For the alphabet soup brief I decided to do some basic research into 'type' and 'letterform'. I currently subscribe to 'Grafik' magazine and so decided I might find some inspiration here. There was a special feature on transparencies within Type (photographed below), which gave me my inspiration, as the transparency of the letterforms gives the impression that the type is layered upon one another. This looked really effective and so I experimented with layering type myself. I also Collected some research within the college of Art, from a previous student who created a similar design, layering different letterforms on top of one another to give a distorted appearance, (photographs below). I also researched 'layering paper' and looked into how you could fold paper into different letterforms and the layers of paper would look really effective. 

Here are some of my researched images below;

Above are the images I collected from 'Grafik' edition G192, the typography research guided my main idea and was really inspirational. I think it strongly relates to my idea and the word 'layer' and so I was able to relate to the images more thoroughly. 

Above are some primary photographs I collected of work by a previous Leeds College of Art student. They related well to my previous research and allowed me to take a different inside. The simple composition looks really effective and allows the audience to focus on the main central point on the design.

Above is some more research from the same project earlier research. This looks really effective, and this well focused image allows us to see the detail that has gone into each individual letter form.

I then did some online research looking more heavily at structured layers, and deepening my research into transparencies within typography. Andrew Paglinawan's work was heavily focused on Type, and so I used his designs to inspire my initial ideas and focus points. 

I then furthered my research and took a different perspective to 'layers', looking at physical layers and how paper can my folded into different shapes to create typography. I decided that my in depth research into both 'transparencies within type' and 'physical layering' worked well, and I decided to combine the two to create my idea, using the physical layering of letters with the initial 'transparencies within type' idea. I used acetate to represent the layers within type, and each letter had a different 'letterform' on. When you place the sheets of acetate together you can see through to the previous letter form giving this layered effective, that is create using transparencies. Because the type had to be created using solid black and no gradients, it was difficult to use 'transparencies within type' directly and so by layering acetate I created the same appearance whilst representing the word 'Layers' more heavily.

Some further research into 'layers' and 'layering type' resulted in the discovery of the typeface which I think is really powerful, the simplicity speaks for the piece and expresses the word 'layer' effectively.

To inspire my work I decided to research the word 'layer' itself, looking into the dictionary meaning. Here is some research I collected from this investigation, and the outcomes I came up with;

LAYER [ley-er]

1. To make a layer of

2. To form or arrange in layers

3. Horticulture (to propagate by layering)

I then decided that using a thesaurus to find different words with the same meaning would also aid my research;

LAYER [ley-er]

discoid, esquamate, filmy, flaky, foliaceous, foliated, ganoid, lamellar, lamellate, lamellated, lamelliform, laminated, laminiferous, membranous, micaceous, overlayed, scaly, schistose, schistous, scutiferous, squamous, squamulose, stratified, stratiform, tabular, tegulated, slice, shave, pare, peel, delaminate, plate, coat, veneer, cover

For the Context of Practice module, OUGD401, we have been asked to express some of the things we love and some of the things we hate, here are a few examples of pieces that I feel very strongly about.


1. First of all I really like the work of Kyle Bean, an Illustrator from Brighton. He uses paper to create the beautifully crated scenes, which capture their audiences. His work is unique and inspiring, and the rich colours compliment one another within the design.


2. I love Collage. I found a collage artist in one of my books recently, whilst researching different designers. His work is very intricate and has a distinctive 'vintage' appearance. He began sketchbooking in 1990 and for twelve years his work was a very private art before 2002 when his work became more public and he is a renowned collage artist in New York, America. 


3. A pet hate of mine is 'multicoloured' designs, with no colour themes and swirly vector graphics. This has a very cheap(tacky) appearance. I think the designs are overused, and often misconstrued as 'Graphic Design' when in fact the design is very 'immature'. 


4. I love simplicity. Bold colours, minimal text and clean imagery is really effective. The combination works well together and communicates a message clearly to the target audience. The fewer words the more noticeable the advert/design becomes and the more striking it is in appearance. This also links in to my love of type, over the coming months and years I hope to expand my understanding and knowledge of typography within design. 


5. Finally, I end on a hate. I can't stand messy things. I am a very organised person and I keep everything neat and in order. I can't work in a disorganised environment where there is no structure. This is a personal pet hate of mine, and some people would consider it 'OCD', however if things aren't neat and organised I just get stressed out and can't focus.

