Phase 2: Week 8
Define, Test and Prepare
Weeks 7-8: External panel evaluation and review | Case study presentations
Formative Phase Outputs
Report outline / plan is to be refined, and logistics of running your studio, practice based project must be defined (project management) as two A4 text documents
Experimental work and testing for your Studio Practice should be clearly presented and peer reviewed by a relevant external critic of your finding (creative directors, design studios, writers, journalists from within or beyond the subject), as befits the needs of the area of your proposal.
Create a two minute case study presentation to be delivered in a webinar format to a creative team / panel, in order to gather feedback from academics and industry professionals. You will also be expected to peer review each other’s presentations via live note-taking. Your case study presentation should include a quote from your chosen external peer review critic / industry specialist.
In addition to the case study presentation you need to provide an A4 written draft literature review that has academic integrity, a bibliography, a clear structure and role of appropriate histories and theories that contextualise and support your idea.
Or if you are writing a business orientated essay / report, make sure you integrate relevant market intel and data to support the positioning and viability of your project.
All outputs to be clearly documented on your blogs, with evidence of active engagement with the Ideas Wall.
Idea Development (yes, even more)
Honed things down further this week. Removing the view from outside which I thought was getting in the way, the two sides weren’t fitting together well.
I may re-introduce it later in the project as a sideline to it, but I think making it an integral part is making the aim of the project unclear.
The outside opinions could make a nice angle when promoting the finished product? Promoting a book using the outside opinions might illustrate the contrast I’ve been trying to shoe-horn in at the start.
Panel Feedback
Susanna
You need to really think outside of the box with your project
you also need to be doing academic research into ways of thinking about club culture, subcultures etc. for example –
broad research but some of it about:
- philosophy,
- psychology,
- the historical underpinning
- the contemporary- speculative into the future.
Me
This is really useful, some good starting points for the main research phase.
The overall feedback from the panel has been positive but with some questions and gaps to fill. Maybe researching these points will help fill those gaps?
Matt Rudd
Knowing what a rich seam cycling and cycling clubs are in terms of current aesthetic, the history, the tribal thing, communities, friendships etc etc, this is a really good subject!
It took me a while to work out the WHY for your project though. By the end I began to see that you were celebrating the whole thing and promoting this interest to others.
As you continue I would encourage you to get as clear as you can on who this is for and what sort of tone you want to go for.
Probably not the slightly belittling vibe of photographer/film-maker Martin Parr, more the warm, inclusive vibe of football photographer Stuart Roy Clarke (https://www.homesoffootball.co.uk/).
I’ll be interested to see in the end how you combine text (quotes?) and images to tell this story. Maybe you could attach this project to an existing club that would actually like to use it for their own purposes?
Me
Reassuring feedback in that my presentation revealed what I was thinking! Yes, I agree the ‘who is it for’ is something which needs to be made clearer.
The photography styles mentioned are what I’m looking for, I think I need to look further into these to identify the differences between them and the style-led images used in most current high-end cycling publications, and where are they going to come from?!
I like the thought of focussing on an existing club, it narrows the field in terms of what to ask. Think of the difference focussing on the Police Service made to the Oppo project rather than all the emergency services.
Perhaps the outcome can be rolled out to different clubs to build a library?
Brian Clark
Club cycling culture – what is it that creates a club culture
- Looking at Stereotypes
- What does your club mean to you – belief systems / tribal behavior?
- Why are people joining them – the outdoors, health, friendships
- Strong editorial style around the whole Rapha, Condor, but this is a well ridden path!
- What do you want to achieve – is it the new cyclists – the mamils
- Very niche
- How do we grow from kids, to adult’s fitness, to life long racers
- Are there new tribes that are emerging because of covid or cycling innovation – e.g. electric bikes
Me
Agree; Rapha, etc. is a well-ridded path – extremely well-ridden. I need to avoid simply slotting into this style and content, what’s the extra step in mine?
I think some looking into why people join the clubs will help determine a clearer audience; if I find what’s attracted members that could be highlighted to attract more?
‘How do we grow…’ this suggestion seems to reflect some kind of biography about a pro-rider; where they started and how they go to where they stopped. This could perhaps be used to create a prologue? A summarised story from a pro-rider looking back to their club days and telling the story of what gave them the ‘thing’ to take it further?
New tribes – could this be seen as a study of a particular point in time, now… do I want to highlight this point in time? Lots of people are already, in lots of different ways.
More people have taken to cycling during the Covid lockdown(s), bike shops are flat-out with up to a month-long wait just for servicing or repairs!
Anna Mankee- Williams
Interesting project and could provide some real insights – I like the triangulation approach
Is the question the right one?
How does the research question add cultural value?
What is the impact?
Where is the impact?
Is there something around the fringe culture of the group?
Me
(The triangulation approach is from something I said but I’m not sure what it was.)
This feedback holds the questions I need to crack, they’re the simplest questions but the hardest to answer.
What’s the value, where does that value come from, who is it for?
Rosanna Vitiello
Clean and clear
Love the way you look for the reasons, rituals, unwritten rules, military pride
Q:
Look up Max Leonard and Camille J Macmillan — writer and photographer on cycling but also culture
Explore the weirder end of culture and clubs — e.g. look up Max Leonards Rough Stuff Fellowship Archive
Or the missing aspects? E.g. black cyclists, women cyclists, old cyclists, brixton nihilist
How does this work abroad, as there are different cycling cultures in different places?
