Evaluation pro forma!!

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Recipe Card Evaluation Alan Smith

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Transcript of Evaluation pro forma!!

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Recipe Card Evaluation

Alan Smith

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Producing Print Based Media

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Visual LanguageHow have you chosen to set out your designs and why?

This is one of the final eight cads made for the vegetarian society. Many copies of the cards have been made and they many share the same characteristics.

The layout differs in this particular card because we wanted to produce a much more professional look.The main image that we have taken is placed to cover the majority of the front.

On the right hand side of each card, three images from different angles have been shown, this is to add another perspective on what is seen as a simple dish.

The image to text ratio is that of, the back of the cards having all of the text to show the ingredients and method together. The image of the particular landmark in Italy cover the full back of the card, however the opacity is turned down in order to see the text better.

The small section of image located in the bottom left is in full colour so it can cover the white space.

Unlike these final ones, the other samples made were very simplistic and shared the same aspects such as a coloured border, an image on the front of the food made and a silhouette of a landmark we rotoscoped on Photoshop at the back.

They were made to look like that because we were initially targeting a mass market audience and had to keep the product simple therefore not targeting a specific gender.

In contrast, these final cards have a lot going on and look very busy. This was the decision to do so as we came to the understanding that the people who were buying these vegetarian society recipe cards had to be attracted by what they saw and this looks a lot more exciting to pick up and purchase.

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This recipe card on the right is an example of what the competition looks like in this industry.

From this you can see many similarities and many differences.

Firstly, the house style. Like many recipe cards, they all have distinguishing features so you can instantly understand who made them. Here the pattern on the top left and the name of ‘Harney Lane’ underneath is very similar to how we have looked at our cards

Here you can see we have researched how to display the house styles and how o make sure that the cards stand out. The band is made to such a size so the audience has no problem understanding what the food is and where it is from (hence the colours) as well as having a bold title close to it.

The image used on the example card is much smaller and tries to leave room for text and predominantly focuses on the content. In previous cards we made the image was small like this one but we believed that as the card is double sided, there can be room for a good quality photograph of the food to be placed covering the white space and leaving the text on the back.

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Visual LanguageDiscuss the contents of your final images and reflect upon decisions made.

The final images contain a large amount of information as well trying to keep a simplistic look.

Firstly, the images that were placed on all the cards were taken by the team and we spent time sharing the work load, booking the equipment and taking enough images to find a good professional looking image.

The images were selected and cropped to fit the cards and used that same image on all the different sets we made, to show development throughout.

We did consider using sourced images, however we came to the understanding that if we were to sell a specific food, we had to make it how we felt it should be.

The text side took much more of the production side then first thought and did slightly run into the contingency plan made. It was not just the placement of it that was concerning people when we asked for opinions. The font was a common issue throughout. After many different attempts, we agreed on a common font of Arial. This was to keep to he theme of a mass market and not using a ‘hard to read’ title or heading as this would put the potential buyer off the product.

The placement of the text was decided to be best left on the back of the card, all together as it was made clear in the brief. The text was split up into easily readable points and lowered to the middle of the page.

The colour was a key topic on the agenda between both the group and outsiders looking in. Firstly, we looked at using as little of it as possible. This was because we had come to the understanding that it looked for suitable for children and not our mass market. On the last set of cards we used colour to attract the audience rather then the rotoscoped landmark.

The image for the back of card is just one full picture rather then a full pattern of the same landmark that was found on another set of cards.

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Here underneath is the different fonts that we used throughout the experimental stage. We documented them to show that we had taken advice on-board and considered a change to the work.

We had great disagreement with two types of font. Firstly, we were torn on having Brush Script, which is a much more Italian like and suitable to the theme. On the other hand there was Arial which is a very mainstream font and used on multiple media products due to its clarity.

This was one of our original ideas where we were not colour orientated. We chose to look at a landmark and sharing the colour of that with the reverse side of the card.

As you can see the text is split up between each page and that was later changed to have more room for the image.

On this, the lack of colour was not the only aspect not used. The house style was not clear enough. Having the vegetarian society logo on the bottom line in size a small size was not appropriate due to them being the client. This is why it is now incorporated into the final band at the bottom and enlarged so it is very clear who the cards are for.

This card at the bottom was yet another designed idea. It was the start of the house style generated band at the bottom.

The back of the cards were looked at in further detail and was decided that the white space has to be covered but still using the idea of having one landmark on each card. So from this we came up with the idea of using many different sourced images of the same building and merging it in the background.

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Here is an example of a professional card designed for the same audience. It is clear here again that as it is just one piece the background is white and will more then likely be found located in a recipe book rather then a card on its own.

Nevertheless, many aspects can be learnt from this. Having the ingredients, Method and preparation time separate shows that it is easy to read, split into sections and simple yet effective.

