Big Issue vendor
After researching Big Issue by using their website we found it was quite a generic description of what they do, we wanted to find out what Big Issue do on a personal level so the next step would be to interview an actual vendor to find out what effect the Big Issue has had on them and what they do to help. Unfortunately we didn't get his name but we did photograph his vendor license;
After researching Big Issue by using their website we found it was quite a generic description of what they do, we wanted to find out what Big Issue do on a personal level so the next step would be to interview an actual vendor to find out what effect the Big Issue has had on them and what they do to help. Unfortunately we didn't get his name but we did photograph his vendor license;
Vendor interview
We didn't want the interview to be too personal incase we caused any offence so we asked only a couple of simple questions relating to his relationship with the big issue and what benefits he has got from becoming a Big Issue vendor, I conducted the interview whilst Sam recorded it using a Dictaphone;
We didn't want the interview to be too personal incase we caused any offence so we asked only a couple of simple questions relating to his relationship with the big issue and what benefits he has got from becoming a Big Issue vendor, I conducted the interview whilst Sam recorded it using a Dictaphone;
V: Just about a year now.
H: What are the benefits of selling 'The Big Issue', how has it helped you?
V: It's a big solid support there, I mean I've just finished a basic DIY course for a company called Latch; they buy up derelict houses, do them up and then put homeless people in them once they've finished. So I volunteered for four months of the 12 month program and got onto that through 'The Big Issue'. It's just a massive support group there to help you get back onto your feet. They even help with just the simple things like getting back into the work set of mind, getting up every morning to get out and do something; it gives you a bit of self respect as well.
We intend on extracting key words from this interview to create a grid on which we'll base the typeface on. Based upon my research into the meanings of shapes we intend on giving the words extracted a shape which will then be generated into a pattern/grid. Unfortunately there was a street sweeper going past us at one point so we had to write down some of the words instead of recording them, therefore some words that appear below aren't in the interview transcript.
- Support
- Network
- Self respect
- Self belief
- Motivation
- Unity
- Protection
- Security
- Housing
These words are all very representative of what 'The Big Issue' means to those who it affects the most: the vendors. From these words, we are going to look further into the meanings of shapes and create the grid from the shapes that best represent the words above. We have also thought about the name of the typeface, considering naming it after the vendor that we spoke to. From the photograph above we noticed that his name wasn't on the card, but was replaced by a vendor number. From this, we have thought about perhaps naming our typeface something along the lines of 'Vendor No. 30'.
We also purchased this weeks issue of Big Issue to get a feel for the magazine itself and to analyse the current typeface, logo and layout.