Mix self-image and club cycling culture with descriptions from the 3 words
How do you draw out Cultural Value?
What would be missing from your life if the club didn’t exist?
What has the club helped you to do that you never deemed possible
Me
Glad the ‘looking for the reasons’ was picked up because I still think that’s a key part to answering whatever the brief becomes.
Perhaps an alternative to looking at your typical club cyclist/cycling club would be to look for those aimed at specific sections of society; ethnicity, gender, age. Do I want to go down that route and look for those in particular?
That would have an easily recognised cultural value, and the subject of black cyclists on pro-teams is a point that has been raised a lot during the Grand Tours, but would I then just be re-highlighting an issue?
Student Feedback
Apologies for the photo but someone quoted the lyrics below…
I like to ride my bicycle, I like to ride my biiiiiiiiike!
I love the stencil font, but I would get rid of the ellipses and set it in a squarish block?
This project could apply to a lot of sports clubs too, if you wanted to broaden it later.
I understand your reason for preferring not face to face. I think that you’re right and that it is something a participant would need to chew over.
How are you going to get good photos from people around the world?
Could people be anonymous? You don’t want people to feel they are being alienated for what they’ve said (though I assume they won’t be in a club if they don’t like it)
Nice format/design for Instagram posts too!
Could you also map some clubs to see if there are geographical trends?
Me
If I focus on single clubs then yes, different sports could also be included in the library.
Where the photos are going to come from is a real problem to solve. I’d struggle to get to places Covid or not.
An Instagram page is an interesting idea, permissions would need to include this. Geotagging the clubs would also be an interesting exercise.
Very nice presentation! Interested to see where you take this one, I think there’s still a few directions it could go in. My main question was who the target audience is – is it for cyclists or would I (not a cyclist) enjoy it, for example? Is it to encourage cyclists to join clubs or is it to encourage anyone to become a cyclist?
I liked the example photos you included and I think the final outcome of this could feel quite real/raw – maybe an interesting contrast to most published materials you see about cyclists – glossy magazines, Halfords etc. I would like to see the ‘real’ side of cycling, the good bits and the bad, and not just the stereotypical images you see of cyclists in lycra – which sounds very much like what you’re aiming for, so that’s great.
I found Rosanna’s ‘flipped’ questions really interesting and wonder if you will experiment with these at all. She mentioned asking something like ‘what would you do without your club?’ and I wonder if there is a link between that and covid – for example ‘how did your club help you through a crisis?’. This might help you get more varied responses, as I wonder if there will be a lot of repetition or similar answers asking what the club means to them?
Me
Who’s the target – this is a key point to answer. I’m hoping it will reveal itself as I research the histories and psychologies, etc.
The real side – Joe Bloggs on his bike – is what I’m aiming to get across (unless the sections-of-society approach takes over).
Agree on Rosanna’s flipped questions, I think this angle could be what makes the project different.
– At what is the average age of the people in the clubs and how does this affect the culture and atmosphere?
– Is there a hierarchy within the clubs and what does this look like?
– What has happened to these clubs during COVID and lockdown?
– What do the highs and lows look within the club? How can you document this?
Me
More points to include in the Q&A.
I think the high’s and low’s could be something I also ask members – it could be interesting to see if anyone admits to a low-point.
Feedback from Andrew Diprose
Perhaps partner with someone doing a journalist or creative writing course at Falmouth for a mutually beneficial project? A ‘live brief’. Share contacts. Reach out to others in the University. Some nice copy will take the project further.
It’s how work for Ride Journal has been created.
Ask: What journalists do I know to help get the words together
Perhaps depends upon the scale and ambition for the project.
Reflect the before and after in a publication as chapters? Reflect this in the writing, people’s expectations, their tactics for a race, their training. Represent the race in a different way and then after, get soundbites or responses to the ‘before’ status; this/that went wrong, etc. Also the joy it brings, not just what went wrong. The feeling of being in a race, the achievement.
Makes the outcome a story, could allow for more graphic styles; before, during and after. Build a framework to hang off.
Andrew Diprose – Perhaps partner with someone doing a journalist or creative writing course at Falmouth for a mutually beneficial project?
A good idea for some extra collaboration, keeping it in the family also. I’ve looked on the Falmouth University website for the writing courses and I’m not quite sure which would be the most relevant.
I’ve contacted Dr Jennifer Young, as Head of Writing and Journalism, I guessed that she would be the one with the widest reach and able to point me towards the right person if it’s not herself.
I’m waiting for a reply.
Reflection
Thin on the ground this week – still feel unsure of direction, not quite in control. Pick the points out of the feedback and investigate to find their uses.
Update: Looked back over the feedback in more detail and added responses which meant I really had to think of answers and write them down, more successful results come that way!
Many questions raised can be included in a Q&A which I’m working towards to run alongside the ‘What three words’ question. Relevant to the outcome or not, if you don’t ask you don’t get.
Questions from the other side: Who is this aimed at? As the idea sits at the moment the audience will be those already interested in cycling who are looking for stories connecting them to other enthusiasts with stories and insights into other clubs.
Also, the aim is to encourage those on the brink of taking up cycling with a club but aren’t yet sure of any benefits they might gain. As I felt on joining my first cycling club when you don’t know what to expect it can be nerve-wracking. If there’s an insight into club-land it could break down the barriers of the stereotypical cyclist; he (usually) was once the newbie too.
