Hometown Work Experience Project: - 28/09/23
Edgware Research:
My hometown of Edgware is a small town in north London and spans two London boroughs Barnet and Harrow and is most well known for the independent shops and restaurants along with the popular Broadwalk centre.
From a personal viewpoint, there are only some places in Edgware that stand out because of the vibrance that comes off the buildings as the general area seems to keep the same bland and simple look of buildings which ultimately reflects most of the houses in Edgware with only a few shops or restaurants having any real flare to their overall design. the color scheme mostly is just either white, grey, green, and brown with the occasional restaurant or shop not blending into the rest of the area with a different color however from looking from a birds-eye view the place is very green and grey and red which is a problem with many major places in the UK as this lack of color should be rectified.
Edgware Road is home to a wide variety of diverse cultures such as Lebanese restaurants, doner kebab outlets, and halal butchers with most of the demographic of Edgware being white making up 60% with Indian, Jewish, and Black African people also living there making it more culturally diverse in terms of migration.
Plans for changing up the Edgware and making it better:
I believe that most of the buildings such as restaurants and shops should have a change in the color scheme so that it can make edgware more vibrant by having more use of primary colors and fewer greys and whites but to make sure to keep the general aesthetic the same.
Edgware should also represent its diversity by having more buildings stand out for their unique colors and cultures since many people from different races and religions live in Edgware and I believe there should be visual representation of these cultures spread across buildings.
here is a mood board showcasing my vision for changing up the color scheme of Edgware.
Here are some photos I took of my local area around where I live to showcase the look and feel of Edgware and its general aesthetic and also how most of my ideas for revamping Edgware aren't shown in the general area around me which is why there must be an improvement.
Edgwares history:
Recently Edgware celebrated the 100th anniversary of its station being built along with the history of Edgware starting then and there and right now there is a big plan to transform the town center through a meaningful regeneration that aims to benefit local businesses and residents. Edgware dates back to the Roman times with its varied history. Originally the area of Edgware was only a small settlement but gradually developed into a residential district in the 19th century during the 20th century Edgware became a popular area attracting residents and business owners.
Edgwares Current Transport:
Edgware is home to its own station which runs tubes that go into greater London or anywhere along the northern line along with buses being accessible from anywhere. while both trains and buses are nearby and easy to access there is a flaw in the system as whenever the buses finish their route they end up dormant for several minutes and they always seem to end up going back to the bus sheds behind Edgware station seemingly going in circles but going to different destinations but having to stick to the same destination at the end.
Ideas for new transport:
I believe Edgware could benefit from having a monorail in place as the new transport as it would be quicker, more reliable, and safer for the environment as they run on electricity which would reduce the number of buses as they should only be a few buses being used since trains take people anywhere and everywhere around the UK along with Edgware having a station next to the bus sheds.
Sketch Ideas for new transport:
Transport Experimentation:
this is what my idea for new transport may look like as it shall have a bright color scheme to differentiate it from the other types of transport.
Here is the layout of my new transport plan for my hometown as I have drawn out the route it will take around my local area and how it will differentiate from the other public transport in Photoshop.
Edgwares current logo:
this is the current logo for Edgware and its high street. it is straight to the point and is simple and has a good message by saying it's ''your high street'' meaning it's for anyone. however, it lacks color and any indication of diversity and is rather bland which is why I believe it can be changed to represent diverse cultures in Edgware.
New Hometown Logo:
Here is my idea for a new logo that best represents my hometown and its diverse amounts of culture that was created using Photoshop.
Slogan Experimentation:
these are some of the slogan ideas I came up with using Adobe Illustrator which allowed for different font styles and colors to differentiate each slogan from the last along with showcasing the diversity of Edgware in the message that the slogan gives.
Slogan Moodboard/ideas:
here are some ideas for a new slogan for my hometown that I created a mood board for using Canva
Mind map Of my hometown:
here is a mind map I made to show off my hometown and its current state what I like about it and what my hometown includes.
Edgware Wellbeing Questionnaire:
This 5 question survey should convey what people's opinions are of Edgware and it doesn't matter who fills it out even if they live in Edgware or not as it is on how good of place edgware is and what would people like to change about it and would they recommend it to someone else such as a family member or friend.
