make chalk arrows on the fl oor leading to the Scout Hall as way fi nding.

The testi ng of the design soluti on was then tested.

They coloured in the posters and then then drew chalk graphics on the fl oor leading to the Scout Hall.

Like the fi rst video, I let the childrenfi lm and narrate on how the out-comes work. They are the ones that co-designed a lot of the outcomes of the project so I thought that it was right to have them co produce the video.

The helpers reviewing the clips after a take.

I recorded a video of their process of recording.

Thumbnails of actual final footage