3. Visual Language
How have you chosen to set out your designs and why? (Reference
layout, image/text ratio, busy/simplistic etc)
I have chosen to set my recipe cards out in a certain and particular way on
purpose to give a certain feel. The layout of the recipe card is fairly simple,
structured out in a way with boxes and one circle on some of the cards. This
makes the cards feel more like a school exercise book, where everything is
ordered neatly but not perfectly, the neat feeling comes from the text being placed
in the same place on each card, but the pictures not being the same size give
more of a school book feeling, which was decided already on the flat plan. The
image to text ratio is about equal, for where there is text there is also an image to
support it near. On the front of the flat plan there are 3 images down the right side
and two separate blocks of text down the left side of the pictures. On the back
similarly there is the same ratio, there is one block of text and one large picture,
which makes the card look even and balanced. The amount of text will show the
audience that the recipes are detailed and easy to follow, where the pictures will
attract people who find large amounts of text daunting or off putting. The way the
recipe card is set out is in a simplistic way, as we found from our earlier research
that vegetarians preferred either a rustic or simplistic look the most, so we
decided to carry on with a clean simple look and work around this idea, with a
clean white background which is in the style of lined paper, but then add fake ink
splodges and coffee stains so it didn’t make it feel too medical and not foodie. Its
simple because the background is simple, so it wouldn’t take away from the text or
from the pictures, and so its also easier to look at, read and take in.
Flat plan
4. Visual Language
The content of the images on the final recipe card are very
consistent and continue with a theme across the whole of the
cards, so they related and looked like they should be sold together,
giving off the same feeling to the audience. The images were
photography of the food, that were not stock images, they were
taken by me. I did this so I could keep consistent lighting and
feelings in the photo, making all the photos match, like with the
background colours and surroundings. This has also helped the
cards looks like a package instead of being separated. The text was
all the same size and the same font and the same colour. The font
was the most important part of the text, it was a special one that
was downloaded from da font, and this one font was used
throughout the whole of the recipe cards, so the consistent font
would look most like handwriting. The colour of the font is also
consistent, the titles are a pale yellow, then the rest of the writing is
a blue, but like a handwriting pen, this colour gives a nostalgic feel,
even though it is just a minor detail. Comparing to existing products
there are a lot of similarities, especially with the photos of the food,
the way all the photos match with the lighting and colour and
background. Other similarities are how the consistency is kept
within the recipe cards, especially with little details like layout and
placement of text and images
Discuss the contents of your final images and reflect upon decisions
made. (Content used- image/text/graphic, use of colour, original or stock
images. Compare to existing products.)
5. Visual Language
Discuss the semiotics and connotations created from the content you have
included. (What meaning or suggestions are created from the
images/colours/designs you have used? You could reference how they were used
in products you look at during the project.)
In this project the recipe cards had a certain theme to them and
we wanted to emulate throughout the whole of the project. The
feel we wanted to create was a clean, nostalgic feel. The
background is a piece of lined paper, this just sets off the theme
and feel for the whole collection of cards, reminding the viewer of
a school situation. The colours are minimal and matching in each
card, to remind the viewer of a uniform set out, like a school. The
layout design for the cards are set out in a similar place, like the
pictures will always be on the right side and text will be on the
left, but on each card the pictures and text are not in the exact
same place, making it feel more hand made and like a young
school child has made it, what also makes the cards feel like this
is the way the pictures look like they have been stuck on by cello
tape, adding ink splodges and drink stains, adding to the
handmade, child feel. Another part of this design is the ripped
part of the page, making a border on the page that is green (to
follow the brief), we decided to make the rip to add to the whole
homemade, messy school feel even more.
6. Audiences
Create an audience profile of your chosen demographic
(Age, gender, psychographic, geodemographic, NRS Social Grade, hobbies,
sexuality [if appropriate] etc)
The kind of audience these cards are aimed at are made up of
different things that the audience fits into. The age of the target
audience is around the middle age, parent age, 30-50s, so they are
able to feel nostalgic about these recipes, but the recipes are also
going to be enjoyed by the whole family or whoever it has been
cooked for. The psychographics of the audience will be how their
personality and choices effect their family and cooking, and their
choices towards eating veggie food, so they would be quite family
orientated and also aware of healthy eating, wanting to convince
people to be vegetarian, or catering to a vegetarian family member.