We have incorporated this idea into our design, having both of the text on the same side of card was going to be difficult due to the amount of words. So gridding it up next to each other from left to right is a good way to keep the recipe card looking neat and organised as well as having all the information needed to make he cards.

We wanted to emulate some of the features found in examples like this but also add some variety to what else is out in the market for recipe cards. The usual recipe cards have a title, heading and text all down one margin of the page. Our layout as you can see differs completely and having more freedom in the composition of the text and images.

Professional cards look slick, spacious and you can instantly tell who they are aimed at due to the colours or font.

The similarity between these two is that. You can clearly tell they share a mass market audience and do not lean towards a gender bias, shown by the colours.

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This recipe is taken off the vegetarian society website. This style is similar in many of the cards. Here they focus on the image and making sure it is of a high quality, has a lot of colour and a close angle.

We have incorporated the ideas of the photography in our recipe cards and used the same text to image ratio, keeping all the text together.

When looking through existing recipe cards I thought that it would be better to look what the client already had so it can be made similar and so they will like the product and service we are doing.

This however I feel is playing on the side of caution and is not exciting enough to encourage people to take up vegetarianism.

Our cards have more colour in them as well splitting the text up to make it easier for the person making the food to use. This is because in the research from SurveyMonkey, the majority of people asked wanted something clear and easy to read.

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When looking at the preparation times found on the example recipe card it was clear that the last design did not feature any guidance on how it should be cooked, and how many it can serve.

On the many designs made we had chosen to make a colour coordinated set of circles that indicate the Preparation and cooking time as well as how many that recipe can feed.

The numbers indicated minuets and on recipes that did not need one it was replaced with ‘N/A’ Not applicable to that recipe. Recipe’s such as the Espresso Granita Affogato.

This card on the right was the third design that was made when all of the layout, images and text were decided. This green used was chosen to not only relate to the Italian theme, but to show off the vegetarian society logo even more and enhance the green out of many of the foods.

It was later discussed that having no border at all may be a better way of presenting the cards. This was because the colour distracting the viewer from the actual image.

The Prep, Cook and Serve circles were left out in the final design because there was already a lot of information for the reader to comprehend. Adding more colour to the recipe cards would have been a mistake.

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Visual LanguageDiscuss the semiotics and connotations created from the content you have included.

The Colours on the recipe card have been thought about in depth and thoroughly checked to make sure they are suitable for the target audience.

The band’s colours are seen as obvious but still a very good edition. Using Italian colours help the reader to decide on the food without reading any text.

They have been toned down to a light shade due to it standing out when compared to the images. The band suggests a house style but a further insight would be suggesting that it is part of the flag. Looking in deeper and the red may suggest action. Possibly the action of taking the images.

The green can suggest life. Possibly the life of the animal that is saved by eating this recipe and choosing not to eat meat. The green can look again into this and suggest Nature. Tying in with a healthy alternative. The recipes would link in with this hidden meaning as many contain fruit or vegetables.

The colour blue found on the plate can suggest Truth. This can make the recipe more family friendly and create a positive feel to the cards making the text trustworthy.

The white is kept on the set of cards to show cleanliness. It does not want to look crowded as it will fill confusion in the readers head. Lastly, the toned down grey in the background of the cards is to show Maturity. As the cards are aimed at a mass market but older demographic it needs to look professional and this shade of colour can help to enhance that feeling.

A black is used for the title because this is seen as very easy to read and is the best colour to stand out on the card. It is also used for the text on the back.

The colour itself represents stability and this can tie in with the house style of keeping a set consistent and having our own mark on them.

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To look at the meaning of the colours used, looking at a professional recipe card is a good way to understand why the makers of the cards choose the particular shades they do.

The white is kept how it is to show cleanliness. When considering food this is a good colour to use. This colour combined with Black is a very popular method and it is because they go well together, both stand out from each other. The black used on the title is to support stability and support the idea of being a reliable card you can work from. It gains your trust and if the cards are stable they have a chance of selling more in the future.

When making our card we have looked at all the colour meanings and how they would portray the recipe’s. The green napkin on the photograph was deliberate to add to the theme of a natural alternative and psychologically tell the reader this.

The advantages of using simplistic colours are that it does professional and for people that need help cooking, it can be very clear and helpful when using them. Disadvantages are that it does not look very interesting to look at. When making food, typically people want to look at the image before they make it so they can have something to work towards, also, sometimes having colours can encourage the creativeness out of the person making the food. Advantages of our cards are that with so many colours, it is expressing a lot of meanings to the reader and this can help when trying to beat competition. However when you use too many and start to overthink the cards, it can result in changing your target audience and could look more child friendly rather then a professional vegetarian recipe card.

