Reflecting On My London Trip

So, I got back from my trip to London in the very early hours of this morning. Since then I have been through the photographs I took and have began annotating these. I believe this was an invaluable research trip for me, as it allowed me to look at the way different toys were packaged. If I eventually decide that I will make the imaginary friend into a ‘purchasable’ and ‘tangible’ product, it will be very important to get packaging which complements the brand and suits the target audience.

My initial trip to the Museum of Childhood was very productive, and I ensured that I photographed all items which may even be just a little bit useful. I looked at different graphic styles and considered how these were well targeted to the youth consumer. I also visited the gift shop where I picked up leaflets and small items for my sketchbook, which I believed would really help to develop the theme of ‘childhood’.

I then had a lot of time to spare, so I hopped on another tube and went to the main Victoria and Albert museum, although the displays within this museum are mainly historical sculptures and installations. However I did find the odd item which (in its time) was directed at the youth market, I therefore photographed these – there would be no harm in me taking the promotion of a child’s product and delivering it in a traditional method if there is evidence that this was successful at the time.

I also considered how I would format my sketchbook. I decided that I would like this to be really creative – I desired the sketchbook to match the child market – I could use a knife to cut out certain shapes are allow the reader to see through to the section below etc. Tomorrow I must have decided whether to opt for card and then to get this bound, or whether to work in a sketchbook format.

I have also spend my day conducting research about the type of imaginary friends which people have / have had, and whether their parents or guardians at the time were supportive about it. I therefore used Survey Monkey to create a small questionnaire. This was only very brief – and I ensured that it was anonymous, and this is a topic which would be considered very ‘embarrassing’ to discuss, therefore people would be reluctant to answer if they were required to provide their name.
So far, over 40% of my respondents have an imaginary friend. I left part of the questionnaire in open-answer / essay style format, to try and encourage discussion. Here is one example of an answer provided.

I also continued to use Yahoo Answers to facilitate discussion around the subject. I must bear in mind that if I am to include these questions in my written report, I will not be able to acknowledge the individuals who provide the answers, rather I will have to say ‘respondent 1’, ‘respondent 2’, etc.

My next aim is to have written the campaign proposal for this new idea, ready to show my course leaders tomorrow. I will update the blog and include this proposal in it once I have done so.