Beer Identities: Layout experimentations

Throughout these experimentations structure and layout was considered as the layout throughout the book will conform less to the grid as the dialog develops in order to match a night of drinking as well as how drunk each personality will be.

Clueless:
The main consideration when conducting these experiments was to make the phrase very clear and obvious in order to eliminate confusion (see figures 1-2) when the phrase is read as the pages within the publication will also be manipulated to make them difficult to read. However I felt these experimentations lacked structure and could be split up to aid readably. This lead to experimentations (see figure 3-6) using the page fold to divide the phrase evenly, creating more structure to the page whilst aiding readability. Consequently I feel figure 6 is the most successful experimentation as it effectively communicates the phrase to the reader leaving little room for confusion whilst the manipulation to the page which will be developed later will provide the confusion which will be solved once the page is open. This processes mimics that of the bar staff explaining themselves.
Figures 7-8 look at repetition based on the amount of time the bar staff spend explaining beer to clueless customers who ask a lot of questions. However I felt these experiments where too busy and failed to clearly convey the message to the viewer.

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4

Figue 5

Figure 6

Figure 7

Figure 8

Half Pint:
Throughout these experimentations the main consideration was fitting the phrase within half a page in order showcase the half pinter. Furthermore as the experimentations developed highlighting the frustration felt by bar staff when customers repeatedly order a half pint also became a priority. Figures 1-4 look at how to convey shouting through the written word leading to the use of capitals to highlight the annoyance. However this wasn't effectively showcased in figures 1-4 due to the lack of contrast between the words resulting in a lack of impact on the reader. Consequently figures 5-13 focus on creating a contrast between the words in order to emphasis 'fucking' to convey the annoyance of the bar staff. Furthermore these experimentation look to make the phrase slightly difficult to read as the half pinter is one of the moderate drinkers in the pub. Furthermore I feel figure 7-8 are slightly too difficult to read when compared to other experimentations (see figures 9-13) and the fact that the half pinter doesn't drink that much. Personally I think figure 13 is most effective as it effectively showcases the annoyance of the bar staff by aligning the other words within the height of 'fucking' allowing this to be the first thing readers see upon opening the page. Additionally placing 'fucking' on its side hints to the loss of control shown throughout the publication.

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4

Figure 5

Figure 6

Figure 7

Figure 8

Figure 9

Figure 10

Figure 11

Figure 12

Figure 13

The Nurser:
As the nurser is the least drunk personality they layout can be quite simple and easy to understand as they are practically sober. Figures 1-3 explore emphasising the need for the nurser to be barred to show the anyone to the bar staff which works well due to the contrast between the little and large text. However this contrast makes the small text difficult to read which is not necessary for the nurser as this is supposed to be the legibly page of the publication. Figures 4-5 are particularly difficult to read due to the multiple changes in size of individual words which disrupt the flow of reading. This difficulty is not in line with the sober nature of the nurser. Upon reflection of previous experimentations I decided to remove 'but i don't know how' in order to more effectively show the dislike for nursers as the use of 'he needs to be barred' is a more direct and powerful message due to its length. In order to make the nurse more legible figures 6-7 follow a basic column grid system allowing the phrase to be repeated to show the number of small sips taken by the nurser when drinking. Personally I feel figure 7 is most effective as the clear separation between each repetition of the phrase further aids legibility when compared to figure 6.

The student:
As the student is commonly known as a heavy drinker the layout needs to convey the loss of control felt by this personality. The experimentations bellow are based on research conducted by Cambridge University which states the letters in a word can be in the wrong order but if the first and last letter are right the word can be read. I've used this theory to show the loss of control and 'drunkness' of the student whilst still making the words readable which is further reinforced by by altering the positioning of the words on the page, causing the reader to move the book around to be able to read. Figure 5 aims to further the difficulty for the reader by repeating the phrase on the basis that this will become blurred when read by the read, as the book follows the dialog of a night of drinking. However upon reflection feel non of the experimentations bellow effectively show the loss of control I aim to show throughout the book, therefor I plan to experiment with different processes such as letterpress to show the loss of control acquired through drinking.

The local:
Initial experiments (see figures 1-3) where very primitive and failed to represent the characteristics of the local as they fail to convey the amount the local drinks. This lead to experimentations looking at the use of moving the words around the page, causing the reader to move the publication in order to be able to read the phrase. Whilst conducting research many bar tenders said the local in the bar is usually very friendly and can hold there drink due to this the layout had been kept quite sturdy as the local can hold there alcohol but the users interaction is difficult to represent the amount drank. However upon reflection I feel the experimentations could be furthered to make the hard to read to represent the personality more effectively. Personally I feel figure 7 is most successful as breaking phrase up more causes the reader to move the page more. However this experimentation still feels too structured and would benefit from further exploration by flipping the words to further complicated the reading process.  

Flavour finder:
Initially it was difficult to identify a solution to showcase the characteristics of the flavour finder as it I found it difficult to visualise the characteristics provided by the client. However I focused on the finding aspect of the personality which resulted in hiding the phrase within a body of text (see figure 1). The act of finding the hidden message is as hard as trying to understand where the flavour finder finds the different flavours and tones within the beer allowing for the characteristics of the flavour finder to be conveyed. Upon reflection I felt initial experiments highlighting the message in bold (see figure 2) was too difficult to identify as the flavour finder drinks beer for enjoyment so are not likely to be very drunk so the process of finding the message needs to be quite straight forward. This lead to experiments placing the phrase on the back of the body of text so when the page is turned the message is revealed (see figure 3). Additionally this could be furthered by incorporating the use of a cypher to help users find the message within the body of text, making the page more understandable. i plan to experiment with the use if a cypher during production experiments however the implementation should be fairly simple. 

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Downer:
The downer is likely to be the most intoxicated personality in the pub therefor its page needs to be the most difficult to read resulting in the use of the research conducted by Cambridge. Throughout the experimentations (see figures 1-3) below I've focused moving the letters around more than in previous experimentations to avoid letters sitting next to those they would normally do. This exploration of the research conducted by Cambridge has produced some difficult to understand outcomes however I think the letters need to be rearranged as they are too muddled making it unreadable. Furthermore I've experimented with the idea of making 'evaporation' very obvious on the page in order to exaggerate the phrase (see figure 1) and make it clear as the book follows the dialog of a night of drinking so the reader is likely to be drunk at the end so may need to phrase to be obvious. However in order to further this experimentation I feel the incorporation of smaller versions of evaporation (see figure 3) within the page adds to the confusion as simply featuring the word in the centre is slightly too obvious and fails to convey the amount drank by the downer. Upon reflection of these experiments I feel they could be furthered to make it harder for the reader to understand, this could be done through hiding the page within the book or by altering the layout further.

Figure 1 

Figure 2

Figure 3