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AudiencesCreate an audience profile of your chosen demographic

Our cards do not have a specific person or demographic to aim at. As stated in the planning stage, we want to aim at a large mass market as a whole to make sure we sell as many as possible. After going through many ideas and brainstorms, the cards still have that criteria to reach out for everyone. If the age was to be looked at and specified, it would be an older person to target. The same can’t be said about the gender of who the cards are aimed at.

They use Neutral colours and the style is set out to avoid any gender bias. This was a main factor to the removal of the border on the cards, having a blue or green border was seen as slightly leaning towards a male demographic.

When considering Geodemographic it can be difficult, as it can be sold everywhere and to everyone. However if we were to put a specific location or neighbourhood to who would be buying these cards it would be a middle class person, this is because of the style and professionalism of the layout. When looking at the NRS Social grades this particular person would be categorised as B-C1. A manager or a administrator.

The psychographics that would be associated with a person buying this recipe card would that they have a good personality and like to try something new, hence the vegetarian recipe. They will have strong values against animal cruelty and eating meat. Their attitudes or opinions would be supported by facts and they are strong willed, maybe even fight for a cause they believe in. Their hobbies may be going on holiday or looking at different cultures around the world. This can be suggested by the Italian theme and their willingness to try new foods.

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Audiences

The recipe cards have been made in a cautious way to prevent gender or age bias. As the cards are aimed at mass market as a whole rather than a specific person or social group it can be hard to avoid putting content in that may not appeal to all of the demographic.

This has been looked at intensely and here is an example of this. These recipe cards contain the a lot of fruit and vegetables to link into the theme of healthy eating and an alternative to other foods that are out there and contain aspects of meat.

The cards are made in a way so the identified audience will understand what we have made and purchase them. These people will most likely be new vegetarians and will want exciting recipes to match their personalities.

As I have suggested before the target audience if it had to be decided would be middle class adults. These would be in busy occupations and would not get the time to plan out meals for each day or have a variety in what they consume. These cards have been set out so they are clear, easy and simple yet stray way from the usual recipes.

Having an Italian theme would appeal to this target audience as they will not be that wealthy, thus meaning they only go on holiday once or twice a year or not at all. Having a different country and including colours in the design would entice the audience.

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

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The green is used to attract the persons nature interest and bring out the big theme behind the cards of vegetarianism. The green indicating life would psychologically tell the reader that these are suitable for them and agree with their beliefs.

Having a building from another country will attract the persons interest of learning and understanding history.

The images have been constructed from different angles to add more creativeness and this may tie in with the persons occupation.

Having a lot of images helps support the text and makes it more interesting for the reader.

Italian theme would interact with the audience. Making them interested as they like to try new things. Go to different locations as well try a variety of foods.

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When looking at how existing recipe’s on the vegetarian society, It is clear that they have identified their target audience already and the use of the text, image and the full composition suggests this.

It is set out in such a formal manner, from the title being the same colour as the heading and on a white background. This is telling me that an older person will eat from this recipe. It has not been made gender specific however the age is clear due to the circles at the top underneath the title.

There is nothing happening in the recipe and it is dated. This is the reason the client has chosen this task of creating the cards. Our recipe card is just as obvious to who it is targeting. You cannot say that it is looking at one particular demographic but a wide range of people.

Advantages of appealing a particular audience are that you have an almost guarantee that those people you researched will purchase the product.

Disadvantages of appealing to a particular audience are that if you an invalid set of research you have limited the amount of sales you can have.

Advantages of having a mass market product and keeping all aspects neutral are that you have many people that could buy the product including both genders.

Disadvantages of having a mass market product are that you do not have any assurance that this is going to sell where you would if you researched a specific person or area.

Also, you have to be very careful in the production not to use any colours that may suggest a certain gender.

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Cultural contextWhat did you use as your design influences and why were they chosen?The cards were made to the Italian theme because we found in our research that this was the domain food that was consumed. We thought to use aspects of Italian foods in the recipes but tried to stay away from the usual common foods associated with the culture.

The influences towards our design were that of looking through many recipe cards on the market and understanding that many were portrait, from this, as a group we decided to go unconventional and produce a landscape set of cards with a landmark on.

When we researched ‘Italian recipe cards with famous landmarks’ Nothing came up and I looked for anything similar to the ideas we brainstormed. Nothing was found, so the use of the landmark on the back of card was not influenced by another recipe card as such but this we I believed was to be our Unique selling point. Not only does it relate to the theme, but a clever way to hide the white space and make the text stand out further to the reader.

The band of photographs on the right hand side of each card was an idea that was brought to our attention when discussing what else could feature on the front of the card to entice the reader. Again, this was not influenced by another source or recipe card but from our own ideas and having the same food but from a different angle would only enhance the idea and go further to show what is in the meals.

