Evaluation

Producing Print Based Media

Visual Language:

Composition

I have decided to set out my recipe cards in a format that looks neat, tidy and quite simplistic. I have decided to use 4 pictures on the front covers of the cards; these images included the ingredients of the recipes and also the final image of the product. I decided to do this so that the audience knew exactly what they were making. As I had quite a lot of images on my recipe cards I decided that I needed to equal this out using quite bait of text. I decided to put my images on the front cover using not much text except the title of the product. I then decided to put all my text on the back of the recipe cards. I think doing this evened out and make my recipe cards have the same text/image ratio however if I was to improve the composition I would maybe improve it by adding text on the front of the card and maybe adding images on the back of the recipe cards would improve the composition and equal the layout even more. It would also give my audience the chance to look at images whilst they are making the recipes.I think that my recipe cards are set out quite simplistically I have done this by not putting too much photographs on and also not adding too much text. I think if I added too much text then my recipe cards would become to look messy and very busy. This could put the audience off reading the recipes as it will look very messy it will also give the impression to the audience that the recipes are long and complicated to make. I have decided to set the layout of each card the same including having the same images in the same place and also having the ingredients and the method in the same position. Doing this allowed my recipe cards too look neat and well-ordered.

Image ConstructionDiscuss the contents of your final images and reflect upon decisions made.

In my recipe cards I decided to use a range of different photographs. I think doing this shows the audience of what to include and what the final product is going to look like I also think that applying images onto my recipe cards will persuade and interest the audience as most people enjoy looking at images whilst making a recipe. Each recipe card I have included 4 images of the product and the ingredients. I decided to include 4 images so that there was a range of different views of the final product. My theme was summer, and I used a consistent format throughout my recipe cards which was circles and curves so I decided to put my images in a circle shape. I think this made the images more interesting and unique. I got my images of Google and I had a look through all the images and picked the best quality images. I added a stroke to each of my images and this made my images look bold and stand out. The colour of the stroke depended on the colour of the cards. I used specific styles in my

recipe cards which made them look professional. All styles of my photographs were quite zoomed in and focused on the detail of the subject none of my images really had a background showing. I decided to use photographs like these so that the audience knew straight away what meal they were going to make and what ingredients they need. I think that all my images are very clear, and bright. The audience are able to tell straight away what the images are of. I also picked images of a large size so that when I used them on my recipe card they wouldn’t look blurry. The style of my images are very good quality and I have decided to do this so that it persuades the audience to have an interest in the recipe. If I didn’t use good quality style images then the audience wouldn’t be interested.

RepresentationDiscuss the semiotics and connotations created from the content you have included.

As I have decided to use very high quality images and my images include photographs of the ingredients of the product I think that the representation of my images presents the recipe to be very luxurious and it also looks very tasty I think that it is presented like this in the images. I think that using high quality images presents the food to look better and also persuade the audience to cook the recipe. I decided to use circles and curves within my recipe cards because I think that this presents creativity I also think that it fits in with my theme of summer. I decided to use the same colour as my recipes were presented in (for example I used reds/pink for my raspberry sorbet as raspberries are also red and pink). I used a wide range of colours within the set of my recipe cards which included yellow, red, blue and green. I think using different colours made my set of recipe cards look bright and interesting.Even though that I used different colours in my recipe cards I made sure that it was still clear that they was a set. I think using the colours to represent my recipes was a good idea as it shows to the audience what each recipe is. The audience will also be able to identify which recipe is which. I decided to use bright colours as my theme is summer so this represents this. I also added borders on each of my recipe cards which was small images of suns. I decided to do this so that the audience realised that these recipes are great in summer.

Audiences:Create an audience profile of your chosen demographic

I decided to design my 4 recipe cards towards the middle and older generation of vegetarians, such as 15-40 year olds however my recipe cards will also be appropriate for young people as well. These recipes are made for summer in warm weather so I think that the main place where people will enjoy my recipe cards will be in hot countries and in hot places in England where catches the most sun. I have selected a NRS Social Grade for my audience which is ABC1. I have decided to categorize my audience into this NRS social grade as I think that my cards represent to being quite professional and up to a good standard This social grade for my recipe cards will target people who are professional, intermediate and managerial. My recipes cards are aimed at boys and girls as I have used a range of recipes which

can be suitable for boys and girls. I have also not specifically used the gender colour in my recipe cards I have used a range of colours which can be fitted for both genders. I think the people who will enjoy my recipe cards will be the people who would lie to try something new for summer instead of eating the same kinds of foods in the hot weather. These recipe cards range different meals from savoury to sweet. I think that the people who will enjoy my recipe cards will be people who are energetic and motivated and are interested in having a light snack before exercising or even wanting to cook meal for other people in summer.

