Final Evaluation

Task 7

What are the technical qualities of your work?

To create my various products and final pieces I have used Photoshop. Through the use of Photoshop, I believe I have successfully created strong final pieces. My products ran with a theme of Superman all the way through. To create my IRN BRU version of superman I had to use the polygonal lasso tool on Photoshop and rotoscope the various parts of superman in order to change his colour scheme to orange and blue to match IRN BRU’s colour scheme. In my opinion, I think has worked successfully and looks strong as when you zoom in close to superman there appear to me no major mistakes or errors where the colours either don’t fill the frame properly or have overlapped and ran onto the page. I have also had to manipulate the can around superman's hand using rotoscoping to ensure it looks like he is holding the can in his fist. This is successful because it does look like he is holding the can and from a distance it looks professional and a high standard. However, if you look at the detail up close, it is not as smooth as I would like it to be, and you can visually notice minor errors where the cuts are not perfect or there is a touch of the can missing as I have made slight errors when cutting round superman’s hand and the can. When creating the can, I also used the polygonal lasso tool. I used this to cut around the can and make it look like my design is warped to the can and fits onto the can smoothly with no extra edging pieces or missing part of the design, making it smaller than the can. I think this worked well as my design fits onto the can tightly and when zoomed in, you can see the edge of the can lined up against my design and can label.

To create my poster and web banner, I also used Photoshop. When I created these products I used various tools in Photoshop such as polygonal lasso and the magic wand. I think using these has helped me to create, strong and successful final pieces. The layout of these designs is strong and looks professional, which helps to make them look well made and flawless. Every aspect of these designs appears to work well and have its own place, ensuring it is easy to read through the whole publication and clearly understand it. Nothing overlaps or blends together which also helps to make its readability clear and easy, whilst also retaining as little information as possible to ensure you are not having to read, understand and remember masses of information. You only need to know the important parts.

What are the aesthetic qualities of your work?

The colour scheme of my designs follows the IRN BRU colour scheme which is already in use. The oranges and blues work together and compliment each other, whilst also clashing to ensure there is clear definition between the two and doesn’t hurt your eyes to look at. Using a stroke outline for the 32 in the logo helps to make it stand out and draw it away from the background and the drink name. On the ‘IRN BRU’ I have featured an inner glow and inner shadow. This gives it some dimension and makes it appear as though it is popping up from the page and has a 3-D like effect. The yellow explosion/pop clipart with the outer glow added to it behind helps to draw away from the background and make it pop out at the buyer or viewer so they can easily identify the brand name and read it clearly. The superman on the logo is drawn away from the background and stands out also due to the drop shadow I have used which makes it seem as though he has pulled away from the can and has dimension to him. The font used on this is eye catching and bold which immediately grabs your attention and is one of the first things you see. The edginess to it and the details of the flicks make it look fire-like. It could also make it look active and energy-like as it is a busy and ‘fun’ font style, rather than being simplistic and professional that you would find in a sans-serif styled font.

When creating my web banner and poster, I discovered that adding an outer glow to the drinks can helped draw the can away from the background and make it stand out more as the can was a similar shade of blue to the background. I did a similar thing with the copy on the web banner, adding a glow to make it stand out away from the background. I think these two publications are aesthetically similar and work well together due to them having similar colour schemes, layouts and background colours. I started my web banner off with the same IRN BRU effects and design as on the poster but noticed how when I made it smaller, the overlay didn’t work as well so I removed it and stuck with a stroke outline, which I feel has been really effective. I would also change this on my poster if I could because the ‘IRN BRU 32’ seems dark and dismal rather than being bright, vivid and eye catching. Using a stroke around ’taste the energy’ has worked successfully in my opinion because it helps to make the wording stand out, popping away from the background and easier to read, catching your eye immediately.

Are there opportunities for further development in your work?