Taking the images our selves and enlarging them to cover a full side was influenced when looking at Jamie Oliver's Italian Website. On all of his recipe’s he makes sure the image is the first thing that the person notices. So using many images he had taken we tried to emulate a similar style, such as the layout of the food, the angle of which the camera takes it and the colours that feature.

Bringing out the Italian colours was a constant topic when brainstorming the next task on the production. Using red, green and white in the food as well as the cards was important.

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Here is one of many images that is featured on the Jamie Oliver Recipe next to Italian Recipe’s.

It was been taken with a lot of thought and consideration as it has to relate to the food recipe and look like what it is supposed to.

The photography is that of a high angle with a medium close up. This is deliberate because you want to see the image but not too close that you miss out the details such as the Table cloth or plate.

They are important as you can start to understand who the food is aimed at and their social standing. For example a white plate showing cleanliness and consistency. This particular image has had an influence on the cards, this is well taken considering the photographic elements of a foreground and a high contrast. Most importantly the colour used. Here you can start to understand that the recipe is Italian just from the colours used.

They psychologically put the them in your head without title. This was taken on board when I took the image on the right and using the same green toping to bring out more colour and give the photograph more to look at.

Advantages of having a large image on the recipe cards are that you cover the majority of the space resulting in not having to fill that with text or borders. You also are giving yourself a better chance to sell the card as the people buying the food will notice it and want to copy it.

Disadvantages however are you are making the reverse of the card more crowded and with more text to read. And also if the photograph does not match the recipe’s instructions given you may get bad feedback or complaints, whereas with a smaller image the difference in looks may not be noticeable. Lastly, if the photograph taken is of a poor quality or lacks sharpness, not only would it make the recipe card look unprofessional but it would not show the food off and the colours you spent your time trying to bring out.

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Inspiration to the final piece was from this design at the bottom right. When asking peers on what they thought it was not clear on what needed to improve and how to do it. This was drafted up and we used sections from this example to feature in our cards. This example was taking our ideas such as the strip of images and combining it with their suggestions.

Firstly, the Band at the bottom. It was suggested that we needed a house style and to tie into the theme. So to combine to two would save space make the cards look more professional.

Bringing the title down onto the band was the next aspect to occur in the production process after looking at this example.On all the designs made, the title was at the top of cards.

This example helped raise awareness back to using subtle colours and clear fonts. They may be obvious points to make but they were necessary in order to make a better set of cards.

It was also brought to our attention that the vegetarian society logo had be clear and larger then what it was beforehand. It needed to be part of a house style and combined to a strip or border.

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

All vegetarian recipes or products contain many of the same aspects, such as a clear guidance of what you are consuming and if it is appropriate for you to eat. This is usually located with the ingredients and found within the text. It will also state if it is okay for vegans and this will be found near the top of any text provided.

Vegetarian products don’t differ in layout as much as they do in the food. You can see the same characteristics in both a meat and vegetarian recipe card. Such as the text to image ratio. This is often the same depending on the recipe.

However, with many vegetarian products they are very detailed in the foods and precise in what exactly is in the food they will consume. This is why the text is often a lot greater.

Here as you can see on our recipe card. When considering a vegetarian recipe, it often has meat substitutes and more to go into the recipe as it looks at more natural ingredients rather than artificial.

This therefore means that vegetarian cards may on occasion have to be made on a bigger card in order to make the text fit on one page.

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Here you can see that there is a lot more text on the vegetarian meals. Due to having more ingredients in recipe you need more explaining in the method. Vegetarian cards also focus on colour to take some attention away from the huge content.

They often use bright, eye catching colours that make the text stand out, this is a good example on the left with the vegetarian Chilli, using a subtle yellow makes the black text stand out and easier to read, which is what the person making the food wants.

When looking at the Meat recipe cards, they do not pay as much attention to the aesthetics as vegetarian ones do. As many have limited ingredients as well as a short method they portray the feeling that it does not want to be over thought and wants to focus on how the food tastes rather the appeal.

As you can see that on the meat recipes, both examples have simple layouts, Fonts and colours. The first meat example was chosen to show how an Italian recipe can look when it is not a meat alternative recipe. You can see that a basic font has been used, however, most importantly, a green is used. Again, this ties into the Italian theme and even with the most generic of fonts and a simple layout, it can still show the theme off. This was taken into consideration and the light green was used on our final set of images for the cards.

These are just two examples of Meat recipes and obviously there are many more out there. These are here just to give an indication of how vast the difference is between both Vegetarian and Meat recipe cards. As seen they can on occasion share similar fonts and styles but when considering the text and the way the food is presented it shows how much detail is put in the vegetarian ones.

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

The finished product does carry many of the characteristics that we mentioned in the final stages of the idea production. These are; Not targeting a specific person or group but a mass market as a whole, Having high quality images on the cards that were to be later laminated and when looking at the design, to use restrained colours and a clear font.

