Research into the North of England What is the Nothern Powerhouse? ‘The Northern Powerhouse is a vision for joining up the North's great towns, cities and counties, pooling their strengths, and tackling major barriers to productivity to unleash the full economic potential of the North.’ The long term project which is all about boosting the local economy by investing in skills, innovation, transport and culture, aswell as devolving significant powers and budgets to directly elected mayors to ensure decisions in the North are made by the North.
The Nothern Powerhouse are backing business growth right across the North, and giving our great cities the power and resources they need to reach their huge untapped potential.
The Northern Powerhouse geography covers all 11 Northern Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEP) areas as well as North Wales which are : Cheshire and Warrington, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Humber, Lancashire, Leeds, Liverpool, North East, Sheffield, Tees Valley, York, North Yorkshire and East Riding. North Wales is defined as covering: Wrexham, Rhyl, Colwyn Bay, Llandudno and Bangor.
TCS Network wanted to celebrate the achievements of people under 30 who have and are making a difference to the north so invited their readers to nominate people who live and work in the North of England to be listed in the top 30.
In September 2019 The Common Sense Network’ (TCS Network), a news network dedicated to improving the way millennials consume digital journalism, created #NORTH30.
TCS Network found as companies move further up North, dramatic transformations are being made to the infrastructure that mans that the North is becoming more and more attractive to businesses, influencers and moguls across the board.
From footballers, to social entrepreneur, to financial moguls and creatives, The North of the England is home to some of the most successful ‘up and coming’ millennials making an impact and trailblazing in a number of industries; yet attention is often focused on London.
Up North: Primary Research / Survey Results When asked ‘What does it mean to you to be Northern?’ a common theme what came up was that people are down to earth, part of a community, that there is a sense of family amongst friends.
89% of respondants said that they would attend a music event celebrating artists and bands from Up North.
From the survey I found that people felt that as a Northener they did not have as many opportunities compared to people who live down south. They felt that they were more working class and had their own ‘banter’ and ‘slang’. Many respondants also declared their love for pie, chips, gravy and the pub!
An idea was to use music to celebrate The North and to raise awareness surrounding what The Northern Powerhouse was. Due to this another question asked was: If an album was created collating songs from northern artists, how much would you be willing to pay for it? (baring in mind a percentage of the proceeds would go to investing money into young people up north wanting to get into the music)
“Proud to be Northern”
41% of respondants said they would be willing to spend between £11 - £13 therefore if I was to create a record I would price it at £12.
- Response
from Questionnaire In order to get an idea of what colour theme to use for the branding of my idea I asked what colours best represent The North of England the answers were:
Green
Red
White
Black
Who responded to the survey? • People who responded to the survey were aged between 18 - 64 • 64% were aged between 18 - 24 • 72 % were female • 28% were male • 98% were from The North of England
Blue
77% of the respondants either werent familar with The Northern Powerhouse or had heard of it but wasn’t entirely sure what it was all about.
‘Do you think that businesses, professionals and creatives up north are appreciated enough compared to those based in London?’ - 79% answered ‘No’. Additional comments stated that respondants felt that: • Northerners are not given enough credit or recognition • The North is portrayed badly in the media • There is a huge inequality between the North and South divide
Respondants were asked to provide any northern phrases or slang words which they knew of to see if any provided could be encoporated design ideas. Here is what came up:
It’s like Blackpool illuminations in here! Our Kid Off t’shops
Sound Naused
Born in a barn Mam
Wigan Kebab Init
Buzzin’
Cured Boss
Up North: History of the Music Scene The North of England is regarded as a region economically and culturally lagging behind the South of England. However, this situation does not refer to popular music in which the North has had an influence which is comparable to that of London.
The Manchester music scene was reffered to as ‘Madchester’ in the early 90’s, the music from this era was a mix of alternative rock, psychedelic rock and electronic dance music.
Many bands and performers coming from the North, including the Beatles, the Animals, the Smiths, the Happy Mondays, The Stone Roses, Joy Division, New Order, Pulp and Oasis belong to most popular and influential pop-rock musicians in the world. The North has also been the home to some particular dance scenes including Northern Soul, the `Madchester' acid house, rave scenes and hip hop and grime scenes. - (Mazierska, 2018)
The popular British dance-oriented rock music genre, ‘Baggy’ was around the same time as and heavily influenced by Madchester scene, although it was not geographically confined to the city of Manchester. Many Madchester bands could also be described as baggy, and vice versa. Baggy was characterised by psychedelia and acid house-influenced guitar music, often with a "funky drummer" beat, similar to the work of the Happy Mondays, Northside and The Stone Roses. The scene was named after the loose-fitting clothing worn by the bands and fans.
The Haçienda was the most famous music venue and nightclub in Manchester during the Madchester years (1980s to early 1990s). The Haçienda hosted early appearances by bands such as The Stone Roses, The Happy Mondays and so on, as well as many emerging dance music artists.
