Wait

The exercise required a leaflet design inviting people to volunteer for a task via a leaflet with 120 words of information. A number of tasks were mentioned as examples and I really liked the idea of the community garden. The key aim of the exercise was to find a way of making people actually pick up the leaflet.

I hadn't completely decided on what people were being asked to volunteer for, but as I played around with the sheet of paper for a while I stumbled upon a plant pot shape - taking me back to the idea of the communal garden/guerrilla gardening. The space was big enough for sufficient information to be printed onto the front and back of the plant pot - with the front as the appealing 'sell' and the back containing the more mundane details. However, although relevant to the project, in itself I realised it would not make people want to pick it up - which was the whole point of the task.

I then came up with the idea of a flower growing out of the plant pot. A flower would be appealing - it is sufficiently different to make people stop, and interesting in itself - particularly to the very group that are being targeted (those who would give up their time to do some communal/guerrilla gardening). It would also lend itself to being plucked or picked. I looked at a number of flower designs and realised how subjective they were - giving me the idea of using a range of Flowers, thereby maximising the appeal of the leaflets.

Because the plant pot tapers in shape, I realised I had created a natural stand for the plant pot - although for it to work I had to reduce the length of the stem to make the whole leaflet balance. I then realised that to have all leaflets standing like flower pots would, in practice, take up too much room when displayed. Having the pots all on show would also remove the element of  mystery: one of the key aims was to get people to pick the leaflet up to find out why they were where they were. However, I retained the flaps so they could be displayed and kept when the person taking them got home: making it more likely they would volunteer.

Because of the communal nature of the project I decided that the project would work best if promoted in libraries and shops local to the proposed garden. To minimise the space required, and thereby maximise take up in libraries/local shops, I would have them displayed in a clear perspex holder. I would then have one leaflet laminated and secured to the front of the holder and have this laminated plant pot blank: it is more aesthetically pleasing and it ensures the leaflet is in the person's hand before they know they might have to do some volunteering. A range of flowers in a range of heights (sunflowers, poppies, roses, daffodils, daises) would then sit in the holder.

It was refreshing to use a physical object as the idea itself. I was surprised that, in a way, it made it easier as it was clear as I played around with different shapes of paper what was most aesthetically pleasing and what shape would be most likely to be picked up. It also made me constantly aware of the compromises that might have to be made between these two demands. I found it more useful working with the object itself rather than using thumbnails or sketches. I think this was because I was keen for the leaflet to work practically.