One of the opportunities of development I have discovered when looking back through my work is the back of the drinks can with the ingredients and nutritional information on. Looking back on it after production, I have realised that the orange does not stand out so well and the copy isn’t the easiest thing to read. If I could re-do the task, I would either add a stroke/glow to the text or I would change the font colour to something easier to read against the blue and something that will stand out easier, as not to strain the viewers eyes if they try reading it. Similarly, with the other part of the can I would also change font colours or add some sort of effect to the wording as it is not overly easy to read. The blue on blue background does not work too well and the shades seem to blend together and into each other, meaning that you have to squint and strain your eyes to read it clearly. Something else which I noticed to change and develop is the headline on the poster. I used a bevel and emboss overlay to try and make it pop out away from the page but it has seemed to have made the colour tones dark and dismal rather than bright and eye catching. Along with this, I would also change the layout of the headline slightly to try and make it match the can and web banner more, working as a unit. The can and banner have the ‘IRN BRU’ on one line and then the ‘32’ slightly overlapping underneath, I think if I was to change this to do the same on the poster they would all be more similar and working together due to having similar layouts, and also similar colour tones, tying them together as a set rather than being visually different and having a different looking logo on each individual piece of publication.

Are your final pieces fit for purpose?

Overall I think that my final pieces successfully work together and that they are fit for purpose as advertisement publications. I think that through having the same colour and shade for the background on each piece, it helps tie them together and shows they all work as part of the same advertising campaign. The use of a superman image on the designs helps to target the niche audience of superman fans which will make them interested in the drink and in turn, could make them purchase the drink as it is related to their fan-base. This drink could also target younger audiences such as teens and young adults as the designs are simple and basic with a young feel towards them rather than being professional and formal; which you would typically use to target a higher aged and more professional audience. They appear fit for purpose overall as they look the same and run with the same theme, keeping consistency and professionalism. They are also fit for purpose as they all look finished off and polished. None of them seem to have aspects that have been left unfinished and there are no masses of empty space on any of them.

What areas of planning and development worked well?

I think that developing my ideas and making progressions to the drafts and basic ideas worked well because it allowed me to improve my first designs and get better results. Testing out the various overlays I could use on my fonts and the colour schemes worked well because it allowed me to discover which colours would work well together and which ones wouldn’t work and would be unsuccessful. Experiments with the various overlays and strokes I could use on my text proved effective because I was able to see which ones looked the best and would be most suitable for my design. Through my planning stages, I was able to place the different colours and fonts together with the overlays and experiment with various combinations to find out which ones would work and which ones would not be as good to use on my products. It allowed me to look at orange copy on a blue background and blue copy on an orange background and see which one worked best. The various experimenting worked well as it allowed me to find out that using a drop shadow or stroke on my text would work well to help draw the words away from the background and make them stand out to catch your eye. It also allowed me to identify colour schemes which would not work on paper even though you thought they might have done when you thought it through in your head. All of the planning and development allowed me to make the various alterations and adjustments I needed to my products to create strong final pieces and meant I could change colours, fonts and overlays etc if I needed to in order to gain the best final results possible.

What areas of planning and development could be worked on?

One aspect of my planning and development which I feel could be worked on is the planning and development of my posters. Due to being ill and missing essential production time, I didn’t get to develop on current designs to improve them. Although I think my final poster is suitable and a strong final piece, I do feel that it would have benefit more from developmental stages and changing things to make the design stronger, rather than having 2 separate poster designs where I finished one and created a whole new one to become my final piece. Another aspect of my planning and development which I would may be able to worked on would be my rough can idea drafts. I feel that working on these and spending more time and thought on them would make then stronger starting points rather than just trying out anything and hoping for the best as what I produced was a bunch of random ideas that didn’t really look professional or well made.

What effect did the development stages have on your final

products?Although my final products do not look like how I originally planned them to and the can is totally different to my first design, the development stages had positive effects on my final products as they allowed me to experiment and change things around until I discovered what worked best. The development stages allowed me to make progressions and adjustments to come up with my final pieces. Through working on the can design I came up with a final design and idea featuring superman. Although the development meant that it had drastically changed from how it originally looked on the first design, there was still some similar aspects that remained from the beginning until the end. Although many aspects of the can design are different to what I had initially planned on doing, certain areas are similar. For the ‘IRN BRU’ I used the same colour and shade, also featuring the inner shadow to make it pop. I also kept the yellow explosion clipart behind to make it stand out more. I think the development would have affected my posters if I had had more time to work on them and progress them rather than just abandoning my first idea and starting a whole new one to become my final product.