Birmingham Commonwealth Games

Through exploring the range of interpretations, it has allowed me to appreciate the historical influences on Birmingham and the value this holds to the people who live there now. This dramatically contrasts with the upcoming modern city that we see today. My overall aim for this project is to create a campaign that is for the people of Birmingham that is honest and creative, by using the Commonwealth as the catalyst. This Dramatically differentiates the approach to advertising an event, through using the ideas and case studies that perfectly reflect and build this project visual. I will be supporting this with the Commonwealth’s campaign by using similar corporate approaches with a brand guideline I will create. Additional to the guidance, I will create campaign posters, banners, flags and vinyl to encompass these ideas as if it was a realistic campaign that could inspire future events. By using a unique approach, I aim to influence others to be more aware of the honest and artful approach for creating a visual language. 

By the end of this project, I hope to achieve a precise and dynamic campaign for Birmingham’s Commonwealth. I will do this by exploring different themes that depict a different approach to visual branding compared to other generic sporting events. My project will encompass the ideas of critical ideologies in the modern culture in Birmingham; Dadaism, self-expressionism and minimalism, to name a few. I aim to make my project capture these ideas by creating a brand campaign that differentiates itself from other generic sporting events by exploring the range of these interpretations. It has editorially allowed me to appreciate the historical influences on Birmingham and the value this holds to the people who live there now. This Dramatically contrasts with the upcoming modern city that we see in today’s portrayal of Birmingham. 

The ground-breaking author Guy Debord and his novel “Society of the Spectacle” is a significant influence in identifying a critical problem in this field of area. It is identifying the problem with consumerism and its portrayal of messages to its audience. It goes further to argue that we are currently slaved by designs and its fake screen on the society he predicted the consumerist persona that is relevant today. More specifically, it highlights the branding and visual communication, which is vital when brands create campaigns and events becoming similar and misunderstood for its purpose. 

A theme that interlinks a possible solution is the Situationist City, which influences many design movements such as Dadaism, and self-expressionism, which its purpose was designed to rebel against capitalistic society. Using psychogeography that was created by the situationist allows a natural approach to finding my own visual space that needs its own identity. With Birmingham being a neighbouring city to myself, it becomes more emotionally attachable for me as a designer.