SB1: Initial Ideas

After today's briefing, I was feeling a bit stuck on what to do for SB1 however I thought of relating it back to what I like doing in Leeds and what I have done so far in the city as a way to engage and bring it back to the brief itself. I actually tried to start a  personal project last year of documenting phrases that I hear from people around Leeds which I thought represented the city, especially the student life and what students feel and do in the city. However, I lost all the content for it :(

For a fresher more specific idea, I thought of doing the same but in a specific area such as the Market and documenting the conversations and language used within the area.

Idea #1 

Market Mapping - Going around Kirkgate Market and identifying the various conversations and niche language used by vendors and customers. I might represent the different tones of the languages through typography or colour which represents the city and the area in the map. The map can be a concertina which gradually showcases the differences in the market area despite it's small proximity. 

Another way to elevate this idea, is by choosing a contrasting part of Leeds which also showcases a different side of the city. In order to highlight the diversity within the community and the different types of people that live within the city. 

Idea #2 - 

Receipt Mapping - Mapping people's left over grocery receipts. People usually leave their receipts on the counter especially on the self service aisle on supermarkets and it could be interesting to see what they have bought and think of the context of why they have bought it e.g. if it's all alcohol maybe they were about to go out or if it was different ingredients maybe they were preparing to cook a specific dish with it. I could also correlate it to the time that they bought it and if it was peak time or really late or early at night? Maybe, it would suggest the consumer traffic or spending and which product is the most popular? 

However, maybe it may seem weird or maybe goes against the ethics bit of design? If this was to be mapped out, it could be on a long piece of paper with all the products written based each receipt, time or product. 

Idea #3

Sticker Mapping - Going around Leeds and mapping stickers found on traffic posts, walls etc. as there are lots of them around the city. It would be interesting if to see which stickers are the most common or only found in certain posts/areas.

Idea #4

Dance Mapping - I'm currently taking part in a dance team to show at a dance showcase that will be shown for 3 days in Leeds University which showcases all their dance society's genre's and styles, so I thought it would be interesting to if I could map out my progress of learning the choreography that I am currently learning for the society that I am involved in. It could show certain points in which I was able to learn a move quickly and in contrast a move that I found difficult, maybe I could show it through repetition of line of shape or bolder and thinner lines. I could also maybe create the map in which the audience can actually interact with it by being able to follow the map itself in order to learn the same moves that I learnt throughout the process. 

Thoughts & Reflections:

I think that so far I have generated quite a range of ideas, which I could pick which one to move forward with. I think that the receipt one would be interesting however it would be very hard to execute as it would mean that I'd have to go to multiple self service tills in one shop with might be impossible as they tend to not let you do that, as people have to use; and it would possible disturb the workflow and customer traffic. In addition, it might not be appropriate as it can be seen as my trying to look at someones private and personal information. Also, people may actually take their receipt therefore the point of the whole idea would become redundant. 

On the other hand, I think that the dance mapping has the best potential as it's something that i have total control of and is something that I am currently doing therefore it will show a clear true progress and something that can be appealing to a certain demographic and has an interactivity aspect which actually takes the purpose of the map which is to be used by the audience/ user.