I think that the NRS social grade would vary from B to C2, because
the recipes are simple and quick, but they are different and include
interesting ingredients. The gender of my audience I don’t think is
important and don’t think that our recipe cards lean towards a
specific gender.
7. Audiences
How have you constructed your work to appeal to this audience?
Include an annotated copy of an example of your work to help illustrate how you
have done this.
Gender neutral.
These cards have no specific colours,
images or graphics that would make
a certain gender of person want to
buy them more than another
gender. The colours would appeal to
anyone with the main colour being a
green relating to vegetarianism, the
colours of the text relating to the
school theme, and the photography
of the food being clear and
informative.
Wording.
The way the recipe method is
worded is important, and mainly
relates to the NRS of the audience.
The way it’s worded is simple and
informative, but includes some
key terms and words specifically
related to cooking. This will be
more well known to the C2 to B
class people as they would have to
cook their meals and may be more
conscience about what they put
into their bodies.
Layout.
The layout of the card and the way is
constructed is very simple. The text
and images on the front page are
always placed into the same place the
ext being on the left and the images
on the right. This is so that the
audience or person who is looking at
the recipe cards is familiar with the
placement of the information and
know where to look when they are
cooking, so finding the place where
they were last reading is easy to find,
so making the meal is quicker to
follow and make.
Photography.
The photography on these recipe cards is
taken for the style and theme of the
recipe card. The photos are more an
informative guide on how the food should
turn out and how it could be presented,
in a simple way that anyone could copy.
Technical aspects.
On the recipe card there is not a lot of complicated aspects but there is one part of the
ripped paper effect at the bottom of the page which did require some more thought and
skill. I think this ripped page effect would appeal to the audience because it makes the
whole recipe card less serious and less daunting to pick up, it looks more friendly and
inviting to read and make the meals on their. I also think the graphic images of ink stains
and coffee stains add to this feeling of the recipes being more relaxed.
The recipe card appeals to the audience
because of its relaxed and friendly feel,
whilst still looking professional and clean.
8. Cultural context
What did you use as your design influences and why were they chosen?
(What existing media products influenced the final look of your work?)
When doing research we came across a lot of recipe cards that
were online or downloadable, but found out quickly that the designs
were very simple and bland, there were no themes to the recipes
or cards other than the fact of being a veggie dish. The colours
were also very boring like on the quorn recipe cards the colours
were orange and grey, which does not stand out and is not
appealing to look at, so won’t make people want to make the
recipe. But from this design I found out the best way to layout the
card was to keep a simple structure, keep images clear and text
readable and not too dense and also keeping the background white
and simple, letting the rest of the graphics stand out against the
background. The research we did influenced our final piece also in
the style of photography that is placed on the page, that it is simple
and informative, to create a simple picture, then build a theme
around the photo, instead of adding lots of props and making the
photo too busy, which takes the attention away from the food.
Another thing that influenced our final design was on the quorn
card, they made a separate box for time it took to cook and how
many it serves, so we took this onboard and used the separate
placement of this information, to make it easier to read and pick
out.
9. Cultural context
Do vegetarian products have a specific design aesthetic and how does your
project reflect/contrast this? Why?
From the research I have done I have found out that there seems to
be a reoccurring theme that happens with vegetarian recipes, they
seem to be always choosing vegetarian related colours, like oranges
and browns, but mainly different shades of green, which differ, darker
greens for adult recipes and lighter for children’s dishes. The design
aesthetic of these pictures seem to be very photograph related, with
large photos that are made to look appealing and tasty, being used
as backgrounds then simple text being placed on top. I feel like our
project reflects and contrasts this in different ways. It reflects this
because the colours on our card does mainly consist of a green as
the border strip to match the vegetarian logo, and the green showing
up in the holes of the page, to make it look this paper has green
paper underneath. But in contrast I think that our recipe card is a lot
less photo orientated, and more about the actual over-all theme of
the cards, along with the language used in the recipes, so the card is
concentring more on the recipe rather than the photo. The text on
ours is also a lot different, it is themed and carries on throughout the
cards, the font is designed to look like handwriting and fit with the
theme, where as the other recipe cards have fairly plain and boring
fonts which are not very interesting and don’t seem to set off any
feeling or theme around the food.