How have you constructed your work to appeal to this audience?

This is one example of one of my recipe cards and how I have made my recipe cards suitable towards my audience.

Interesting, fun text that will

make audience interested.

I have used a attention-

grabbing text for the back of the

recipe cards as well

which will make the audience

more interested in reading the

recipes.

I have added a sun border on the edge of my recipe cards to represent

the theme of summer.

I have decided to put my images in circle shapes and put a circle background behind the images I think that this looks

more appealing to my audience I also think it brings more attention to the images.

I used a sophisticated border at the bottom of my recipe card

pages to give them more of a

professional and classy

look.

Used words that will be understood by young generation

such as veggie andwill interest the older generation of vegetarians

Historical and Cultural Context:

What did you use as your design influences and why were they chosen?

Before I started creating the production for the recipe card I researched and found different recipe cards. I got some of my ideas from other existing products. I also got my ideas from the internet and different recipe websites which were aimed at my audience. I got the colour scheme and the layout from online websites. I decided to chose the designs and the colours that I did because I think that they advertise the product well whilst at the same time making the product look fun to make. An example of a website which I used to research current recipe cards was vegsoc.org this is the official vegetarian society website and they provide lots of different recipe cards which can be looked at. Here Is an example of one of my design influences and one of my final recipe cards with an compariason of how it has influenced me.

Design Influence

My Recipe Card

As it is clear to see from both recipe cards there are some aspects of the card which I did get some ideas from and I did use. My design influence has a theme of red running on the recipe cards. I decided to base my idea around this and use a colour on my recipe cards which was clear throughout the whole of the recipe card. As it is clear on my recipe card I used a pink theme. Another aspect which influenced me was adding tips and extra help for the audience. On the design influence they use the term ‘why not try this’ and list options which the audience could use. I decided to use ‘top tips’ which would allow the audience to try different things. An idea which I developed from my influenced recipe card design was the images. I thought that having one big image made the front of the recipe card quite boring to look at so I decided to add 4 images of the ingredients and product which made the recipe card much more interesting to look at and it also was much more appropriate for my audience.

Do vegetarian products have a specific design aesthetic and how does your project reflect/contrast this? Why?

I think that most vegetarian products, meals and recipes have a specific design to show that they are suitable for vegetarians. I think these include having a V or vegetarian society logo. This reflects on my recipe cards as I have included a small logo of the vegetarian society so that my audience know it is suitable for vegetarians. Another specific point which most vegetarian products have is having a green design. This is so that people can tell straight away who it is aimed at. Vegetarians are associated with the colour green as it’s the colour of most vegetables. This also reflects on my recipes cards as I have used the colour green on one of my recipe cards.

Finished Products:

Does your finished product reflect your initial plans? How? If there are any differences, describe why changes were made.

My Plan Finished Product

My initial plans didn’t go to plan when I was carrying out the production process I came up with new ideas and decided to develop from the feedback that I was given. In my initial plans I was going to have different colours on my recipe cards including yellow, red and green. However I decided that this made the card look quite messy and complicated so I decided to stick with 1 main colour per card however then change the different shades of the colour. I also changed my fonts on my final recipe card. I have changed the font titles to more of a bolder font with a shadow so it stands out; I also changed the other fonts, instead of having Arial as the main copy I decided to have more of a creative font. Another difference in the recipe cards is the

layout of the images. On my initial plans I was going to have one large image of the finished product. However I decided to take on board the feedback and add more images on the front of the recipe cards. I think that this shows more of the product and the ingredients. One of the similarities which I have kept is using a border of suns. This shows that the theme is summer and they are meals to have in summer.Does your finished product match what you were set in the brief? How?

I do believe that my finished product of all my recipe cards matches the brief that we was given at the start of the project in different ways this include creating a new unique and creative design of recipe cards I think I have doing this because my recipe cards look professional and high quality standard. I have made sure that the theme looks creative by using different shapes, fonts and decorative images. The vegetarian society asked for all the recipe cards to be made and shown that they are in a set. I have made sure that I have completed this by keeping the same theme, layout and format throughout each card. The only things which I changed were the text, the colour scheme and the images. I believe that my images are high quality as none of them look blurry or low quality and I also think that my images advertise the food. I followed the correct presentation method of presenting the ingredients method by using metric measurements rather than imperial. I have made sure that every recipe is suitable for vegetarians and I have also included a vegan recipe in my set of recipe cards therefor I think that I have fulfilled the brief.

