Design Process - Wayfinding System research

Starting off my investigation into the Leeds rave scene of the 1990s, I decided to look at some of the venues in which popular events at the time were held. One Venue that interested me in particular was the Corn Exchange, as it is a well known and iconic building in Leeds. However, many people don't know that in 1992 an event by Orbit and Ark took place in the Corn Exchange. Being an old and historic building in the city centre, there were complications during the scheduling of the event by local authority, as it deemed events such as this unsafe for the venue's structure.

Beginning my research, I began to study pictures and plans of the Corn Exchange from the past and then compared them with the Corn Exchange today. Other than the purposes of the building, not much has been changed physically, meaning we can still recognise the architecture and layout of the building as being traditional and historical. This may prove useful later in the project when gathering first hand sources to use for the aesthetic of my work.

Next I began looking more in depth into the events held at the Corn Exchange during the 1990s. I came across an article by Steve Hulme, a tour manager and musician, who explained how the event Orbit and Ark at the Corn Exchange came about. Before organising the event, Steve had directed other events, including Yorkshire Television's 'Calendar Fashion Show', which were big successes for him, as he had arranged the DJ's to play these events, which gave him a sense of how the Corn Exchange may hold a certain amount of people.

After looking at the events held in the Corn Exchange, I looked at further information into the DJ's that attended the Orbit and Ark event in 1992. I found set lists from the night that include music from Rob Tissera, Dave Angel and Paul Oakenfold. This gave me an opportunity to listen to some of the tracks played that night, giving me a more clear understanding of what aesthetic would best suit my designs in relation to the genre. Furthermore, I found a particular playlist of Paul Oakenfold's on Soundcloud that played the set list in order, showing each song mixed with one another.

For the aesthetic design approach to the project, I looked at work from the 90s that reflected the type of designs that would have been used for posters for events such as this. The first artist that was an inspiration for the designs was David Carson, as his work showed how text can be manipulated and resized in a collage fashion. This would also be combined with imagery and variation of colour. This designer could my attention in particular because I imagined my designs being able to work alongside the photographs I had taken. It would also give me the opportunity to explore the project typographically to see which designs would best suit the aesthetic, meaning a choice of typeface would be essential when designing. 

The other artist that inspired the project was David Rudnick, who's work showcased a variety of 90s designs, particularly focused around the rave culture of the time. This artist inspired several designs because the aesthetic used by Rudnick were reflective of the designs previously used in the Corn Exchange Orbit and Ark event posters. In this way, my work in the project could have used elements of the style to communicate the style to the intended audience, which would be recognisable to people familiar with events such as this.

 Work by David Carson

Work by David Rudnick