Design for action
Brief
Research
What is renewable energy?
The most common types of renewable energy are:
- wind power
- solar power
- hydroelectric power
- bio energy
Books
I decided to look at some books to get some inspiration for this project.
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Videos I have found useful
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Kinetic energy
I wanted to look more at kinetic energy as since this project to do with communities I wanted the community to feel involved and kinetic energy would be a great way to do this as it can be created from simply walking, riding a bike or driving a car.
Statistics of energy floors
Kinetic floor tiles create between 2 and 8 watts of energy per step. Some examples of how this has been used are:
- At the London 2012 Olympics, 12 tiles were installed along the walking route to the Olympic Park. Between them, they generated 72 million joules of energy.
- At the 2013 Paris marathon, 40,000 runners generated 7kWh between them as they passed the finish line.
- For Berlin’s 2017 Festival of Lights Pavegen worked with the city to create an installation that used footsteps to power a dazzling synchronised lighting display spanning 26-square metres. Over a hundred thousand joules of energy were generated in the first 3 days alone.
How many times would you have to step on a kinetic floor to light up a light bulb?
I did some research and found out that an LED light bulb needs around 10 watts of energy to be used for two hours per day. Just one step on the kinetic floor create up to 8 watts. Therefore for a 13 hour day at school, to supply energy to one lightbulb at the school you would only need to step on the kinetic floor 33 times (this is the maximum amount as this would be needed if the kinetic floor only produced the minimum amount of watts)
Hydroelectric energy
The reason I am looking at hydroelectric energy is because the community around me is based around the lakes which could be used to create renewable energy.
Biomass energy
I started looking at how waste could be turned into energy such as food waste and plant waste. This could be done by local farmers or just the community in general. This can happen through anaerobic digestion.
WOW - Walk to school challenge
This is a project that I took part in when I was young and at school. It really got me excited to walk to school which is good as it prevented creating pollution from going in a car. I also like how this project taught me about the environment and how to save energy and how it rewards children through badges. Another thing I loved is how they did competitions to design the next badge which encourages the children to be even more involved.
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Existing community projects
I decided to look at some inspiration and look at some existing community projects.
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St George's college solar sports hall
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Low carbon hub
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Places affected by energy
Schools
“Even with this cap, many schools will still find they are left facing much higher bills than budgeted for, which will necessitate extensive cuts to their educational offer. We are also very concerned that schools do not have any certainty on costs beyond six months.”
The government said a school using 10 megawatt hours of electricity and 22 megawatt hours of gas a month would currently pay around £10,000 a month.
The government said a school using 10 megawatt hours of electricity and 22 megawatt hours of gas a month would currently pay around £10,000 a month.
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School funding in Cumbria per student
Care homes
"There's a great deal of concern on a number of points, and energy is an obvious one as it has been an absolute nightmare," said Mr Poole, who says his home may even have to look to go off-grid and use solar energy in the long term.
PE and sport premium for primary schools
My community
I did some research on my community to see what renewable energy we currently have.
How to educate others
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Initial ideas
Project playground
One of my first ideas is to do something based on kinetic playgrounds. This will encourage kids to learn about renewable energy and why it is important in a fun and active way. These playgrounds don't need to be just for kids and can be used by adults. In my town we have a park and it has a building next to it which the community uses to get food and meet up with friends so the energy made by the playground can be used to heat that building up so people can use that building instead of their homes.
Project gym
Another idea I had was making the community gym a place where people can work out and create renewable energy through kinetic machines such as bikes and kinetic floor. Similar to the floors from the Coldplay concerts. This encourages people to be more healthy while also helping the environment. The energy created could be used to heat rooms in the gym so people can come and use it as a community space and meet up with friends so they don't need to use energy at their own homes.
Another idea I had was making the community gym a place where people can work out and create renewable energy through kinetic machines such as bikes and kinetic floor. Similar to the floors from the Coldplay concerts. This encourages people to be more healthy while also helping the environment. The energy created could be used to heat rooms in the gym so people can come and use it as a community space and meet up with friends so they don't need to use energy at their own homes.
Project farm
Where I live there are a lot of farms so it would make sense to encourage the farmers to use their animal and plant waste to create. biomass energy which could be used to heat up the communities homes. This could even provide local farmers with more money and support locally instead of going to big companies to get energy.
Where I live there are a lot of farms so it would make sense to encourage the farmers to use their animal and plant waste to create. biomass energy which could be used to heat up the communities homes. This could even provide local farmers with more money and support locally instead of going to big companies to get energy.
Community bake off project
We could encourage the community to grow their own crops and then on certain days of the months they could do a community feast and help feed those who struggle. The plant waste could be used to create biomass energy which could be used to heat up the building the feast is held at.
We could encourage the community to grow their own crops and then on certain days of the months they could do a community feast and help feed those who struggle. The plant waste could be used to create biomass energy which could be used to heat up the building the feast is held at.
