Ashleigh Armitage

St. Chad’s Broomfield cricket club has served the local community of Headingly for over 140 years. The pavilion had fallen into significant disrepair and required substantial redesign to meet the current and future needs of the club. Armitage and Hamill, in collaboration with Architecture colleagues and undergraduate students, devised the interior and external super graphics of a new pavilion for the club. This co-design project explored how live design projects in proximity to the institution can provide learning and professional practice opportunities. The collaborative process of design questioned the traditional demarcation between design practices (such as Architecture and Graphic Design) and the role of client, designer, and student, ultimately advocating for a less hierarchical approach. The St Chad’s Pavillion project provides a model for collaborative and interdisciplinary ways of working within Higher Education that benefit local communities. The integration of design thinking across the disciplines resulted in an inclusive, non-hierarchical approach which has been extended to members of our local community. It has established a pedagogy which supports interdisciplinary and relational ways of working that can continue across Architecture and Graphic Design. Motivated by empowering a community to realise and manage the future of its assets, this co-design project enabled our students to experience first-hand, the significant contribution they can make, as designers, to the communities in which they live. This co-design project has been the catalyst to empower members of our local community and our students. It is an important community space which will enrich the lives of residents. It will continue the legacy of St. Chad’s Broomfield cricket club and its annual programme of cricket events. It will also enable to the club to commercialise the space for wider community events.

Armitage and Marston led the visual communication strategy for the Re:Mission Study—an NHS low-calorie diet programme—translating complex clinical research into accessible materials for both patients and healthcare professionals. Collaborating closely with health researchers and a Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement Group (PPIE), the project resulted in an animated patient journey film, a short explainer animation, and an illustrated summary document for practitioners. This interdisciplinary collaboration addressed a significant gap: prior to this intervention, there was no central, accessible source of information about the NHS low-calorie diet programme. By involving both researchers and patients in the co-design process, the team developed materials that bridged the gap between clinical research and public understanding, responding directly to real-world needs. The project distilled 20,000 words of clinical research into engaging, easy-to-understand formats suitable for a broad, lay audience. These materials are now embedded within NHS platforms, raising awareness of Type 2 diabetes remission strategies and encouraging behaviour change across the UK. The outputs have been distributed in GP surgeries and were presented at the Diabetes UK Conference in April 2024 to 2,000 delegates from academia, policy, and healthcare practice. The Re:Mission project has influenced national guidelines, reshaping how the NHS delivers Type 2 diabetes care. The collaboration between creatives and health researchers provided invaluable learning, ensuring the development of communications that address public health challenges. Ongoing qualitative research led by Louisa Ells will assess the long-term effects of these materials on healthcare practice and patient outcomes. https://remission.study/summary https://remission.study/patient-journey