Daniel M. BoomeOUGD303Brief 1:Meanwood Valley Urban FarmBoard

Background

Meanwood Valley Urban Farm is a working inner-city farm and a registered charity. It offers learning opportunities and programs for families and the local community, including workshops and play schemes for disadvantaged and delinquent youth as well as disabled groups.

The Brief

Meanwood Valley Urban Farm are in process of updating their existing web presence and information outlets to become more accessible to a modern audience. They required a new interactive digital map to feature on their website.Along with digital map should be it’s application across mobile digital platforms, it’s application in a physical environment, updated directional and information signage for the farm itself, and a new branding identity and related merchandise.

The Concept

The map itself needed to be easy to navigate and simple to decipher while being appropriate for its family audience. Across the range of products, including the map, there is a balance between two contrasting ideas - first, a very clinical aesthetic and influence to keep information delivery simple, and second, a more friendly tone due to the nature of it’s intended audience and context.

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Daniel M. BoomeOUGD303Brief 1:Meanwood Valley Urban FarmBoard

Design Direction

The pictograms for the key and directional signage are image based silhouettes for the animals and simple icons for locations. The focus is on clear, precise instruction, with bold simple colours. Each icon has been designed specifically aimed at a younger target audience without being childish or cartoony.

Type

The typeface used is LondonBetween, an updated version of the typeface used for directional and road signage across London from the early 1920s to the 1950s. It has an authority an instructional tone without being boring or rigid, using a number of counter and stem devices to make it appear more friendly.

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LondonBetween Regular

Pantone DS 176-1 U

Pantone DS 108-1 U

Daniel M. BoomeOUGD303Brief 1:Meanwood Valley Urban FarmBoard

Design Direction

The MVUF identity reflects through form and colour the nature and name of the farm. The main logo is shaped like a farmhouse, with the corners rounded to make it softer, while the ‘M’ and ‘V’ form a valley/peak combination to illustrate its position as a riverside based location.

The colour has been specifically chosen to rep-resent the natural surroundings of the farm itself and it’s unlikely position within an urban environ-ment.

GeoSans Light Regular

C=89 M=45 Y=50 K=20

The main identity typeface chosen is GeoSans Light. As a fine weighted typeface it reflects the friendly nature of the farm and the work they do in the community.

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Daniel M. BoomeOUGD303Brief 1:Meanwood Valley Urban FarmBoard

Delivery

The main delivery point for the map is in MVUF’s online presence, to inform incoming visitors of the attractions, activities and animals on the farm, and so they can familiarise themselves with its layout previous to their visit.

The newly refurbished website also includes the new identity and colour-scheme, including typeface and logo.

The visitor find’s the map on the ‘map’ section of the website, which is a small version of the map. The visitor can then click the map to enter an enlarged, larger than full screen mode where they can drag the map around. When clicking on the icon for the various places of interest, a dialogue box of brief information about that area of the farm will appear, with a link to the relevant page on the website.

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Daniel M. BoomeOUGD303Brief 1:Meanwood Valley Urban FarmBoard

Delivery

As part of MVUF’s move into the modern digital era, I also designed an iPhone application for visitors incorporating the new interactive map.

The app has been designed as a tool for those about to visit the farm but also for those who are already there, providing information about and direction around the site and its areas.

As the main focus of the application is the map itself, it has been designed for this to be on the home screen after the loading page (1 & 2).

There are two main features of the home page: the map itself and a navigation bar.

By taping the small map, first a dialogue box appears with a short set of instructions on how to use the app’s map (4) with a ‘touch to close’ command that will, similar to the website, expand the map to be explored (3).

As the user navigates through the map by swiping across the screen, they can tap any icon and a dialogue box opens up with all the information and images of the selected location or animal. The user scrolls through this information and then touches to close.

At all times the header bar featuring the logo is present and tapping this navigates the user back to the home page.

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Daniel M. BoomeOUGD303Brief 1:Meanwood Valley Urban FarmBoard

Delivery

The navigation bar at the base of the app leads to four main pages: Events, Opening Times, Directions and More.

The Events page features a calendar of the year where the user can tap a month to view the events running during that month. By tapping the event it expands further to give a brief description of the event or activity and any other essential information such as contact details.

The Opening Times page features just that, the opening times, along with the contact details and address for the farm.

The Directions page has a built in google maps satellite navigation system, which finds the users location and provides real-time directions to the farm.

The More page provides any additional information about the farm, including admission charges, other notices and links to follow the farm on various social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

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Daniel M. BoomeOUGD303Brief 1:Meanwood Valley Urban FarmBoard

Range

As a registered charity and a nonprofit organisation with a nominal entrance fee covering only costs of running the farm, like many museums and galleries it requires other revenue streams to provide vital extra funds. This can include merchandising opportunities aimed at visiting families and school programs.

There are a range of products that have been branded and produced to increase the range of products available for sale at the farm. These items can provide and extra source of income to aid in keeping the farm open and operational, and can be produced for a relatively small amount, therefore with a large profit margin.

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Daniel M. BoomeOUGD303Brief 1:Meanwood Valley Urban FarmBoard

Range & Context

The merchandise can also be worn by members of voluntary staff and activity attendees at the farm.

It would be available for sale within the existing cafe/shop area, with the possibility for expansion into an online shop on the website and through the MVUF app.

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Daniel M. BoomeOUGD303Brief 1:Meanwood Valley Urban FarmBoard

Context

At the entrance to the farm, located just after the car park, is a large bulletin board and map. The new map would be affixed to this, providing visitors who do not have access to the app, or have not viewed the map online, a large-scale map to plan their day’s visit with and find out about the areas of the farm that might be of interest to them.

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Daniel M. BoomeOUGD303Brief 1:Meanwood Valley Urban FarmBoard

Context

The brightly coloured signage would be fixed to animal pens and stations, and directional signs can be affixed to preexisting posts. Smaller directional signs featuring just the icons can be fixed around the farm at knee-level to provide a fun activity trail for small children to follow.

Starting from the entrance point, visitors can plan their day at the farm by using the large map to work out where they wish to go, then follow the directional signs to their areas of interest. The colour separation of buildings/sites and animals aids in the navigation of the site.

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