10. Finished products
Does your finished product reflect your initial plans? How? If there are any
differences, describe why changes were made.
(You can use visual examples of flat plans and finished products to illustrate this
I think that the finished product does reflect our initial
plans. At the start the idea was to do with a school
themed recipe card, for adults. First we made different
style sheets to decide on a style and colour, these
included different patterns and textures to add more
diversity to the card plan. In the end we didn’t choose a
particular style sheet, but picked and chose different
colours from each sheet, to see which looked the best
and most relevant. Then we made different flat plans, to
show the ideas for a layout of the recipe cards, this
reflects our final piece because we chose one flat plan
layout, which has developed slightly but you can still see
the similarities between the original and the final. There
were over-all 4 changes from the original to the final,
these were:
1.Where the title is placed
2.Where the logo is placed
3.The image amount on the back page
4.The ripped paper border
These different things that were added really made the
card come into its own as a strong and clear design that
works really well and if effective.
11. Finished products
Does your finished product match what you were set in the brief? How?
The final recipe cards I think do follow the brief mainly.
We want to see interesting and creative designs for a new series of recipe cards. We need designs on both the front and the back of the card.
There should be a clear theme across all the cards so it is apparent that they are a set. You could create a series based on an ingredient or the
food of a certain country. It could be aimed at people just becoming vegetarian or those who gave up meat years ago.
You don’t have to come up with the recipes yourself but you must ensure that all ingredients are suitable for a vegetarian diet. It would be good
if some recipes were suitable for vegans as well.
You don’t have to take your own images but we do want to see high quality food photographs being used.
Presenting information:
Include serving number, preparation time, cooking time and vegan suitability at the start of the recipe.
For example:
Serves 4
Preparation time 10 minutes
Cooking time 15 minutes
Can be vegan
List all ingredients separately on a new line, in the order in which they are used in the method
Use metric rather than imperial measurements (grams rather than ounces or cups)
Include spoon measurements where these are more widely understood than the equivalent metric measurement (eg 1 tsp rather than 5ml)
Measurement abbreviations should be used without explanation.
Leave a space between the number and spoon abbreviations tsp (teaspoon), tbsp (tablespoon) but not between the number and metric
abbreviations. For example:
400g flour
1 tsp baking powder
Leave out the degrees symbol and the term 'mark' when referring to cooking temperatures. Leave a space between the word 'Gas' and the
temperature but not between the temperature and the degrees measurement abbreviation. For example heat the oven to Gas 5/180C.
Keep method points as simple as possible, breaking down into shorter sentences if a single method point involves more than one action.
Number method points but not ingredients.
I think that this product meets the brief,
everything on the recipe card meets the
requirements. Things like the prep time,
the vegan suitability, cooking time and
the serving amount. The only
requirements that I found difficult to
meet was the oven requirements,
stating the gas number of the oven
because only one of our recipes included
an oven, and when I cooked it in the
oven it was actually cooked in an AGA so
it has no gas mark. I think the finished
product is a creative design, both front
and back. The theme across the cards is
clear and consistent. All the recipes are
vegetarian or vegan, they are simple and
easy to follow, they fit to their target
audience also, which is a middle aged,
parent/family orientated vegetarian in
the B-C2 class.
12. Finished products
How did the use of peer feedback help you in your production?
