What if... Secret Leeds Research

Brief: Create three design direction boards showing research based on our rationale.

1. Problem 2. Evidence 3. We Intend To...

This brief is a development on our individually collected research for the Collection 100 brief

The idea for Secret Leeds originally came from a facebook group and website called Secret London that allows members of the public to share secret or less known clubs, bars, parks, restaurants, cafes etc

 

Inspired by Secret London we decided to create a Secret Leeds group of our own to see how much feedback we would get, and as a way to find some lesser known locations in Leeds 

Not many people responded to our group, maybe because there want enough time or maybe because people don't know enough about Leeds? Which actually conforms our problem that people don't know about the quieter, more secluded parts of Leeds. Although this is good, we still needed to find out more information about people's favourite places to go in Leeds, especially the residents. So we conducted a survey and these were the most popular locations...

1. Kirkstall Abbey 2. Yorkshire Sculpture Park 3. Hyde Park Picture House 4. The Pack Horse (Hidden Pub) 5. St Georges Field 6. Nation of Shopkeepers 7. Smokestack 8. Brudenell Social Club 9. Fuji Hiro 10. Park next to Liberty Park 11. Viva Cuba

Leaflets and booklets 

From looking at leaflets and magazines found around leeds we decided that there is already plenty out there for students, so it would be better to aim our project at the residents of Leeds.

Bakelady's tearoom

We further developed our idea by looking at a lady with a concept similar to our own. She has people book on her Twitter page months in advance a tea party at her tearoom set in a secret location, which isn't revealed to the customer until just days before.

We've decided to elaborate on this by creating branding for a 'secret picnic' which will include a picnic set and map taking you to a secret location.

St Georges Field

 Through the use of surveys and Facebook questionnaires, we found a field that is an ideal place for the resident that wants to get away from the busy noisy student life that Leeds has to offer. It is hidden behind Leeds uni and is quite secluded, this would be a perfect location for us to send our picnic goers.

We made three design direction boards to aid our presentation in our mid-way feedback crit.

Primary and Secondary Research

Primary Qualitative: Pictures of St George's field, our opinion was that it was quiet and secluded. We asked a resident and they said that they liked going to St George's because it is quiet and not full of students. As a group we decided that there is a lack of non-student places to go in Leeds.

Secondary Qualitative: 'Bakelady's homemade tearoom'. Bakelady doesn't reveal her address until days before the booking to keep it secret. She referred to it as the 'underground tearoom' and a magazine article has said that it is exceptional value with excellent homemade food and is a completely different way to spend your afternoon.

Primary Quantitative: We created a 'Secret Leeds' Facebook group- out of 20 members 3 replied, although this didn't help us to find more places it supported our thought that not many people know the hidden secrets of Leeds.

Secondary Quantitative: 4 out of 5 leaflets and magazines we looked at were aimed mainly at students.