However aspects that have changed throughout the production process are that of the Landmarks. They were mentioned in the final treatment, but they were to be rotoscoped and put on the background like the image underneath. Instead the idea was developed upon, it had changed to a selection of the same landmark but sourced images rather then edited on Photoshop. The opacity was later turned down so the text could be placed on them(Middle image).

On the final product, just one of the landmarks was chosen and a small section reversed back to its full opacity to cover the white space left. This was done on each card to keep consistency.

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Other ideas that did not feature in the final design were that of the quick and easy meals. It was decided that in order to look professional and target a mass market, the food had to be respectable and look appetising. Due to the fact we as a group were making the recipes, we felt to make them not as rushed and look at quality over quickness.

Therefore the recipes were changed. In the Final Treatment it was suggested that the recipes I had chosen from my first original idea were to be used alongside my peers landmark idea. Instead new recipes were found and sourced where from.

When looking at the card in terms of layout and aesthetics the card looked very different to what was predicted. Firstly, we believed that the landmark itself was to be the card and to fit images and text in the available space, this was later found out to be a wrong way to go after a test print(Image below).

The constraints with this card were that of, not having enough space to fit all the text on. Also the fact that when laminated the card would still bend and may over time start to fall apart where a solid square template would not.

The changes made overall were to make the product suitable to the client as well as the target audience. The cards had to be professional, sturdy and creative. Through making so many copies of the cards it helped the group to understand what needed improving and developing on and what needed to go as it was not relevant to the theme or just compromised other sections on the cards.

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The main ideas that I believed had to remain the same in the cards was that of using restrained colours and a clear font. This was because I felt if the cards were to meet the clients brief, be suitable for the mass market and the vast amount of people targeted they had to share similar aspects to what was out there in the market currently.

As the cards changed in each of the six copies it was clear that there was no compromise and they did keep those aspects. That cannot be said for the Embossing though. As seen in the last paragraph of the treatment. It had been planned to emboss the cards after they were designed and ready for the client.

As the Contingency plan was already used up to add final touches to the designs such as removing the border and looking through fonts(Later decided to be Arial) there was not enough time to do both laminating and embossing. If we were to do the cards again this would be considered.

Here a copy of the Final Treatment for the cards before the production stage and before any flat plans of the work were created. You can see that many ideas have either been kept or advanced on to a point where we almost went away from that design.

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Finished productsDoes your finished product match what you were set in the brief? How?

The finished product does meet all the criteria that was asked from the client.

Creative design- Since the production stage, after each copy made there was improvement on the creative side, the layout kept changing and changing until we found one we were pleased with. I do believe that the card below does fit in the category of very creative, not only the cooking of the food and photography but the way in which the images have been split up on the right hand side to give a more peculiar look to them.

The cards are double sided as asked for and do contain a clear theme throughout, retaining a house style in the process.

An Italian theme that can be seen very clearly with the colours used.

Taking our own images showed initiative and that willingness to go the extra step to please the client and possibly be the aspect that does better and taken into consideration over competitors.

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When analysing the VegSoc Brief in more depth it is clear that all the aspects have been looked at in detail.

We have developed our cards by looking at the brief to make sure we produce what the client wants.

The fact that the images were taken in our group rather then sourced off the internet gives a slight edge over competition. This is because it is going beyond what was asked and the cards look more suitable to that recipe chosen.

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

Peer Feedback was a good way of getting honest and useful information about the product. The opinions were straight to the point and we were told what the good aspects of the cards were and what needed improving or removing altogether.

As mentioned before, the text was an issue throughout the recipe card production. The font was my preference as well as my peer when first starting production. However, when looking for feedback the style of the font came up as a weakness each occasion.

It was mentioned that it did not look professional and to quote what was said, it ‘Looked like a cheap menu for a Italian Restaurant’ This was seen as constructed criticism and helped when considering improving the cards.

The circular preparation, cook and serve parts of the cards were seen a very good good way to show the information and the colour scheme was highlighted as a good idea. However having these we felt would make the cards look crowded and unprofessional, let alone unsuitable for the client

The feedback was taken seriously because we needed outside opinions and fresh ideas to look at. You can see that I have listened to what was said and altered the work accordingly.

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The font was changed, dragged near the bottom of the page and split onto two lines.

Areas Improved after Feedback

The ingredients and method were put on the same side and spaced out to fit.

The image on the rear of the card was also altered to meet the feedback given and changed to just one image. I then developed their point and brought a coloured square to remove white space

The band was incorporated to the cards at the bottom of the front. I then enlarged the logo to fit on one coloured section.

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Finished productDiscuss the strengths and weaknesses of your final product regarding its technical qualities.

