Principle 5: Managing a Creative Environment

iTap Lecture 4th October 2011

Principle 5: Managing a Creative Environment

How To Build a Supercar. 

BBC Documentary about the McLaren Car Factory

Youtube Link for "How to build a super car"

Whilst doing this project about an old dying car factory in Longbridge, i watched the documentary "How to build a super car" which is about the new developments of the McLaren car factory hidden away in the Surrey countryside. I thought this was relevant thing to include in this blog as it gave me an insight into the next generation of Britains motor industry.

Described as the "Nasa of Motorosport", hidden away in the idyllic countryside of Surrey lies this extraordinary factory. Costing almost £800 milllion pounds and 5 years of covert development this glass and steel structured building looks nothing like a stereo-typical car factory as is a complete revelation in production of British cars.

MacLaren Factory

From Air

Priciple 1: Research!

17th October - 23rd October
Principle 1 - Researching the Content.


Like mostly all Visual Communicators, i am having to research my chosen subject area in order to even begin this project. During this magazine project i have researched some artists relating to typography. I already knew a couple of these artists yet i wanted to find something a little more unknown to myself to run with the theme of our "COVERT" magazine. I initially looked at some real main stream artists like Neville Brody and Craig Ward who are famous for their typography. I wanted to find someone a little less unknown, a bit closer to home.


Whilst driving down my local high street i saw a piece of graffiti on a shop shutter, not any old crappy "john luvs pauline" or " i woz ea 11", this looked like it had been commissioned by the shop owner. I got out of my car and investigated, i found out htis guys name was HOAKSA.


There was very limited information on the web about this graffiti artist as he is not as main stream as some of the other artists, yet i found out enough about him in order to choose him for my artist research. However, artist research was eash compared to the research i had to do on Longbridge.


I had limited knowledge about the Longbridge Industrial sites, and had only what i had heard as a basis to run on. It was time to get myself into the library, on the web and actually go down to this area myself. It was not going to be a 5 minute job however as there are very limited books relating to the history of this place. There was a bit more information on the web yet the only way to really get an idea of the locations of different areas was to go there myself and look with my own eyes for a true picture.

Research does not have to limit me to my sketchbook, and to be honest even though i have a lot of research regarding Longbridge in my RVJ, it does not project the true amount of information i have taken in from physically exploring this site. I found this was the best Research available to me as there is not much recent documentation of this site, so i found research grounds like blogs, google maps and blogs seemed to be dated by a good few years. The hardest part i found was researching the War time elements of this area. After Hours within BCU library, i eventually found a book that had not been taken out in 6 years, so i was the first to crack this book for a long time. "MAKING CARS AT LONGBRIDGE, 100 YEARS IN THE LIFE OF A FACTORY", pridcued by Gillian Bardsley & Colin Corke.

Principle 1: Legibility

24 October - 30 October

• Legibility: Road Signs

The information given whilst driving ultimately affects the safety of our roads and motorways in this modern day and age. Road signs that inform road users when there are up and coming hazards, when to take a turn, and if any roadworks are in progress. All of these visuals are examples of information systems design.

Lets go back to the late 1950's when the UK's roads were littered with an array of transport sign styles, each one being commisioned by different agencies at alternate times. There needed to be some kind of consistency

The government comissioned two graphic designers- Margaret Calvert and Jock Kinneir, they were commisioned to create a modern and completey new sign system. At this particular time  it was to be one of the most adventurous information design projects to ever be undertaken in Britain.

To keep consistency Calvert, working with Kinneir, devised a scheme of modern day road signage. It was a concoxion of shapes, symbols, letterforms and colours. The idea logic behind this revolutionary system was that each sign should be a clear visible, logical map orientated soley around the drivers circumstances.

Margaret Calvert believed that the most important factor of the signage was that it could be claryfied by the motorist easily whilst retaining impact value. Aswel as these factors, Maragret Calvert insisted that signs should be welcoming and friendly towards motorists. A new typeface was created in order to succeed in the 'friendly approach'. The typeface Aksidenz Grotesk was refined with softer line structure. This font was later renamed ' Transport' and engaged both upper and lower case lettering. Originally all road signs were in capital fonts but specialist testing revealed that letters can be more efficiently read when in lower case as they contain more structure than a capital letter with rigid straight linear structure.   



Transport Typeface
Easily Distinguishable