What is the true meaning of ‘neighbourhood’? It’s about the people who live there, the landscape it is set in, the character of the work, lives and nature that gather there. You could say it’s about the personality of the area…
Neighbourhood plans are all about helping people to be part of developing the future, taking control over what happens next and making sure it meets the needs of their future generations. We were delighted when we were asked to work with North Weald Bassett Neighbourhood Plan to help them develop their materials that showed their personality whilst getting people involved to develop their own plan.
The background
The essence of the Neighbourhood Plan is to find out what the most important characteristics are, the things that make the place buzz with life and energy. They are an incredible opportunity to enhance nature, build the economy, create safe spaces to exercise and play and above all create amazing communities to live, work and thrive in. Once accepted it shapes decisions about planning applications for the future, protecting and building the vision created by the community.
The brief
We needed to convey that community spirit in print with elements to reflect the character of the area making it interesting and enticing enough to encourage residents to complete the questionnaire and help shape their future.
The solutions
To make this project fly we took inspiration from the North Weald Airfield, the green spaces and the family homes in the area. With characters and colours that popped from the page we added a burst of energy which flowed through the pages with shapes that interlocked just as people in a thriving neighbourhood do.
The characters, colours and shapes were carried through to the folders containing everything residents needed to take part, and then went on to the results booklet to keep that connection running through the entire process.
The results
We know it’s not easy to engage people to fill in questionnaires when their lives are busy, many have a low rate of return. We were thrilled to learn that 48% of residents responded, an incredibly important outcome when the future is at stake!
People could easily reconnect with the results as the graphics linked back to the original questionnaire and the responses will now go forward to support the detailed development of the plan.
The heritage, landscape and wildlife can be preserved and the community will see how their neighbourhood develops knowing they helped to shape it.
We’d love to support more Neighbourhood Plan Steering Groups because when we paused to reflect we realised they are doing what we do but at a landscape scale. They brainstorm the brief (with a whole community), develop their innovative ideas for the area and develop solutions which excite the imagination. No wonder we felt right at home working with them!
Are you working on a plan for your future? Whatever you need to communicate we’ll bring out the characteristics that set you apart with perfect design for the channels you want to work with. Talk to our design community on 0208 590 0922 or email us at info@marcomedia.co.uk