The strengths of this final design are that it is very creative and therefore meets the clients needs. It is also designed in a way that it is suitable for the people it is aimed at. That of a mass market product.

The images have been taken and cropped well, also when using the Polygon lasso tool it was possible to alter the positions of the images and create a nice effect such as the strip of images on the right hand side.

The image on the back has been turned down in opacity, this was done by choosing the appropriate layer and selecting the effects on it. It was done well as it considers how the text well contrast with colour.

The main image was cropped but to further develop it, it was made a different shape to accommodate the band at the bottom of page which in its self has added more colour and excitement to what was seen as boring set of cards that did not appeal to a mass market.

The images taken were of a technical quality. They considered the light, angle and settings. No artificial light was used however the colours were brought out by adding certain foods or napkins to enhance the theme of Italy. The angle was different in many of the recipe’s depending on how big it was. A birds eye view on a high angle was suitable for this recipe as it was a smaller size.

The camera was set to a low ISO and a slow shutter speed to allow as much light in as possible.

The weaknesses of the cards are that they may have been over developed and could be seen as less appropriate for the target market. To pick a more specific fault with the cards it would be the white space in the branding strip. This i believe does not work with the rest of the front page, however to keep to the Italian theme it must remain there.

I also do not like how the text on the back seems squished and compressed on one side, perhaps changing the size or colour of the method for example could make the two pieces of text feel more spacious.

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I like the photograph i took as it shows a lot of detail in the food.

The use of the surroundings enhances that Italian theme and gives off the impression of a quick, healthy snack.

I dislike the one area that has a strong opacity in the bottom corner

I understand this covers the white space, however i feel it does not look right and does not correspond with the rest of the page

I dislike how much information the method has, i feel this could put many new vegetarians off the idea of cooking especially for just a short snack.

I like the collection of photographs on the side

The alternate angles are helping the viewer look at the image and shows parts in much more detail.

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Finished productDiscuss the strengths and weaknesses of your final product regarding its aesthetical qualities.

Strengths of the final product are that after many coloured copies of each card a suitable shade was chosen and the recipe cards now look ready to target at a particular market.

The use of the Italian colours on the strip show some progression in the cards since the start and give the reader a better understanding of the theme without having to state it with a huge title and a border.

The use of imagery has been done well because not only does it cover all the white space, it all blends in with the rest of the aspects happening in the cards, such as the band and text.

Weaknesses of the recipe cards are that there is small sections between the strip of images. This could be made better if they were together or a coloured border was around them too just to bring out the theme even further.

Another weakness would be the text on the back of the cards, the method may look better if it was raised higher to be level with the ingredients.

For example like this image taken off the internet. To have both the text equally together.

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I dislike this white as it does not match the rest of the card design and seems odd. Instead there should be a full white plate and just a red and green band.

I like the font we finally chose. Baskerville Old Face is a clear and professional style.

I dislike the border between the main and smaller images. i feel that i would be better to have no space at all.

I like the colours used in general as they are exciting and match up with the overall theme. They are not the conventional Italian colours as they had to be subtle and not stand out.

I like how the text was kept black throughout. To target a mass market a simplistic colour can be useful. The clean font for the title is a good enough size to see as well.

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

The skills i have gained whilst working on this project are, to work in a team and communicate well enough to get the best possible outcome on a project. This also helped me understand what compromise actually involved and to accept other peoples ideas in order to move forward.

This project helped me understand how to work to a deadline and how much attention to detail a client looks for when you are working for them. This would help considerably when taking part in this in future work practice.

Time keeping and good planning are scene as usual skills in many projects, however in this project they were seen as very good to have or if not, learn. Sticking to the schedule is very important because if you go over your allocated time the client may well not hire you and you will have wasted resources.

Having good planning from the start was vital due to many unforeseen events that may occur in the production stage. Which they did. We had to do many copies of the recipe cards to finally produce an acceptable set. A contingency plan is important in order to finish the product in good time.

As well as working in a team, i have learnt how to work efficiently independently without guidance. This occurred in the planning stage, making and taking images of the food and recording data off surveys that i have asked people for my own primary research into recipe cards.

Many of these can be applied in future practice, however one comes across as the most important. That is Good planning. With good preparation and an early understanding of what will or might occur in a project you can be placed in the best situation to do the work without any surprises.

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Technical qualities that i have learnt are that of advanced rotoscoping. When the production process initially started, silhouettes of famous Italian landmarks were going to be incorporated into the back of the cards. This was to be done by Rotoscoping them and using them behind the text.

The process seems easy enough to go over an object, however it needs a delicate steady hand and to understand other tools on Photoshop. This can be used in the future as it is a very clever way to manipulate images.

Knowledge on the topic itself. Before taking part in the production stage everything was relatively new. I now have an understanding on how a layout should look for a professional product and needs a lot more thought they you think at first.