How did the use of peer feedback help you in your production?

I think that the peer feedback that I got give was useful as it gave me information about what other people thought about my recipe cards. An example of where I decided to take on board the peer feedback and change my recipe card is when a peer stated that I could improve my recipe cards by making some of the text a different, darker colour I agreed with this point made as some of the text on the yellow recipe card was quite hard to read as it was the similar shade of colour. I decided to make this colour a darker yellow so that it was more noticeable and so that my audience would be able to understand and read my recipe cards. Another point made of how I could improve my recipe cards was by using a more formal font. That would appeal to an older audience I decided that this wasn’t needed however I did change to font to make it look more suitable to older people by adding a stroke and a drop shadow this made my text stand out more and made it much more refined.

Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of your final product regarding its technical and aesthetical qualities.

I think that there have been many success’s of my final recipe card set. I think that my successes of making this recipe card includes carrying out a very stylish and consistent theme throughout creating my recipe cards. I decided to do the layout of curves as I think that this makes my recipe cards looks creative. I firstly decided to get a curved border from Google images. Instead of using the exact border I used the magic wand tool and changed the colour of each section in the curved border. I made every border the same size and shape however changed the colour of the border to fit in with the design of each recipe card. I think that adding this border on my recipe cards makes it look more professional. I also decided to create a circle shape to put my images in. To do this in Photoshop I used a ellipse tool to create a circle I then put my image layer on top of the circle layer and then clicked ‘create clipping mask’. This then allowed my image to be in the shape of the circle. I did this for all the different images on my recipe card to make them look the same and so that it was clear they was part of a set. I think that the layout of my recipe cards is clear and understandable so I think this is another success of my recipe cards.

Some of the weaknesses of my recipe cards include that it uses the same colours on my recipe cards. Even though that each individual card has a different colour on it. I think that I could use different colours on the cards such as adding a yellow or a blue to contrast so it makes the recipe cards look more interesting. Another weakness I think that occurred when making my recipe cards is when I tried to make the images and the borders ad the text the same size and in the same place. I thought that this was a weakness as my audience may be able to tell that not all the images and the layouts are in a accurate place I think I could improve this next time when making my recipe cards. I don’t think that in my set of recipe cards it is that clear what the theme is which is summer. To improve this I think I could include more images of summer, suns and hot weather to show the audience that he recipes are suitable for summer.

Production Processes

Do you believe your work is creative and technically competent? Why?

I think that in some ways my work is creative and artistic in the different formats I have used and also the way I have used the images. I think the way I have stuck to one colour however changing the different shades from dark and light makes the image look professional. I also think that the way I have used a drop shadow and stroke makes the main title of the dish looks impressive. To create my border I used suns and put them on the sides of the recipe cards I think that this makes my recipe card look more creative and interesting. I think the quality of the images which I used is very high and clear to what the recipe is. Instead of using one main image of the dish I decided to use 4 I think that this makes my recipe cards look inventive.

How effectively did you manage your time?

I managed my time by following my schedule by making sure everything was completed to the best standard it could be and by following my schedule day-by-day to make sure that everything was on time. My recipe cards took quite abit longer

What skills/knowledge have you gained/developed in this project? How could these be applied in future practice?

I have learnt a range of different skills that I could use in different projects these including working like I was in a professional environment, this is because I was given a brief at the start of the project it was my task to make sure that my finished product matched everything which was on the brief and also making sure that my project was completed on time. This experience of making sure that projects are completed on time can be applied in future practice if I was working for a client and they needed me to completed a project this has given me relevant experience and knowledge that I need to completed a project on time otherwise I will suffer consequences. I have learnt a wide range of skills of making sure that a product is suitable for a target audience otherwise it will not sell, this can also be applied in future practice if a client needed me to make a product for children then I would have to make sure that everything was appropriate for the children. When carrying out this project I also changed my audience by making my recipe cards suitable for children. In this process I had to change the layout, the font, the colours and also the language which I used in my recipe cards. This is good experience as it puts me in a situation as if I had to change my target audience quickly. It shows that I can work quickly on time and too a professional standard.

than expected as I didn’t realise how long it would take to create the border for my recipe cards. I thought that it would take a couple of hours however instead it ended up taking a day or two too finish the border and the format on my recipe cards. Although that it took longer I still made sure that I had time to finish everything as I left myself contingency time incase anything went wrong.