(Reference specific examples and their final outcome in finished product)
The use of peer feedback from my ideas really helped to get a opinion from a
different point of view from a different person with similar ideas. With initial
ideas it is helpful when you can get someone else to give their voice on what
you have created, to see whether it works or not, what needs to be improved,
constructive criticism. This helped me develop my ideas further and narrow
down my initial ideas until I just got to one main idea, that we both like and
thought that would work. An example of some positive feedback was on my
5th
idea, an Indian theme, their positive feedback was that they liked the
recipes and thought that vegan ice-cream was interesting, but an area that
they said I would need to develop is the colour scheme may become too
over-whelming and busy that it may distract from the food and theme, this is
something I didn’t initially realise or think about that these busy colours may
not add and take away from my theme and recipes, so I decided this wasn’t
the best idea to go with. Another one that I also changed my mind about after
the peer feedback was idea 2, the feedback suggested I needed to think
more about the set out of my cards, the design and how they would look if I
developed them, but at that point I realised that I wouldn’t be able to develop
my idea much further because I couldn’t think of anything else. I’m glad now
that I didn’t choose this idea because then if I had have picked it then I would
have struggled to create an interesting recipe card, and would have hit a wall.
After this feedback I we decided to choose the school themed one as it gave
us a lot of scope to expand and develop our ideas.
13. Finished product
Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of your final product regarding its
technical qualities.
Use box below for text or page space to include an annotated copy of your work
to help illustrate how you have done this.
Reference what you like and dislike about the work with consistent reference to
correct terminology of tools/effects used. Reference existing products.
On my recipe cards there are not that many technical qualities. But there are a
few that are a major part of the cards, these were preformed of photoshop. The
first one is the ripped paper effect, which is done by layering different coloured
pages on top of each other, then using a stroke brush pattern to give it a torn
and rough effect, then by putting a drop shadow underneath it made the pages
and layers separate like it was placed on top. This is put on both sides of the
strip of the paper that I want to look ripped, then the layer underneath the
ripped effect layer I changed to a green colour to create a border and to pull
the vegetarian look of the design all together. I really like the look of this effect,
I think it looks really detailed and even though it isn't obvious, it adds a lot to
the design and makes it look more professional and interesting.
With the green we had to keep this consistent and a running theme
throughout the cards so they would all match. Because we wanted it to look
like the green was another piece of paper. Because the lined paper which is
the top layer has holes in it like a real piece of paper I had to cut the holes
out on photoshop, then layer a rectangle of green behind where the holes
showed up. I like this little detail being taken into consideration because I
think this makes the card look more professional and realistic.
14. Another technical aspect of this which is a more minor detail is the cutting
out of images, to put them in a particular shape, I did this by just cutting a
circle around the plate and around other food, like bread. This made the
theme of the recipe cards more enforced and clear to the audience. This
also makes the photos look more like they have been cut out and stuck
on with cellotape. Because it gives this feeling I think it is successful and I
like the way it looks a lot, it’s a small detail that makes a big difference to
make the card look more professional. I think that the quality of the cutting
out varies slightly one each card, but because they are quite small, little
imperfections are not very visible.
During research, I looked at different recipe cards and how they
placed their photos on the page, how they were cut out, how they
were shaped. I found that all the cards that I looked at only were
set in a square shape, some with borders, others plain. This
inspired me to cut the photos up into shapes making the images
more interesting, instead of adding borders I took them away.
I think that there more unsuccessful elements of the technical aspects
would be how when cutting the pictures, especially in a circle, I was
impatient and messy so there are some imperfections on the photos were
some of the background is still present on the photos, because the image
is white and the background is dark and it contrasts to this. Also where I
have cut into the photo a small amount, making the circle shape bumpy
and not perfect.
15. Finished product
Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of your final product regarding its
aesthetical qualities.
Use box below for text or page space to include an annotated copy of your work
to help illustrate how you have done this. Reference what you like and dislike
about the work with consistent reference to correct terminology. You can
reference existing products here and compare your work to them.
Strengths
The strengths of my work about how it looks is the technical aspect of how I made
the paper tear effect on the recipe card by just using some simple techniques on
photoshop, I think it looks professional and like I have really taken time to add the
details in.
I think the photography on the cards is really good, as it looks like a stock photo.
The photos are clear, detailed and informative. They show a lot of detail on how
the food should look when its finished, but also a simple idea on how the food
could be presented. Some shots were close up and almost macro photos, to show
how the texture of the food should look like, I think this is especially helpful to
amateur cooks in the kitchen, because if it was explained in words they might find
it difficult to understand and picture.