The page layout tasks before any production or planning were helpful in this as i took up a good understanding on font sizes depending on importance, positioning of text having to be in line with other aspects and having appropriate space for images.

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Production processDo you believe your work is creative and technically competent? Why?

I feel taking the photographs had to be the most technically impressive part of the production stage.

This was because the flat plans and all other aspects had already been made and were waiting on the images to see how well everything looked when together and to see if the composition worked.

You have to say that the photographs do resemble a technical quality and the overall work is competent.

The stock image found here on the right has the same aesthetics to my image.

Not only do they have the same ingredients and colours, they share similar angles from above and are of a low shutter speed in order to capture a lot of light.

I believe my work here is creative enough for the client. It shows good detail to the food and includes a green coloured napkin to psychologically insinuate the Italian theme to the audience.

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These small sections of the photographs taken appear on each recipe card. They are designed to assist the main image that is covering the majority of the front side.

They are an important part to the recipe cards as they add another dimension and shows another view to the food.

I believe that they are also technically competent as it was time consuming editing them from the original image and deciding on the layout and size.

When looking for similar image strips on recipe cards, there were no results meaning this can be the unique selling point to the cards and add a niche side to what is considered a mass market product. This will be when competing with such a large market.

The band at the bottom is also a very important side the recipe cards because it gives an identity to the cards and shows professionalism due to the house style.

There are many reasons for this rotoscoped strip. One was to cover white space and allow us to remove a border which was causing concerns when looking at feedback.

This band is technically competent as it allows for many other aspects of the card to be incorporated into it. Such as the vegetarian society logo and the title.

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Production processHow effectively did you manage your time?

The time on the project was spent well overall and stuck to the schedule we set ourselves. From the brief we had two weeks to produce the cards for the client so it was going to be very time consuming considering there was only two people making and designing them.

In order to achieve the time scale we set ourselves, we had to split the work load equally. Both my peer and I made four initial cards each. We then split the cooking of the recipes to save time, meaning we would both be finished in time to look through both sets of photographs after we had taken them.

During the production there was so much concentration on the work that no advice was taken onto the work and didn't take into account another persons perspective outside the group. In hindsight if we had asked for peer feedback maybe the final design could have been thought about before the 5 other sets of cards and could have spent that available time going over and double checking everything was in order.

Overall me did meet the time set and did produce an acceptable set of recipe cards however when looked upon now it seems that perhaps too much of our time was spent on the design rather then the content, this may have cost us if we did not have a good contingency plan to change after we had made the layout.

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Production Time line

This design was first considered to be the one we liked and by this point we had decided to produce multiple copies to meet everyone's needs.

The next design was very similar however the font and colours were changed as well as the orientation of the landmark, these were changed after we got our feedback. These cards were initially called ‘Tutor Copies’

The next cards were made after a new idea was brought up in the group. Having smaller sections of the same image at different angles.

By now there were many alterations and in particular the background. The landmark idea was still used but it was seen that the rotoscope was not covering all the white space so it was decided we should use a collection of the same landmark and turn the opacity down

The next cards were only slightly changed in the font of both the title and the back page text.

The cards with the blue border were to be for the client as they were made just in our time scale. However our last feedback was about to be received on these and the contingency plan was used.

The design was completely changed after feedback. They were considered as not appropriate for the client. So the border was removed, the text changed to yet another font and a house style brought in. A band to show the theme and hold both the vegetarian society logo and the title was to be introduced at the bottom of the cards

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The final set of cards were altered by just the last set and the other designs were marked as planning and development to get to where we did. Here you can see that the band at the bottom was changed to be full colour and not a low opacity, however the shades were changed to be more nice to look at.

Many aspects were looked at after we received our feedback. Firstly the back of the cards were changed, not only the text being moved to the left and right rather then put on top of each other. The background was to be just one of the images used and to cover the white space a small section was to be cut out and brought to its full colour.

This was created by the rectangular marquee tool and was used for each of the final eight cards. On the front of the cards it was brought to our attention that having a space would be better between each of the images and between the main image and the band. These alterations were made.

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Production processIf you could repeat the process what would you do differently?

If I could repeat the process on the project I would make sure I ask as many people about the work before I go ahead and plan several cards.

This would save a lot of resources and time that could be used on looking at what should be in the cards.

With this time I would start to look at the small things that when looked upon in greater detail can cause concern. Such as the colour on the band strip. I do not think the white matches the rest of the card and looks odd as well as the pink on its right. This should be lighter tone of red to correspond with the them of Italy.

As seen in many other designs before the final one, a backing colour was found on the title. This was to bring the text out more and make it stand out from the banner.

The final one does not have this and if I was to consider repeating the process I would change this.

