| A
group of young people contribute to
the development of posters exploring
themes of fashion, fair trade and consumerism.
 Setting
A partnership between a development
education centre (Norfolk Education
and Action for Development), and Norfolk
Youth and Community Service, working
locally on a housing estate in Norwich.
The
project
Development
education workers and youth workers
wanted a set of simple resources to
help them stimulate discussion with
young people around issues to do with
fashion and shopping. They were looking
for something that would help them
explore the journey of a product from
raw material to the shop on the high
street.
An ideal medium to
do this was using a poster, or a series
of posters. Ian Richards, a part-time
information advice worker in Norfolk's
Youth and Community Service, was part
of a steering group who carried out
the original concept work for the
posters.
The steering group
took their initial design ideas to
a group of young people at Norwich's
Urban Adventure Project. "We asked
them to say what works and what doesn't,
what appeals and what would make it
more exciting" says Ian."They came
up with suggestions, which I fed back
into the steering group."
The aim was twofold.
On the one hand, the project was committed
to making a nationally available resource
so the steering group wanted input
on what would appeal to other young
people. The project was also about
raising global issues with the young
people, building and extending their
perspectives and understanding.
 The
challenge wasn't just tackling the
issues around designer labels. It
was also about giving the young people
a chance to look at their conformity
to norms. Why do they want to follow
someone else's lead in terms of fashion?
Exploring the impact on the South
was important and it was linked to
the choices individual young people
make, their image and identity.
"It
started off with discussing the editorial
content of the posters. Then we started
to look at food and media and all
sorts of things. It was a really good
starting point for a piece of work
that lasted for a couple of months."
How
important was it to have the posters
as a product?
Ian
regards it as valuable but not the
priority. "I think we would have got
into discussion anyway. But to have
an end focus and a finish point gave
it a really nice rounded feel. Sometimes
you can do this type of work and leave
questions unanswered. That's not an
unhealthy thing. But on this occasion,
I was able to go back a couple of
months later and say here you are,
'here's the outcomes of what you've
done'."
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