I think the overall theme is a very successful and strong point on the whole. I think
that the theme is a very different idea that hasn’t been done anywhere else before,
(what I saw from my research). I think the messy, structured nature of the layout is
quirky and different, it gives a friendly feel, so it is more inviting. It is also a theme
that nearly everyone can relate too as the majority of people have been to school
at some point in their lives, so everything on the card is recognisable and in
context with the audiences past school life.
Close up,
detailed shot of
texture of the
food.
Presentation
ideas
Page border rip
Brings
together
school
theme
16. Weaknesses
The weaknesses on my recipe cards from an aesthetical
point of view, is because me and my partner did make the
cards separately on different computers, some details on
the different bunch of cards we made are similar but not
exactly the same.
The colours on the cards are not exactly the same, the
main and most noticeable difference on the cards is the
colour and shade of the green. On my card the green is a
lot brighter and more of a cold feeling. Where as my
partners is a warmer, more yellow tone of green. Although
these are not matching, I think the similarities between
these colours and the vegsoc logo are almost exact, so I
think this point maybe a weakness but it has not made the
cards unsuccessful.
Another weakness of the look of these cards is the
alignment of the text with the background. The background
is lined paper, so the text had to fit into all of the gaps
correctly, but unfortunately on some of the cards the
background lines are crossing through the text, which
makes it a lot harder to read, makes it less neat and tidy,
this was a problem that was encountered a lot of times
because of photoshop and how it would only let us a
certain amount of text between the lines of text.
17. Finished products
What skills/knowledge have you gained/developed in this project? How could
these be applied in future practice?
The kind of skills I have acquired and developed throughout this project have been varied.
I have expanded my knowledge about vegetarians, by doing second hand and first hand research, it
showed me what differences and similarities can occur when researching into a target market. I learnt
how to create effective and helpful research accessories, like a questionnaire, and an interview. The
questionnaire was the most helpful, because we were able to get more varied ages and types of people.
From this research I found out that the favourite time of the year for vegetarians is summer followed by
autumn, this information could have helped us pick out a theme or the type of food we put on our recipe
cards.
I have also learnt a lot about other companies and their views towards vegetarianism. Some companies
like ‘LUSH’ and ‘Linda Mccartney’ are completely based around vegan and vegetarians, making all their
products strictly veggie, so that they make their target audience a lot more concentrated. Where as some
other companies are cater for both veggies and non-veggies, like the shoes company ‘Dr.Martens’ they
mainly sell a wide range of leather shoes, but they do do a range of vegan shoes. It is interesting to see
different companies views towards animal welfare and how seriously they take it.
I required knowledge also about religions, about how some religions like Jainism, which doesn’t allow the
people who follow to eat any animal products or any by-products of animals and even avoid eating rooted
plants as it disturbs animals homes. Other religions are not so strict, like Hinduism, which encourages a
veggie life-style, but it is not mandatory.
I have also learnt about copyright in photography, mainly through stock photo sites. I have learnt that
some sites may allow you to use their photos for free if its for a personal project or if the use isn’t going to
earn money. But some of the site require you to pay for all photos regardless of its use.
18. Production process
Do you believe your work is creative and technically competent? Why?
(Reference specific examples (use images if this will help) of where you believe
your work is particularly visually or technically impressive. Reference
professionally produced work and compare your products to them)
I believe that our work is creative and technically competent I believe that our work is creative and technically competent
because of the little details that we added to the recipe cards, the photography and how it was edited and to the standard
and professional it was cut out on photoshop and presented. I think the professional standard of our work is also impressive
and compares and rises above some professional work.
One example of this is the ‘teared page’ effect that I did on all of the recipe cards, back and front. I think the little details that
I included on these are important, and make the cards more accurate and professional. I made the teared page effect by
looking it up on the internet and following instructions, which worked really well and was successful. When I put the tear on
the back of the page I did use the same one as the front of the card, but I flipped it, so when looking and holding it in real
life, it looks a lot more real and effective. To also show I had taken my time on this part of the project, for each recipe card I
did a separate and unique tear on the front page and flipping it on the back of every card. I made sure also all of the colours
on the cards that I had made were matching and consistent, like the greens on the page behind the paper and the actual
colour of the tear. I think this is not just technically competent but also creative because i have not seen it anywhere else, on
any other recipe cards on the internet.
