DEPARTMENT FOR BUSINESS, ENERGY & INDUSTRIAL STRATEGY

Repositioning Graphic Heritage

Project disclaimer

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Description

This two-year project explores the integrative process through which people experience and are informed about urban heritage in graphic images. Looked at through the lens of graphic design, it will establish a clearer understanding about the core knowledge and understanding that heritage professionals must grapple with when they need to communicate with the public about the heritage experience. These competencies are consolidated in graphic design as brand visual identity, digital design, film and animation, packaging and point of sale, print and advertising, retail and environmental design. Graphic design is uniquely placed to provide the essential tools for communicating heritage in the twenty-first century. In recognising this important contribution the research will provide new opportunities for creative industry practitioners concerned with enhancing China's cultural development as well as in the UK. Graphic design draws together important knowledge and skills such as typography, illustration and photography, which provide the bedrock of creative input for depictions of cultural heritage, as well as the basis for co-design activity that engages and exploits both professional and public interests in urban heritage. The first phase of the project in year one is exploratory and will concentrate on establishing a taxonomy of urban graphic heritage objects in both the UK and China. Field visits in Shanghai, Leicester and other UK destinations will trace the visitor experience of heritage through its graphic images. This will generate a body of visual data, for example, in-situ photographs, and this will be organised into a classification system. This may include, but is not limited to, the role of transport and pedestrian signage (e.g. wayshowing) in wayfinding; other symbols that identify heritage products, services and experiences, such as pictograms; websites and other digital designs that augment the visitor experience; or site-specific moving images that narrate and educate us about heritage. The intention is to provide built environment professionals with a fuller understanding of the increasing need to inform and promote heritage experiences. The second phase in year two is more experimental. Using participatory design approaches it will use the taxonomy to generate heritage graphic prototypes that represent both public and professional perspectives on the purpose and realisation of commemoration and memorialisation. Co-design methods will bring together people from different interest groups to decide on and design representations of urban heritage. From this we will produce a suite of innovative designs that assimilate content and creativity to suggest new ways of working for creative industry practitioners in China and the UK. This phase will incorporate contentious aspects of design between east and west such as multiple language uses in relation to local-global perspectives on heritage. New design paradigms will emerge that form the basis for a briefing note for urban planners working at different settlement sizes, from the villages to the megacity. The aim is to foster good working relations between academics, businesses, policy professionals, community groups and other organisations who are committed to supporting the mutual development of the creative industries for urban heritage in China and the UK. Through a combination of field visits, journal and conference papers, practice-led and practice-based approaches, participatory design, public exhibition, and digital archival practices the findings will be widely available. The project will establish new methods for recording, archiving and interpreting graphic images of urban heritage, acting as a model for further work beyond the project for application by other researchers globally and in particular those countries eligible for overseas development assistance.

Objectives

The Newton Fund builds research and innovation partnerships with developing countries across the world to promote the economic development and social welfare of the partner countries.

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Location

The country, countries or regions that benefit from this Programme.

China

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