Exhibition

The exhibition in the Bench studio was an unbelievable success. People were interacting in the way that we hoped, picking up zines and taking picture through the viewfinders. We had a collection of zines in a small pop up library, each one explaining a different part of the festival and being interactive. We had comment hexagons for people to leave notes on what sex and age they think Manchester is, which was packed with great answers by the end of the evening. The viewfinders were a hit with all the people who attended, the small ones being picked up and used, and the large hanging ones were a popular photo destination. 

Manchester

“Every city has a sex and an age which have nothing to do with demography. Rome is feminine. So is Odessa. London is a teenager, an urchin, and in this hasn’t changed since the time of Dickens. Paris, I believe, is a man in his twenties in love with an older woman.” 

― John Berger

BORN IN THE EIGHTIES AND MALE

A MALE. POWERFUL, ESTABLISHED AND STRONG, 30, YOUNG BUT STILL SERIOUS.

I THINK MANCHESTER HAS MANY DIFFERENT AGES AND SEX. MY FIRST THOUGHT.

IS THAT MANCHESTER IS 39, MALE, ROUGH LOOKING WITH AND OVERGROWN BEARD AND AN OVERSIZED, DIRTY GREEN JUMPER.

A DRUNK OLD MAN.

MANCHESTER HASN’T BEEN BORN YET. THIS IS BECAUSE IT’S BELIEFS AND ACCEPTANCE OF EVERY RACE, GENDER, FASHION AND SOCIETY IS WAY BEYOND THOSE CATEGORIZED WITH A SPECIFIC AGE. ITS WAY OF THINKING, DYNAMISM AND THE INTELLIGENCE AND CREATIVITY THAT LIVE WITHIN THE CITY BOUNDARIES ARE YEARS AHEAD OF ANY OTHER CITY. IT IS NOT PREJUDICE IN ITS FAVORITISM TO ANY GENDER. THIS MAKES IT OF A TIMELESS AGE, BUT ALSO A GENERATION OF THE FUTURE. IT IS UNBORN BUT KICKING IN THE WOMB.

I THINK A MAN IN HIS 20’S, RIDES A BIKE AND DRINKS REAL ALE.

50 YEAR OLD MAN (RETIRED LABOURER).

A MIDDLE AGED MAN WITH A LOVE OF MUSIC AND YOUNG WOMEN.

42 MALE GOES TO WAREHOUSE PROJECT ONCE A YEAR AND STILL REFERS TO IT

AS MADCHESTER.

30 Y/O FOOTBALL HOOLIGAN.

Website

Design // Manchester

The festival is to be spread over the whole of May, as we want the projects to be ongoing and not just to pop up for a few days. To add to this we want a rich online presence that grows as the festival grows. We already have a twitter, which people can send in pictures and comments on how they enjoy the festival. We have now made a website to promote and showcase our festival and designers. We want people to send in their photos from their experiences, so the website will grow with participations from the public. It will create a fluid cycle between then physical festival and the online presence. 

Planting

Manchester is a large city but does not have many spaces that are green or having plants/flowers. Through our festival we want to change this with people participating and working together. We have made these plant pots out of old bottles, recycling every day objects into something beautiful. These can then be filled with plants and hung around Manchester. They brighten up any place that they are hung. Whilst we were hanging these we had very positive feedback of the public, even had people wanting to join in. This has shown us that simple projects like this will work well, as participation is key around the city we rely on people wanting to join in.

Peter Masters

The routes of our festival involve a fair amount of walking, so along the walks we want to have pop up green places where people can sit and relax. This is a good opportunity to add in design work, commissioning a designer to create these spaces and the furniture. Peter Masters is a Manchester based designer who is eco friendly and award winning. He is a perfect example of a designer who we would wan to be involved with our festival. We have contacted him about our festival and he is very interested in getting involved. 

Peter Masters

Routes

To accompany the routes, we have made posters that will be put up around the city, along the routes and also in known locations. They map the walking paths from point to point in a fun way. 