Another thing I also think that is creative and technically competent is my photography that i have included on the recipe
cards. I think that the editing of the photos is up to a professional standard, the way I have increased the contrast, the
saturation and used more complex tools on photoshop correctly and subtly. How i have also cut them out on photoshop,
isolating certain parts of the shapes of the photo, like the round soup bowl, to place separately on the back page of the
recipe card, which I think is a creative element. The more technically competent element is how I have made all the photos
match, look like part of a series, instead of them not going together and looking odd.
When I compare my recipe card to another professional card that is being used by companies on the internet, I see that
theres are actually very dull, boring and not inspired. Comparing all of the elements of each card, my card is a lot more
creative, in the theme, photos, layout, graphics and text, all of my elements match a theme that is running and consistent,
where as this recipe card is dull and not creative, the colours do match, but there is limited colour and limited of anything
else, there is no theme that is obvious. The only good thing about the professionals is the photography is clean and
informative.
19. Production process
How effectively did you manage your time?
(Could you have used time more wisely? Did a particular aspect of the project
take longer than expected? Did you complete everything on schedule?)
I feel like I effectively managed my time well over-all but somethings and parts of the project could have been
completed quicker, and some of the things that I had to complete took a bit longer than I had first anticipated. So for
this reason not everything was completed to schedule.
To begin with the basic plan was to create blank templates that were identical, so that we had a foundation of a layout
to work with, this was so everything looked the same, and so it looked professional. This was all completed ahead of
schedule. Then on the next day we started to construct the template layout, adding text and images (stock images) to
see if the layout was suitable and worked, which we found out it did. Then by week to we started to come away from
the schedule, instead of choosing images to put on the recipe cards, we realised it was just as important to choose a
font and make sure the text fit in the right place, making sure all the colours were the same and everything matched a
theme. Also because we had to make food ourselves, finding time to make it so we could included the photos in the
card meant that we suddenly became a little short of time.
Strictly the project was not completed on time, because the photography part of the project took a lot longer than we
first anticipated, because it was being able to find time when to cook the four meals, which was only possible on a
certain day, so we found quickly that we were sat at a computer with nothing to do because we didn't have any photos
to add into the cards. So because of this, different parts of the project had to be juggled around, in order to get
everything finished, meaning that the card would be in a finished stated, but it would have no photographs on it. So by
just running half a day over schedule, this meant we could have the cards finished, with photos.
20. Production process
If you could repeat the process what would you do differently?
First I would know how to plan my time, my schedule, I would know how long things take and be able to
actually take an educated guess on how I would be able to do things, because sometimes its not how
long it takes to do something, but the availability on when you can do something, and how long you will
have to do it until you can complete a certain part of the project, so you’re not wasting time sitting
around doing nothing because one part of the project relies on the other, like with mine, the
photography relied on the layout.
So what I would do to start with if I was going to re-do the project, would be to spend a day doing all of
the photography, to get it out of the way, so I had my photos ready to edit and put on to the layout
design straight away, then I would sort out the text and graphics, making sure the text lined up with the
lined paper behind it. Then I could concentrate more on the little details like the colours, the graphics,
the teared page as the border, because having all the photos out of the way would given me this time to
work with.
Another thing I might have done differently would have been to change the theme, maybe to do a
different kind of theme would have given more scope and room for development which would have
given me more ideas, for recipes, design and photography. I would have liked to do a summer theme,
which is a bit more vague, so it could be interpreted into different ways, like holidays, destinations,
modes of travel, beach etc. I think this could have been more interesting as a theme, more clear to the
audience, it would also have a wider audience and I think it would have given me the chance to make
the recipe card more aesthetically pleasing.
22. Constraints
What constraints did you encounter and how did you consider/avoid them?
Legal:
When planning and creating our product we came across the thoughts about constraints and
things that could potentially hold us back
Legal constraints include things such as intellectual property, who owns what you are using
and if you’re taking the credit, or not paying for using a certain piece of intellectual property,
paying the people who have helped you create the recipe card, making sure they are of age
and are allowed to work in the UK.
