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.





here are some of the old images i found:

 It was gaining images like this which was the most beneficial, i researched and found the top image of East Works, full of sectors dedicated to industrial production. From what i researched, the top photo would have been taken from the Flight Shed Roof, overlooking the aero factory. The bottom Image was taken by myself in a similar position of the Flight shed roof, i have an old and new view of what this place is/was like. Finding Areas like this and uncovering old picture locations was probably my favourite area of research as it gave me the most satisfaction.


researching the content does not have to be limited to my RVJ, i find i take more information in and find it easier to remember if i actually go out and research the content first person.

17th October - 23rd October

Principle 1 - Researching the Content.