Community walks project
I had the idea of creating kinetic roads and then having group community walks which will help provide energy for the town. These could be themed walks where people can dress up or even similar to existing walks there could be a karaoke walk. Encourages people to communicate with others
I had the idea of creating kinetic roads and then having group community walks which will help provide energy for the town. These could be themed walks where people can dress up or even similar to existing walks there could be a karaoke walk. Encourages people to communicate with others
Kinetic Playground
Brief
Create a brand which encourages and educates children around the ages of 8-12 years old on renewable energy by introducing them to a kinetic playground which helps light up their school.
Exploration
Before I created my brand I wanted to do some exploration on the subject to get some visual ideas
Brand name
I decided to name my brand Spark. The reason for this is because the definition of spark can mean many things such as a small flash of light produced by electrical discharge and a sense of excitement. I felt like this really fit in with my brand as it is a brand which creates light energy through excitement.
What do I need to design for my brand to educate the children
I have decided to make a list of things I will design for my brand to help educate the children
I have decided to make a list of things I will design for my brand to help educate the children
- Children's stationary kit ( Pencils, rubbers, sharpeners, books, worksheets)
- Educational Posters (For around the school)
- P.E Kit
- Prizes (Schools can compete to make the most energy)
- Possible video explaining what kinetic energy is
- website
Photo exploration
first I went to Pinterest to get some ideas and a bit of a mood board as I need inspiration for what my brand will be like
Brand values
To make sure I create my brand in a successful way I need to make sure I look into what the brands values are so that I can create work which tells the audience the brands message. I have came up with some of the brand values below:
- Eco-friendly
- Fun
- Educational
- Community
- Energy
- Impact
- Sustainable
Colour palettes
The audience of my brand will be children aged 8-12 therefore, the colour palette for my brand must be very eye catching and colourful as children are more attracted to these bright colours and it encourages them to learn especially in a playful way.
I wanted to create some of my own colour palettes.
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After creating my own colour palettes I decided to create some looking at photos which relate to my brand.
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Typefaces
before creating a logo I wanted to look at typefaces I feel are suitable for the brand and audience. I started at looking at some handwritten and childlike typefaces.
Logo thumbnails
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Logo development
I made one of my drawings into a vector to create a logo however I didn't think the typeface went very well as it looked too perfect. I felt like a handwritten type would look better since the image is hand drawn.
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I started playing around with the character a bit.
I wanted to see if I could make the logo more interesting by using more than one colour.
I wasn't a fan of the type faces so I decided to try and make my own handmade ones to fit the drawings.
For my first typeface I just wanted it to look quite scribbly like a previous typeface I used. Below is the results. I personally think the lines are too thick and if I do it again I would try and make them thinner.
For my first typeface I just wanted it to look quite scribbly like a previous typeface I used. Below is the results. I personally think the lines are too thick and if I do it again I would try and make them thinner.
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For this next typeface I wanted the writing to look like a Child's handwriting so I did it with my left hand. If I were to do this idea again I would probably get an actual child to have a go. I don't think this typeface worked very well.
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I tried putting my handmade typefaces with the drawings I made.
After doing more research on my target audience I felt like my colour palette and ideas were a bit too childish and young. Therefore I decided to scrap these ideas and try a more age appropriate approach.
Looking back at colour palettes
I decided that the best way to understand my audience is look at their interests and take colours from those.
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I then started to create a few of my own
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Development
I started by scanning one of my ideas on illustrator and creating it into a vector.
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I started to try and create a cleaner version of these ideas
I started looking at which typefaces would be best
I then started experimenting with the colour of the logo.
I experimented with what the logo was holding however, I felt the lightbulb was too much
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I then started playing around with the placement of the icon
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I was finding the black type too harsh and not as playful.
I experimented with having a tagline for my brand and how It would be positioned if used.
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I started thinking of the type of imagery my brand will use.
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I looked at my colour palette one more time as I felt like there were too many colours and it wasn't communicating what my brand values are.
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I started to add my logo to t-shirts on kids playing on a playground
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I decided to scan in my own doodles so to try and get some images which were fun and playful and not so serious.
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I started putting the logo onto the actual playground
Website design
I started off with some rough basic ideas however it was feeling a bit boring.
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Competition Badges
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Park
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Advertising
To make people aware of our brand we will collaborate with a cereal bar company called graze to encourage children to have a healthy breakfast on the go. They will have a chance of winning a golden ticket to win a kinetic playground for their school.
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Final presentation
Changes from feedback
The first feedback comment I got was to make the 'm' on my first slide a lowercase.
Another bit of advice I got was to round my logo type. I decided to try and look at a more rounded typeface. I looked at Arial rounded. Personally I didn't like this idea although I agree the type needs work I wasn't a fan of the rounded edges.
I then used a tool to round the edges of the Helvetica type and I preferred this look over the others I tried.
Another bit of advice I had was to make sure my doodles all matched together and made sure they were a different colour as they were difficult to see.
Another comment made was that I should get a celebrity involved to bring awareness to the brand. One person recommended was Joe Wicks.
