SB2 Idea Research

Chosen Event:

I have chosen to create my work based around the Leed’s west Indian carnival, this is based on my initial research. My research influenced me to choose this event because it is reoccurring every year, meaning people will understand it when they see it. The event is also 50 this year, as well as the biggest carnival event of its kind, calling for more of a celebratory tone in the design itself.

The history of the carnival: 

Leeds west Indian carnival was created by Arthur Francis, who came to the UK from St Kitts-Nevis in 1957 to study. In 1966 him and his two friends, who were also from the Caribbean, organised a fete, based around Caribbean culture as they were home sick, they organised a parade alongside the fete. The first time the carnival took to the streets of Leeds was in 1967. Arthur remains the chair to the carnival committee.

West Indian carnivals appeared in London two years later, in contradiction to people thoughts who consider Notting Hill as the first and the largest west Indian carnival.

The carnival was created because of the curators child hood influence of seeing shows at home which went hand in hand with carnival performances.

Arthur States: ‘Carnival also reminds us of our roots, the struggle our ancestors had to bear, the oppression of our leaders, and great role models, but not in vain, for while we continue to celebrate carnival their achievements will remain with us forever’.

Online Presence: 

Website

The website cosists of a colour scheme of deep purple and yellow to contrast against this background. Purple is a vibrant colour, representing the colours present in the carnival, through costume and performance. The website is adaptable depending on what you are viewing it on opening up to a wider audience. This colour scheme is something which is consistently used by the carnival year by year, therefore this is something I will be taking into consideration when completing my design. 

Facebook

There are differences and similarities in this page in comparison to website for the event. The website shows a more modern and contemporary focused approach to the design. the logo is simplistic and memorable as well as representative of the carnival. Although this is not the same logo that is used on the Facebook account, the logo here is neon and actually a completely different design, the only thing in common is the simple style, in a vector flat image style. Another similarity used here is the used of bright vibrant colour to depict the visual nature of the carnival.

Twitter

Leeds west Indian carnival’s twitter visually connects with their Facebook page, but this again is different to the logo and identity of the website, this breaks the brand identity. Although it does again show its link to colours, the bright pink is complimentary to the colours found in the image used as the header and picks out some of the colours in the image.