DIGITAL DESIGN: RESEARCH FOR PROJECT 1

PROJECT 1:

1. Choose a neighborhood, region, or geographic area of New York.
2. Create a 10 second animation promoting that place to a specific market, using typography as the graphic element.

PLAN:

I chose Prospect Park in Brooklyn as my location and am going to promote it to runners.
The animation will focus on the surrounding neighborhoods and the Park Drive running path.

RESEARCH: 

HISTORY:

• The hills of prospect park were formed by debree form the Wisconsin Glacier, about 17,000 years ago.
• The highest hill is Mount Prospect or Prospect Hill, 200 feet above sea level, located at Flatbush Avenue and Eastern Parkway.
• The Battle of Long Island took place in Prospect Park, during the American Revolution. 
• A commision was formed to explore sites for park space in Brooklyn, after an April 18, 1859 act of the New York State Legislature.
• James Strahan wanted a large park in Brooklyn, to attract wealthy residents. Egbert Viele drew up a plan that placed Prospect Hill at the middle of the “Mount Prospect Park,” divided by Flatbush Avenue
• The Civil War delayed planning, in 1865, Calvert Vaux - famed designer of central park- was asked to Review Viele’s plan. Vaux formed a new design that included Grand Army Plaza and land ranging south, bordered by flatbush Avenue, rather than devided by the avenue. 
• Frederick Olmstead and Calvert Vaux built the park and it was opened to the public on October 19, 1867, while still under construction.
• It was controversial to build one large park, rather than many small local parks in different neighborhoods. Many view Prospect Park as Olmstead and Vaux’s masterpiece... as the saying goes, “they built central park, then they went to Brooklyn and got it right.”
• The park was essentially completed in 1873, though certain parts of the design were never included, because of financial panic in 1973. 
• In 1934, Robert Moses became commisioner of the parks. The Prospect Park Zoo was built in 1935 and the Bandshell was built in 1939.
• The park is 585 acres and has 8 million visitors each year.
  

SOURCES:

• http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/16/the-roving-runner-prospect-park/?src=twt&twt=nytimeswell
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prospect_Park_(Brooklyn)
• http://www.upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f2/Brooklyn_neighborhoods_map.png/400px-Brooklyn_neighborhoods_map.png
• http://www.brooklynroadrunners.org/funruns.htm
• http://www.prospectpark.org/visit/activities/running

OTHER RESEARCH:

I saw this on a design blog. The book examines New York from a geologic perspective. It seems somewhat relevant to the neighborhood project:
http://fopnews.wordpress.com/2011/08/20/geologic-city-a-field-guide-to-the-geoarchitecture-of-new-york-book-launch/