Manifest Poster

The manifesto for the design festival is finalised, with added logo and hashtags. The ideas that we based our festival on are based around connecting people. We want everyone to feel welcome and want to attend, get involved and enjoy themselves. The events that will be held will help people rediscover the city and experience things in new ways.

Collect Your City

As part of the festival we have made collection packs, for people to become more involved and collect what they see. Throughout the festival there will be design areas which have interactive pieces that people can create and collect. There will be areas with photo booths set up for people to collect pictures, view finders, origami and other small pieces. This will allow people to feel more included throughout the events and have something from the festival at the end. 

Canal Bombs

Along the canal we are going to have workshops set up by designers to create canal bombs to be thrown into the water. We want to help clean up the canal as it is very forgotten and dirty. These bombs look good, fizz up to create interesting patterns in the water and also are filled with goodness for the water. They will create an interesting piece to observe, and also will have a lasting positive in the water. These images are the prototypes we have made, the colours are appealing and have a positive look to them, enticing people to participate in making their own.

Walk The City

The festival is going to take place along six routes across Manchester, they will be from design place to design place. These places stretch across the city, allowing the participants to explore and be open to new things. We have chosen established places to go to, as we aim to infiltrate design into places and venues that people are familiar with. There will be various design pieces along the way, these will both me to observe and interact with.

The routes are:

The Holden Gallery > Castlefield Gallery

Manchester Art Gallery > Rogue Studios

Piccadilly Place > Kraak Gallery

2022NQ > Islington Mill

The Cube > MOSI

The Whitworth > Platt Costume Gallery

Guerilla Gardening

Guerilla Gardening

The seed bomb idea has lead to guerilla gardening. These projects work with seed bombs to create pockets of colour and life around cities, originating in London. This is what we aim to replicate in our festival, creating this promotional poster to encourage participation through our festival. 

From this, we have taken to the city adding areas of flowers and greenery to unused spaces. We aim to make the city more green, adding more life back into the concrete city.

Lazerian

Lazerian

The festival is to celebrate design, allowing people to get involved and create together. We want to promote up and coming designers, giving them a platform to show their work and get people involved with it. To be able to do this we need to have big names there also, being situated along the pathways. Lazerian is a furniture design company, creating innovative and unusual pieces. The furniture created looks amazing, it also fits into our festival as they have used hexagonal structures. 

The Hexagon

The logo for our design festival is based on a hexagon. This symbol has been created from Manchester, the coat of arms has bees in it and around the city there are bees on various buildings. It relates to the idea that Manchester is a hive of activity, a center of creativity. It relates to connectivity, networks and the environment, which all fits into our festival. 

This motif will be used by designers, attaching this simple sign to their work, creating a strong bran for the festival. From this we will also adorn the city with hexagons on the dates of the festival. This will allow people attending to know where work is shown and where to get involved. 

Seed Bombs

Guerrilla Gardening

Seed bombs are becoming more and more popular within built up areas. The idea behind them is that these small bombs, that can be throw to where ever you can reach, have everything inside of them to grow flowers. The example above is for a poppy bomb, thrown into an area where it begins to sprout. They all flowers to grow with near to no help or maintenance. This idea we want to collaborate into our festival, with the paper bombs that can be made with origami, these can be filled and thrown to create flowers around Manchester. 

Logos

The development of the logo has been on going, with the slight differentiating of the name of the festival. We have changed from using the letters 'M.D.F' to the design of 'D//F' but we have come to the conclusion that out festival logo will consist of 'D//M' 

Zines

The design festival is being made to entice the public, make them see their city in a different way. A simple way of achieving this is through a zine. This is a collection of images and words to create a small booklet. For our zines we have thought of a simple colour scheme, by changing the hue to create a green/blue tinge to our images. These images are some examples of what could be put in the zine. 

Tribeca Film Festival

Video

On the idea of lights and decorating the city, the Tribeca film festival has made an interesting installation. They have taken a building that is always there and changed the design and colouring. The small light pieces completely change the focal point of the building and creates a buzz around it.

For our festival we want to create light paths and lighting off rooftops. Simple pieces but mass produced can create very interesting and beautiful pieces.