OUGD505 - Studio Brief 01 - Research

After my recent peer crit, I was told to focus on three previous events in Leeds. I decided to look into these further through research. This can be seen below

Unity Day
After extensive research on this subject I found it was created in 1996 after a number of riots in Hyde Park in 1995. These riots happened after a series of police raids in nearby houses where a number of drugs and weapons were found. This lead to locals rebelling by setting cars alight, conflicting with police and eventually burning down The Newlands Pub (owned by an ex police man).

Through the aftermath of these riots came Unity Day, an event set up for residents on Hyde Park to come together and celebrate the various cultures, music and fun activities in the area. Since 1996, this event has become and annual tradition and brings an ever growing crowd each year.

Black Lives Matter

Thousands of people came together and marched through Leeds city centre in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.

The demonstration met for speeches outside Leeds Art Gallery, before marching along Boar Lane and ending at BBC Yorkshire.

It's in response to the fatal shootings of Philando Castile and Alton Sterling by police in the US.

Speakers included victims and the families of those subjected to racial abuse including police brutality. I was lucky enough to attend this even and took some photos to help document my experience.

This is a very current issue so my posters could be portrayed in a number of ways. I could create a poster for before the event, bringing people together and highlighting the issues or create a poster that makes people want to get involved to help tackle the issues on a larger scale.

Le Tour de France

In July 2014, the Tour de France came to Leeds for its Grand Depart. This has been described as one of the best starts to the tour ever with thousands of visitors flocking to Leeds City Centre. As I was a semi professional cyclist at this time, I was fortunate enough to take part in the event, riding before the professional peloton from Leeds-Harrogate. Because of this, I have a lot of knowledge about the event along with a number of photos to work alongside this which could help influence my poster.