Survey Feedback:
So far I have gotten feedback from my survey on my hometown and so far the result is that people who don't live in Edgware want to change specific parts of Edgware such as law enforcement or change-up landmarks such as Grahame Park. along with this the recommendation of Edgware to others has been positive with only a few negative points on Edgware as a whole. most of the responses have commented on how the design of buildings and Grahame Park could be improved and most of this feedback connects to what I want to change and improve about my hometown along with raising awareness of Edgware as some responses said there wasn't much to like about Edgware and so I'm planning to improve on the results that I have received and to possibly change some opinions of Edgware to make it more popular and more known to people who live outside of it.
Other Hometown research:
Hendon:
Hendon is a town in a borough of Barnet most well known for the Royal Air Force Museum and the aerodrome site being the police college, the training center for the Metropolitan police, and is home to Middlesex University. it has a range of amenities and good transport links.
this is the current logo for Hendon. it is simple and clear but isn't super interesting and lacks more color and this logo is mostly associated with the Hendon group and not Hendon itself.
Hendon's current transport is both bus and train which for a new person moving to Hendon might be overwhelming however it mainly uses the underground or tube as it's called more prominently to allow people transport to most common places in the center of the city.
Hendon's current color scheme is grey, Dull browns, and white with worn-out greens with many of the roads looking dry and a lot of greenery around the place overall. most shops have a white color scheme with some tan, red, gray, and blue ones.
the only thing close to a slogan for Hendon is its coat of arms as the motto endeavour means to try to get hard things done.
Experimentation 06/12/23:
with each picture, the color of the roofs and smaller buildings changed to show different parts of the same road with different color schemes with the two biggest buildings having the same color scheme in all three pictures.
Here are some of the photos I have experimented in photoshop with as I have changed the color scheme of certain buildings and parts of buildings that didn't stand out and looked boring and bland and I changed up the color of the roofs for each image to make different parts of the same road different in style.
Opinions on new designs and evaluation: 14/12/23
I am impressed with what you can do to simple designs and pictures in Photoshop as I think my pictures are nicer to look at now that I have changed the color scheme of some of them and that the buildings stand out more than they used to which is why I'm surprised how good they look. if I were to change anything I would want to make sure I could color in the outline of most buildings and make sure that I can color in the parts that don't have any color at all as some pictures have the color bleeding onto a part of some buildings that didn't need to be colored in. I would also want to make them look neater as some buildings have parts not colored in because of the unorganized way I colored them in.
Survey for opinions on my experimentation:
this survey is for anyone who wants to give their opinions on my experimentation with changing up the design and transport of my hometown.
the opinions I have received are positive as I asked simple questions such as if I had improved the color scheme of my hometown and if I had improved people's opinion on Edgware as a whole and the answers I got were mostly yes and I'm happy to agree with most of these opinions as I believe my ideas have been implemented very well and I'm sure with my final experimentation my new ideas will be perfected to give a new perspective on my hometown.
Final Colour Scheme for hometown: 18/12/23
Here are some of the final pictures of my hometown that I have customized with my new color scheme in Photoshop. this time I have tried to improve on my previous pictures by coloring in more than just the buildings as I found the pavements and roads to not have any stand-out colors and many signs on the road are a dull white.
Final Slogan: 20/12/23
Here is my final idea for my slogan as I have decided to go for a simple but effective message that explains what my Hometown is about Edgware is full of different cultures and so the message along with the different colors and fonts works to display that.
Final Transport design: 21/12/23
Evaluation of final Designs:
In my opinion, my final designs are better than my experimentation ideas as I improved them the best I could. I'm especially happy with my slogan and logo as they have both been improved and stand out through the use of color. I will say I would've loved to improve on my transport design as it may look untidy. my color scheme also has this untidy problem where there are small gaps that aren't colored in however that is just my opinion as I have made another survey on forms to see what others think of my designs and ideas for my hometown now that I have finalized my ideas.
Peer feedback Opinions from the survey
From what I have received the average rating of my ideas and designs is positive with one mixed opinion as everyone who filled out the form agreed my color scheme improved my hometown and also liked my logo idea. most responses from everyone explained that they hadn't been to Edgware but agreed that it was improved through my ideas and designs with one suggesting my logo should be improved because of the text being all different.
with these opinions from my peers I do agree with most of them on how my designs are interesting however could be improved if I focused on changing people's opinions on my hometown which I'm sure I have successfully done but also have to improve my own opinion on my hometown.
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