If you could repeat the process what would you do differently?

I would make sure that my recipe cards fit in with my theme more. I think that my theme of summer was quite hard to show in recipe cards. Although that I have relevant recipes that are suitable for summer it was quite hard to show the theme in pictures and the colours.

Working to a Brief in the Creative Media Industries

Constraints Experienced:

What constraints did you encounter and how did you consider/avoid them?Legal ConstraintsCopyright of images could’ve became a problem when making my recipe cards as copying someone’s images can cause issues however I made sure that it was avoided by changing the images and also getting them from a free website which allowed me to use the images for personal use. Another legal constraint was the copy right of recipes, I made sure that the recipes I used could be used by other people and that I wasn’t creating any issues when using the recipes.

Another legal constraint that I came across during the project was the use of the vegetarian society logo. As the logo is owned by The vegetarian society. If someone else uses it for personal use or advertising use on other products such as posters or books or magazines then this could cause issues and problems. As we was creating the recipe cards for the vegetarian society not for other use we was allowed to use their logo and avoided any copy right regulations

“Copyright is a property right which subsists in accordance with this Part in the following descriptions of work— .(a)original literary, dramatic, musical or artistic works, .(b)sound recordings, films [F1or broadcasts], and .(c)the typographical arrangement of published editions”

“http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/48/section/1”

I could avoid this constraint when creating my work by not copying any other peoples work in of the types of media unless I have permission to do so. Different companies

have the copy right of products or logos which means only they can use them. If anybody else goes against this rule and decides to use the copyrighted products then legal action could be taken

Here is an example of my work and a professional recipe card and how my working practices are compared with professional work and how the legal constraints are similar and different.

Regulatory Constraints

I made sure that I didn’t come across any regulatory constraints in this project by making sure that my project was controlled by health and safety regulations and also other law regulations that may of occurred.

Financial Constraints

In this project there were many financial issues that could’ve occurred including the cost of ingredients, Photoshop and other software, the cost of images and also the printing costs. I managed to avoid this as this project was free however if I was carrying out this then I would have to create a budget and manage my money to pay for the project.

Management:

How did you work as part of a group?

I didn’t work well in a group at as I found it quite hard to communication. Me and my other group partner had a small fall out when we was working in a group together this effected our project as we didn’t get along and we decided to work individually I found this was better and more for my benefit. As the argument caused the break up of my team I think it helped in some ways however some ways it was hard to work individually for example exploring new ideas I struggled with this task as I found that it was quite hard to develop ideas with just my opinion and I think that I needed a second opinion to maybe explore new ideas and designs. To avoid this break up happening in future I will make sure that arguments and fall out will not become in-between of the project. I will also make sure that the person who I am working is 100% committed to be working in a group and make sure that we have no problems. I will also make sure that it doesn’t get into the middle of the project. If I am not happy with the person who I am working in a group with I will let a teacher now as quickly as possible.

I worked in an individual for this project however this was quite a challenge as I had to lead the whole project by myself and take in charge and also make my own decisions. Working as an individual allowed me to create my own ideas and develop

them also by getting feedback from other peers this allowed me to decide on the designs for my recipe cards. A disadvantage of working as an individual included that it was all down to me. I had to rely on myself and I didn’t get any other support or help from a person in a group.

How important is communication when working in a group?(Use specific examples from working in a group on this project)

Communication is important when working in a group as it is important that different ideas are shared. Another aspect about why it’s important to communicate in a group is that it allows different ideas to be developed and improved as the people in the group will have different ideas about different things so helping each other will give the advantage of making the designs better. Another important factor to why it’s important to communication in a group is that if anything goes wrong then communicating within the group will help solve issues and problems that could occur.

As I didn’t work within a team due to arguing and falling out I realised how important communication can be when working in a team. Working as an individual doesn’t give the same effect to working in a team as you can share and develop ideas in a team where as working on your own can leave you wondering what to do.

What have you learnt about working in to a brief and how will you apply this to future practice?

I have learnt that working to a brief is very important and to make sure that the project is completed and everything asked by the client is completed in the project. The brief states what the client wants and how I need to work so I have learnt the importance and I have also learnt the organisation of working to a brief that everything need to be included in the project to make sure that the clients product is accomplished to what they wanted it to be. I could use this experience of working to a brief in future practice if I become a freelance journalist or other media freelancer I will now know how to approach the brief and I will know how to complete a project by making sure that the client is satisfied.