Approach

1. Research

As a part of the project, we’ve conducted an extended research. We even visited Birmingham Smithfield in order to feel it’s spirit. Our research was divided in three parts:

PAST: Cultural and philosophical research, as well as history of the graphic representation of the area.

PRESENT: We identified and categorized the existing offers and experiences of the area. We identified to whom the existing offers and experiences are provided to and what people were using the area for.

FUTURE: We needed to know how the area was going to change and how the new project was going to affect people.

2. Solution

The next step that we took was to design a wide range of materials in order to test the broad effectiveness of the possible solutions.

Research

Birmingham is the second largest city in England. It began as a Saxon village. In the early 12th century it grew into a town. In 1166 the King gave the Lord of the Manor, Peter De Birmingham, the right to hold a weekly market at Birmingham. Once a market was up and running merchants and craftsmen came to live in Birmingham and it soon developed into a busy little town.

In modern days Birmingham city's total population in 2001, according to the 2001 UK census, was 977,099. The 2005 estimate for the population of the district of Birmingham was 1,001,200. The population in Birmingham is predicted to increase by 12.2% (121,500) from 992,100 in 2003 to 1,113,600 in 2028.

Birmingham has a younger population compared to England as a whole.

The city of Birmingham has developed a masterplan for developing transformational change in the city center. The Big City Plan has been shaping Birmingham since 2010 and it has outlined a structure to modernize zones of the city and provide support.

Birmingham Smithfield Market is an important part of the plan. Birmingham’s markets have played significant role in the city history. They have helped the development of the city over the years, making it a vital part of West Midland of England.

We have been commissioned to develop a logo and a visual language to support the Birmingham Smithfield Markets campaign. The main objectives of the campaign is to

highlight the importance of the area and to tell the story of the local people.

When we started the research of the visual heritage of the project, first we looked into the buildings, the one that were there over the centuries, the one that are there and the one that will be there. Soon we realized that was not the way to approach this.

We decided to go to the basics, back to the history, so we started looking into what made the city great. We realized that the

traditions of the hard working people is what has always moved the city.

So we looked into this closely, to find out the significant founding father of the city called de Birmingham family. That is where we found the key identity elements that we believe will make the area stand out again.