‘Northern England has a thriving popular music scene. Influential movements include Merseybeat from the Liverpool area, which produced The Beatles, Northern soul, which brought Motown to England, and Madchester, the precursor to the rave scene. Across the Pennines, Sheffield is the birthplace of influential electronic pop bands from Cabaret Voltaire to Pulp, the New Yorkshire indie rock movement of the 2000s gave the country the Kaiser Chiefs and the Arctic Monkeys, and Teesside has a rock scene stretching from Chris Rea to Maxïmo Park. The press frequently frames music stories and reviews in terms of cultural and class differences between North and South, notably in the 1960s rivalry between the Beatles and the Rolling Stones and the 1990s Battle of Britpop between Oasis and Blur. ’ - (En.wikipedia.org, 2020)
Grime music, a genre of hip-hop/rap, has become more popular. Grime music emerged in east London in the early 2000s yet has become more Northeners have began to create and appreciate grime. Although online comments make fun of them, some youths across the North West have even began to make their own tracks and post them online.
“It’s not where you’re from. It’s where you’re at.” - Ian Brown
Up North: The Concept The concept for the ‘Up North’ campaign is to raise awareness around The Northern Powerhouse and the true potential of people and businesses within the North of England.
Using music would be a great way to raise awareness of The Northern Powerhouse and to celebrate the North of England. For the campaign, a music event/festival would be hosted with artists and bands, who are from the North, performing.
Alongside the festival, CD’s/Records and merchendise would be sold prior to the event (to advertise it) as well as at the event. Another additional thought is that a percentage of the profit made from the event, merchendise and album sales could be donated towards supporting young people from The North and their futures, whether it be if they wanted to get into music or with help and support with their own business ideas etc...
The Stone Roses song has a song titled ‘She Bangs The Drums’ which includes the lyrics ‘The past was yours but the futures mine’. Crossing out ‘mine’ and replacing it with ‘Up North’ would be fitting with what the full campaign is trying to say. The band is from Manchester, North of England and famous and target customers would be familar with the lyrics and recgonise where they are from.
“It’s not where you’re from. It’s where you’re at.” - Ian Brown
Up North: Existing Typography Campaigns This typography campaign was created to celebrate gay pride in Australia by using a play on words. The words ‘G’ay Mate’ is supposed to resemble the well known phrase ‘G’day Mate’ which is known to be used by Australians. The creator of this campaign took out the ‘D’ in the word ‘G’day’ to create the word Gay. This is a creative way to link gay to australia.
For this record sleeve the creator of the artwork has gone for monochrome look. They have stuck to one simple font however have overlapped the text so that not all of the letters are visible (eg. the F is missing from the word ‘OF’ and the rest of the text is missing from the word ‘LONDON’). This is still effective as you can still tell what the text is supposed to say.
This ‘kiss my airs’ campagin was created to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Air Max. Again another case of a play on words, the designers used the phrase ‘kiss my ass’ and changed the word ass to airs.
Durex’s ‘Love is Blind’ campaign was created to promote safe sex and awareness around unwanted / teenage pregnancies and sexual diseases. The designer has been creative and used names within words to show that although you might love this person you have to think about the fact that having sex without using condoms means that you are at risk of catching a sexual disease or become pregnant.
This ‘Make your own rules’ piece was created by Jessica Walsh, an American graphic designer, art director and illustrator.
Each of these adverts use typography to show what the product is. Rather than having a image of the product, the designer has creatively placed the words into the shape of a drink.
The designer of this as has been creative and has added bite marks to the word chew, as if someone has chewed pieces of the word away.
“It’s not where you’re from. It’s where you’re at.” - Ian Brown
Up North: Existing Promotional Pieces Some festivals and music events have app’s which usually include headline annoucements, tickets and add ons avaliable to purchase prior to the event, and then have maps, lists of food and drink places, stage times etc for festival goers to use whilst at the festival.
Existing posters to advertise festivals and music events always include a logo, info about where and when it will be held and where to purchase tickets. Usually the headline is the main focus of a festival poster.
TRNSMT festival app has a section linked to spotify where you can listen to the festival playlist.
T-Shirt designs for festivals commonly have the line up for the festival displayed on the back so that people who attend can remember who they went to see at the music event. Many people purchase festival merchendise as a souvenir.
Vinyl record covers always include a logo, artists/band names, song lists, a barcode and any details such as the website of who produced the vinyl etc.. Here are some examples of the artwork for existing vinyl covers:
As the ‘Up North’ Festival will be hosted to help raise awareness about the Northern Powerhouse if a app was created for the festival it could feature a blog/section where information about the Northern Powerhouse could be accessed. Merchendise such as a band T-Shirt etc could also be purchased via the app.