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Working to a brief

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ConstraintsWhat constraints did you encounter and how did you consider/avoid them?

Legal:

-One legal Constraint we encountered was that of taking and using the sourced images on the final work. Images of the Landmarks were in fact altered before use but to avoid any action a reference was recording and did state that we had permission to use it.

-As this was an issue for the back of the cards we felt as group it would be better to make our own food and take images ourselves to avoid any conflict.

-An obvious legal constraint was the vegetarian society logo itself. As the cards were designed for their business I felt that using the logo found from a site without needing to source where it came from was acceptable.

-When a peer looked at our work, they thought it was best to show their ideas on a flat plan, we then used many ideas from this such as the band and presentation of the title at the bottom. To avoid any legal issues we altered the colours, size and font.

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Regulatory:

-Actions prohibited on the project were that of wanting to use stock images to save time and money on a photographer, however with the recipe’s themselves already taken the cards would have no originality to them and could bring up more concerns then they were worth to the client.

- This was avoided by making our own food for the recipe cards, not using a professional photographer but to use our own time, resulting in more work load.

-Some of our main ideas were made by looking at previous work on recipe cards, due to Regulatory issues we could not many of these meaning we had to make a similar but not same style card.

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Financial:

- At the beginning of the project a budget was thought about for what expenses needed to be covered, as the production stage went on we realised that some of the aspects were either not going to be done due to not having enough time, such as the embossing or we had to stop them due to not having the man power.

-Embossing was going to add a lot more money to the project. As we already spent money on test prints, laminating and to pay the people involved this was not going to be a good use of time let alone money.

The most important factor was to get the cards made in time and if the finishing touches hindered this then they would be pointless as the client would not hire us.

At the start of the project we believed that it may have been better to have more workers and split the work load to be easier and have more ideas. However as we started with two main staff on production it seemed as a good idea, not only would this save money on extra staff for the two weeks they would be working, but to have a smaller number of people involved would create a more stable balance in the office meaning less arguments on the work

Two weeks work for an extra two staff would be a lot of money that could be spent on other areas. For example, say a person working on this get’s £7 an hour and works 6 hours a day then would get £42 a day, times that 42 by the 14 days then would be working and they would consume £588 of the total budget. That would be for just one person. £1176 would be spent on two extra staff, for the purpose of more ideas and less workload it was not going to be worth it. A better profit to be split between less people would be more financially pleasing.

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ManagementHow did you work as part of a group? (Did you lead the project? What parts of the project did you take charge of? Did you enjoy working as part of a group? Why?)

-I felt I worked well as part of a team on this project, not only did I listen and respect ideas my peers came up with, I was not afraid of being honest and adding ideas to the cards to make sure they were the best they could be.

-I was not in charged of the project because I felt that it would be better for the full process if there was one person taking full control and one person assisting fairly. This was not like a full business where the person in charge would delegate all the tasks to a person below him in the hierarchy, all work was equal here.

-When it came to the parts where I felt I knew slightly more then my peers I would be in full voice and explain what I believed would be best on that particular area. For example the images, I thought it would be better for the full layout if the images were in full size. Because of my previous research and experience in photography I felt having large images on one side would entice the reader more then a small box in the corner.

-I thoroughly enjoyed working as part of a group in this project because it is a rare side to the course and sharing ideas and working as a team can provide good experience for future life.

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

Communication in my eyes is the most important aspect when working in a group. Without this it is virtually impossible to work efficiently and well to the time period given

Not talking to your colleagues when making a project can have a huge impact on how or if it is made. For example two people in the group may be working on the same aspect without knowing and this would be a waste of resources and time that could have been spent on another part of the project.

When looking at our project in particular one part of the sharing the work load springs to mind. When we shared the recipes and landmarks out to put on each card, we did not initially write down who was doing what and instead just discussed it. So there was almost a mistake with two of us cooking the same recipe, this was prevented by double checking before any production, however it shows that any small miscommunication can lead to a set back in the same scale you set yourself.

Working in a group is all about sharing ideas and working together to get the best possible outcome. Without talking to each other you cannot share these thoughts and cannot compromise to achieve a good product, instead it would be like drones producing inadequate produce.

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

I have learnt that if you want to achieve a good product suitable for the client and the target audience, you need to work well as a team.

Without this you cannot expect to do well in the production. You need bounce ideas off each other and praise your peers work, keeping the people in the group happy is important as this can lead to motivation and the willingness to do better

I have learnt that without compromise you cannot move forward in a project. If always insist your idea is the right one for the task and refuse to listen, your stubbornness can cause conflict in the group and stop the team from working well.

You need to be able to accept that other people can be right and to use ideas that you may not agree with just so you can get the project done to how the client may want it.

This can be taken into future practice. The idea of working together in a group to achieve an overall goal.