Alphabet Soup//OUGD403//Series Ideas

Series Ideas

From my initial ideas I chose to go with the letter X, I think the type face I have based my work letters on works very well (Blackoak Std). The letter is quite big and bold which gave me allot to play with. I decided to go with a series of designs based on the word POP.

 When it came to testing I couldnt find away of piercing holes in the paper to add pop art style dots. I tried a hand drill but that destroyed my paper, the hole punch couldn't reach all the page and a scalpel would not give a neat enough circle so I changed my series slightly.

FINAL DESIGNS

For my final set I started off with adding some pop art style dots then added and shadow on the letter based on a piece of work in my research, from  there I transformed the letter using the 60's pop font style. Finally I changed the letter into popcorn. I am happy with the outcome of the series. I think the letters stand out well on a black card background. It gives a nice contrast between the black and white.

Alphabet Soup//Initial Ideas

Initial Ideas

The image below shows a selection of my initial ideas...

To start off with I printed out some different letters in various fonts. I changed the transparency off the letters to make it easier to draw other. I experimented with different styles. Looking at pop art typography, 60's pop font and literal visual interpretations of the word 'pop' such as a pop corn style letter. I tried to combine a few of the styles to see what worked well. I am quite happy with the outcome. I will look into creating a series of letters that maybe transform from each style...

OUGD403 Design Skills // Brief // Alphabet Soup

Brief // Alphabet Soup

One of the briefs I am working on at the moment is called Alphabet Soup. I have to produce a set, series or sequence of ten visual variations of a letterform (ten A’s for example) that explore and communicate my interpretation of the word that I selected from the randomiser. Which in my case is the word 'Pop' All designs will be based on existing letterforms and designed to a 15cm x 15cm format. There is a limited colour palette of black and white. 

I researched the word pop and found various meanings: 

• to make a short, quick, explosive sound: The cork popped.
• to burst open with such a sound, as chestnuts or corn in roasting.
• to come or go quickly, suddenly, or unexpectedly: She popped into the kitchen to check the stove.
• to shoot with a firearm: to pop at a mark.
• to protrude from the sockets: The news made her eyes pop.
• pop art
  
• popular music: It's the first time she's sung pop
  http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/pop 

From these definitions I'm sure I can come up with something quite creative. There's quite a few different avenues I can go down with 'pop' and I look forward to experimenting with it.

How to : Final Designs

These are the final finished designs for the front and back of each beer mat (12 in total). They were created and designed by Me, while the rest of the group input direction into how they should look, particularly with how they should look as a final set of beer mats. 


Here are the finished images:

We all like the way in which they work well together and look as if they are all part of some promotional set. We now plan to print them all double sided onto thick mounting board or something of the sort and once they are cut out, we will have 12 completed beer mats.

Feedback

Plan of action now that we have received positive feedback following a crit with another blog group: 

1. Discuss printing method with the guy in the digital print resource.
2. Complete designs, correct spelling mistakes, complete final 3 beer mats
3. Source references for facts on blogs
4. Plan presentation format and what we’re going to say
5. Get all beer mats printed and finished

How to : Questionnaire Stuff

 

Wording for each of the beer mats:


General facts / calorie content facts: 


Front: Pints pile on the pounds! Think when you drink. Calories in a pint of beer: 182
Back: Stay fresh for freshers


Front: Pints pile on the pounds! Think when you drink. Calories in a pint of lager: 248

Back: Stay fresh for freshers

Front: Wines a weight gainer! Think when you drink. Calories in a glass of wine: 180

Back: Stay fresh for freshers

Fact or fiction?:

Front: Hang over cure - eggs

Back: Fact or fiction?

Front: Hang over cure - water

Back: Fact or fiction?

Front: Hang over cure - bananas

Back: Fact or fiction?

Front: Hang over cure - burnt toast

Back: Fact or fiction?

Front: Hang over cure - black coffee

Back: Fact or fiction?

Front: Hang over cure - fatty foods

Back: Fact or fiction?

Questionnaire answers:

Front: The average fresher considers a cup of tea and a cigarette to be the best hangover cure...

Back: Stay fresh for freshers

Front: The average student binge drinks 3 nights a week...

Back: Stay fresh for freshers

Front: The average student consumes 1528 calories through alcohol on a standard night out...

Back: Stay fresh for freshers

Now that we have the wording for all the mats, we can create the designs for each one. Following on in the same style and theme as my designs, we are using the same fonts, (Myriad pro and SD Cammello) plus layouts of type mixed with livetraced illustrator images. The designs will just stay one colour each and once each one has been created, we will change colours around so that they all work as a complete coherent set.

MY Initial Ideas

Here are my initial ideas I have gone with the slogan "Stay Fresh for Freshers," this is to try appeal to the student market. The image above shows 3 mats, displaying both sides. I have tried to use friendly inviting colours. I have used Calorie facts to make the students aware how much they are consuming. 

After a group discussion we decided to go with my Beer Mat designs. We will create a set of 12. Looking at calories, fact or fiction hang over cures, and also design some based on the questionnaires we handed out.

