I was commissioned by V&A Dundee to assist in Education Scotland’s fifth session with Tayside Curriculum Innovation Collective, based on ‘Place Based Learning’.

The attendees used the environment surrounding V&A Dundee and Slessor Gardens, to conduct an observational walk, considering how elements of local environments can inspire learning. The participants were first shown an illustration by Alastair Geddes, exploring the impact that natural environment can have on urban life.

I created two rough ideas for activity sheets based on the walk, and looking at how a local environment can change.

Outcome Examples

I created some rough sketches based on a trial observational walk with Schools Development Coordinator, Gary Jamieson. I considered how industries in Dundee could impact elements in present day, such as whaling inspiring the Tay Whale in the Urban Beach.

I then looked at how elements of the environment could be improved to work towards the Sustainable Development Goals, such as clean water and sanitation, zero hunger and sustainable energy.

Colour Version

I created a more finalised version of this outcome, incorporating the Sustainable Development Goals and versions of the past, present and future. The illustration is available to view on the ThingLink site exploring the prompt and session.

Creating the live drawing

As well as creating the example activity sheets, as part of my role as a freelance designer for V&A Dundee, I attended on the Education Scotland event to conduct a live drawing of the ‘Place Based Learning’ session. The session was two and a half hours long, and I recorded the different talks, reflections and activities that took place throughout.

The majority of the pale blue paint, creating the composition of the drawing, was prepared prior to the event. It was based on the area the participants would be undertaking their ‘observational walk’, around V&A Dundee, by the Urban Beach and through Slessor Gardens.

As the talks and sections of the event progressed, areas of information were split using more pale blue lines, to visually separate areas of notes.

I was commissioned by Blackwood Group to create live drawings based on feedback from customers on the future of independent living.

Blackwood Group are an organisation advocating for the rights of disabled people, championing the idea that they can live independently. They create accessible homes and offer care and support for disabled people of all ages.

The purpose of the event was to gain insights on the current views of their accessible housing, and to distinguish the actions needed to improve the homes. The findings would form the framework of Blackwood’s future of independent living.

How did it work?

Initial Plans

The organisers of the event were keen to use a ‘cog’ idea to portray all the elements working together enabling independent living. I developed some initial ideas based on this concept and based on the organisers’ feedback, we decided on the second option. The colours of Blackwood Group’s branding were used to create consistency within their framework document.

Recording Attendees Thoughts

For this event, customers and users would pass by and provide their insights on the five themes; health and wellbeing, social value, neighbourhood and place, technology and sustainability.

I worked with Marie McQuade, who recorded their thoughts on post-it notes for me to transfer onto the board.