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The last bit of research for the beer mat design wording comes from calculating the average calorie intake from alcohol for students. As part of the questionnaire, we asked students to list roughly what they would drink on an average night out during freshers week. We then used the Alcohol calorie counter to calculate how many calories each student would approximately consume, then took the average from all 20 of the results. 
(http://www.drinkaware.co.uk/tips-and-tools/drink-diary/)


Here are the results with the average:

Questionnaire number	Number of calories
1	1221
2	1970
3	589
4	944
5	312
6	1336
7	1962
8	1612
9	1222
10	2442
11	3907
12	1278
13	1651
14	1305
15	1309
16	723
17	2442
18	2412
19	1245
20	674
Average:	1527.8

The average comes out as being 1527.8 (which we will round up to 1528). Although this is not entirely accurate for students everywhere, they questionnaires were answered by students at the college that we are presenting to, so the statement is targeting them specifically. 

We are going to use the research we collected from the questionnaire to help us find wording for the beer mats which is aimed specifically at the first year students we're trying to promote the idea to. We have questioned 20 of our classmates and other first year students at college and these are the results we collected:

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Which of these alcoholic drinks gives you the worst hangovers?
Tequila Slammers	x						x		x
Sambuca			x	x	x			x		x
Red Wine										x
White Wine		x				x
Beer
What would you consider to be the best hangover cure?	Toast & tea	apple juice	cup of tea	coffee and cigarettes	tea and food	sprite, cigarette, tea	smoothies	greasy food and a long lie in	sleep	food & milkshake
On an average night out during freshers, how much alcohol do you consume?	5 beers	small bottle of vodka, small bottle of southern comfort, 2 pitchers, 4 shots	2 shots sambuca, 2 shots apple sourz, 2 vodka cokes, 1 litre puff pop	half a bottle of wine and about 6 jack daniels and coke	3 double vodkas	half a litre of vodka, 3 jagerbombs, vodka coke	30ml vodka, 6 shots, 10 beers	3 strongbows, jagerbombs, shots, vodka & mixers	1 bottle of wine, 2 shots, 4 jagerbombs	lots of whatevers cheap
On average, how many nights a week would you go out during freshers?	3	3	4	5	2	2	2	3	4	5
When drinking, do you honestly know where your own limit is and when to stop?	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	no	no	yes	yes	no
How many calories do you think you consume from alcohol on a night out?	a lot	too many	1000	1000	no idea	over 1000	50,000	1500	2000	1000+
Have you ever suffered from memory loss the morning after a night out of heavy drinking?	yes	no	yes	yes	no	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes
	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20
Which of these alcoholic drinks gives you the worst hangovers?
Tequila Slammers				x			x
Sambuca	x				x
Red Wine			x	x	x	x		x		x
White Wine	x
Beer		x				x			x
What would you consider to be the best hangover cure?	cheese and lots of water	orange juice and full english breakfast	sleep and water	fry up	BLT	water, alkazeltzer, bacon	sleep	half cooked/ half raw egg	fanta fruit twist	full english breakfast
On an average night out during freshers, how much alcohol do you consume?	10-15 pints of beer	16 pints	4 G&Ts, jagerbombs, shots	4 - 5 pints, vodka mixers	4 or 5 cans of beer, 2 vodkas, a few jagerbombs	6 or 7 bottles beer, 5 or 6 vodka mixers	7 vk’s	5 or 6 malibu and cokes	several beers	10 drinks and shots varied
On average, how many nights a week would you go out during freshers?	2 or 3	3	4	3 - 4	6	4	2	2 - 3	1	3
When drinking, do you honestly know where your own limit is and when to stop?	most of the time	yes	no	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	sort of
How many calories do you think you consume from alcohol on a night out?	2000	over daily allowance	havent a clue	1000’s	not sure	approx. 3000	200	don’t know	3000	no idea
Have you ever suffered from memory loss the morning after a night out of heavy drinking?	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	no	no	yes	yes

From these results, we have worked out the most common answers which will be used to create some of the beer mats. 

Here are the most common things people said in response to the questions:

Worst hangover drink	Sambuca
Best hangover cure	cup of tea & cigarette
Alcohol consumption	(to be calculated later)
Nights out a week in freshers	3
Knowing your limit	yes
Calories consumed	1000
Memory loss?	yes

From here we can now create more of the beer mat wording.