Lisa Colliers Design

Lisa Collier's design:

How to: Initial Ideas

Each of the members of the group are going to create their own idea and design for the beer mats, then between us we will choose which ones work the best. 
The size of normal beer mats is 9.5 x 9.5 cm so this is the template size we will be working to. 

Here are some of Andreas Ideas :

All of the beer mats we create will be to this template which is the exact size of actual beer mats in bars. The square shape gives you more room to play with over the traditional circular beer mat.

Andrea 1st Attempt:

This is just a black and white mock up of how I think we could approach the design element of making the beer mats. To grab students attention, we would need a bright, consistent colour scheme, and maybe some small illustrations, although personally, I prefer the use of just typography and layout. I like the use of the simple Helvetica Bold typeface, purely as it grabs attention without distracting the viewer by using a font which could take away from the impact of the statement. 

I like the way the type grabs the attention of the viewer, yet I think for students to not feel like they're being attacked by something which could be telling them that they shouldn't be drinking at all, they would need to something which is more friendly and approachable. 

Trying the same design but in different colour schemes could make it more appealing to students. 

Here are some different colour attempts:  (Andrea Cooper)

I also considered swapping the colour of the outline of the type with the white filling to see what effect that would have on the way the message came across. (Andrea Cooper)

The message here is more subtle, yet still has some level of an impact upon the viewer. After more consideration, the colours I have used could possibly be calmed down slightly. Here is an attempt with a slightly calmer colour scheme, plus one with the inverted colours of the type. (Andrea Cooper)

I prefer the more muted colours used here, yet I'm not sure how much of an impact they will have when it comes to getting the message across. 

We will have a group talk and compare each others designs and initial ideas and see how to progress from there. 

How to : Crit

After our Crit/Tutorial with Amber our group decided to change our method of delivery. We came to the conclusion that these freshers welcome packs were too generic and not that engaging. When I received my pack I ate the free stuff and didn't read any of the information included. So we decided that this pack would not be effective. Everyone knows the basics on how to stay healthy. Putting this in a leaflet form would not be engaging for students.

Instead we accepted the fact that students are gonna be unhealthy and get trashed. So we came up with the idea of Beer Mats promoting the healthy lifestyle. As students are allot more likely to pay attention to a beer mat whilst drinking. Also they are tactile and interesting to look at and also lost of students collect beer mats. So the concept is quite interesting and engaging to students. We intend to research into beer mat designs and find research of what we can put onto the beer mats through looking at calorie intakes from alcohol, questionnaires of what gives people hangovers, etc.

Initial Research

How to : Group Brief

The first group project of the course is focussing around the concept of "How to...". We began by brainstorming 50 things which are new to first years at university, then dividing them up into categories, before narrowing the list down to just 10 items. The short lists of 10 things from each blog group were then split up, put in a box and each group picked 5 out at random. From the 5 subjects we picked, we then had to write a "how to..." for each one. Our group then chose the final question of "How to stay healthy".


From this subject we brainstormed more specific how to questions:

• staying healthy during freshers
• staying healthy during periods of stress
• staying healthy when away from home
• staying in a healthy sleeping pattern
• staying healthy on the Graphic Design course/ a high demand course

We ended up choosing  the idea of "how to stay healthy as a fresher" and began looking into the ways we could promote a healthy lifestyle to freshers in a form that students are more likely to engage with. When each of us moved into our student accommodation before starting the course, we were each given a "freshers welcome pack" which contained flyers about all the freshers events and nights out, plus energy drinks, sugary sweets, chocolate, hand cream, tooth paste, etc. In general, the content of the boxes wasn't actually useful and purely promoted an unhealthy lifestyle. We wanted to work with this idea and, targeting the same audience, promote a healthy freshers week. 

We decided upon a list of things we would need to research and ways to develop the brief:

• questionnaire and interviews (asking friends and flat mates)
• looking into current healthy guides
• planning an outcome - already sorted
• research specific places in Leeds which apply to the guide 
• research hangover cures, and items to put into the boxes
• research winter box objects and "staying healthy tips"
• research logos, typefaces, designs and layouts that are used on existing packaging of a similar theme 
• research into a more "long-term" resolution - making 2 packs (one for freshers, one for winter time) to make the outcome unique from existing freshers welcome packs
• leaflet design
• leaflet wording

Then, through planning and group discussion, we made a list of outcomes we wanted to use for the resolution:

• a box of "staying healthy during freshers" things and a box of "staying healthy during winter" things
• design packaging, branding, logos, labels 
• write and design a short pamphlet/booklet 
• possible power point presentation?

More specifically:

Freshers Box:

• leaflet 
• smoothie
• vitamins

Leaflet:

• contents page plus introduction
• where to eat healthily in Leeds (map)
• 5 a day
• drinking water
• healthy tips
• daily recommendations
• cost cutters (where to shop cheaply) 
• cheap meals
• alcohol - a staged night out
• hangover cure recipes
• weekly planner

“cool facts” included throughout

and we decided that the winter box would just be a proposal instead of attempting to create all of the branding, labels and work needed for the two boxes.

A Selection from my Alphabet