What evidence did you find to support your decisions?
Secondary:When gathering evidence my role was to collect as many types of exsisting maps and as much information as possible that was targeted directly as cyclists or travel issues relating to Leeds residents. To do this I visited tourist information points at places where large volumes of people enter the city such as bus and train stations where I found a huge selection of maps, but only one directly aimed at cycling in the city - and this wasn't very clear or easy to follow.
Primary:Whilst out and about collecting maps I decided to document my views of cycle lanes and facilities that I encountered. I discovered that the cycle lanes that currently exsist are quite disjointed and erratic which would cause any new cyclists to the city much confusion that could easily prove off putting when faced with busy rush hour traffic jams. In terms of bike parks I found that in many cases it was private business and places like universities that had their own as I found there to be a lack of public ones which meant bikes were found chained to railings around the city.
Primary: After collecting some initial secondary research as well as some images, our group set about canvassing opinion by conducting a questionnaire based around problems gathered from previous research. The results are shown below:
1. For what purpose are you in Leeds?
Study: 19
Live: 58
Work: 8
2. How do you currently travel around/to Leeds?
Car: 10
Walk : 40
Bus: 18
Train: 7
Cycle: 6
Taxi: 4
3. How much on average does travel cost you in a week?
£0-5: 39
£5-10: 14
£10-15: 8
£15-20: 16
£20+: 8
4. Would you ever consider cycling as a primary form of transport?
Yes: 42
No: 33
Maybe: 4
Already Cycle: 6
No because..
Practicality: 4
Safety: 8
Can't ride a bike: 1
5.Do you think there is enough information about cycling around the city?
Yes: 11
No: 61
Don't Know: 13
6. Would you feel safe cycling in Leeds?
Yes: 19
No: 66
7. Do you think there is ample opportunity to cycle in Leeds?
Yes: 44
No: 28
Don't Know: 13
Quantitative: Statistics gathered on cycling in Leeds compared to other cities in the UK an Europe.
Birmingham: 1.4%
Liverpool: 1.73%
Newcastle: 1.75%
Manchester: 3.24%
Nottingham: 3.67
Leicester: 4%
Bristol: 4.8%
York: 12%
London: 13%
Copenhagen: 46%
What methods of research did you find useful and why?
Personally I found going out to specifically look at at, document and photograph cycle lanes and facilities was very useful as prior to this I wasn't very knowledgeable about what already exsisted.
In terms of what aided the project most I would say that the questionnaire was most useful as we gathered eighty five responses that provided more in depth, higher quality research. The secondary research was another part I found very useful as initially it was difficult to decide what to go out and research specifically but the secondary data gave us some good starting points.
How did these inform your response to your problem?
By obtaining this higher quality research we were then able to more accurately pin point problems to focus our attention and subsequently address them through our work. Also the secondary information proved very useful as it was often gained from reliable sources such as government and councils which increased the validity of our data.
What methods did you encounter as problematic?
At the same time as being the most useful I found the questionnaire one of the most problematic methods as it was quite difficult to get responses from a wide age group in a short space of time.
How did you overcome this?
Due to the time limits, in order to get responses from a more varied age range we asked parents, relatives and tutors but most of the responses from the questionnaire came from students.
What research could you have carried out that would have proved more useful?
Ideally If given more time, I think our project could have benefitted from a focus group where we could have gained valuable, in depth views that could really have pushed our project towards solving a specific point or problem that regularly affects cyclists in Leeds.
5 things I have learnt about the design process over the last two weeks:
- Sometimes you have to work with group decisions that you may not find as interesting or motivating.
- Must be conscious at all times that the resolution must be appropriate to the subject.
- Stay committed to the project even when the subject doesn't inspire you.
- The design process is often more important than anything else as the way you go about this will be apparent in what you produce at the end.
- Importance of informing myself thoroughly about a subject when tackling issues I am unfamiliar with.
5 things I would do differently next time:
- I would have tried to change the direction of the project at the very beginning as cycling isn't really a subject that interests me very much.
- I would make sure that throughout the project, the resolution stays appropriate to the subject.
- I would try to gather more focussed research so that we could have addressed a more specific issue.
- I would have tried to implement more original hand drawn design work as I felt our work was based too much on symbols and simplistic imagery.
- Finally I would also have encouraged the group to set up a brand new campaign rather than developing the exsisting 'THINK' campaign.