The main legal constraint we would most likely come across is the intellectual property
constraint, because when we were planning to create these recipe cards, including stock
photos were an option that we had planned to include. So in order to be able to use these
photos, we would first have to either pay the photographer or credit them, whichever they
request.
We considered how we would deal with these constraints, or even better, avoid them and
realised that the best way to avoid constrains to do with the photography would be to take our
own pictures by making our own food, therefore not having to credit/pay anyone else because
no one else would have been involved. In a real life situation I would need to make sure that
the photographer and chef I used, could legally work in the UK, and that I made sure I paid
them the fair, legal amount.
23. Regulatory:
Regulatory constraints that we might come across and have to consider is that the component
(recipe cards) do not violate or break any relevant laws or regulations.
So if our recipe card was being made for an audience for an age of young children to older
children under 16, then we would have to make sure we put warnings on the cards about sharp
knives and hot ovens, making sure that an adult was with them at all times.
With this in mind we didn't come across any regulatory constraints, so we didn’t need to avoid
anything.
24. Financial:
The financial part of this project was a major thing to consider, because if the cost is too
dear then, the project will not be able to continue or it will be stopped mid-way because
of costing issues.
Before we started the project we first planned out how much everything would cost, the
photographer, the chef, the transport, the printing, the materials and ingredients, taking
every bit of costing into consideration to create the most accurate budget possible, but
this was only an estimation, so we knew the price maybe be over or under by a certain
amount. This created our budget so we knew how much money we had to work with.
This would help us avoid using too much money and creating profits if it was in a real
life situation.
25. Management
How 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?)
As a group me and my team member decided to equally distribute the work, so we would complete
the task quickly and efficiently. We thought this was the best approach as it would result in a
successful yet quickly made piece. Although we divided the work equally, I oversaw the design of the
recipe cards that me and my partner would use. By bringing my vision to the final product it resulted in
less time during the planning stage and more time during the production stage. However I was
mindful of rushing the layout to avert a mediocre design , so because of this I ensured that I managed
my time well to my best ability and created a successful set of recipe cards. I also took charge of the
photography element of the project. It was my idea to utilise our own photography to avoid any legal
issues regarding copyright and ownership of peoples’ work. My partner oversaw the creation of the
layout template that we made use of for the final iteration of the project.
I enjoyed working as part of group because it allowed the work to be more social and stimulating. The
work load was significantly less than if I were to have completed the project on my own and we could
make use of each other’s strengths and weaknesses to produce the best possible product we could.
We also agreed quickly on how our project should look as we had similar design visions.
However it may have been better in some aspects to have worked individually, to improve the
identical nature of the cards, because not all of the pictures or text were in the same places.
26. Management
How important is communication when working in a group?
(Use specific examples from working in a group on this project)
I believe that communication is paramount in group work, because it helps the team members
understand each others vision and helps to create an over-all better pieced together project. The
most important time for communication during a project from my experience is definitely during the
development stage, where all the ideas are being finalised and where the final design is coming into
place, this is where understanding is key, so you can both know exactly what you are doing for the
next vital stage of production.
An example of when communication was vital in my experience was when we were creating the
template for the final layout of the recipe card, where everything would be placed and how it would
look as a final piece. Because we needed this to look as professional as possible, everything has to
be in the same places and everything had to be consistent and matching. Communicating these
layout plans and ideas proved to be easy, being able to digitally email matching templates to work
from, confirming what the final piece would look like and making sure our visions were on the same
wave length, obviously other parts of the planning and development aiding this, with the mood boards
to give some form to our ideas.
Using this flat plan to work from, we both had the
same starting point to work from, so then that
would make sure that the recipe cards would
match and go together, as a set. Showing where
the images would be set, where the method has
to be on the page and where the ingredients and
other information also has to be.
27. Management
What have you learnt about working in a group and how will you apply this to
future practice?
From this project I have learnt a lot of things about myself and how I work in a group comparing to how I
work on a project on my own.
I feel I approach different parts of the project I different and similar ways. With development, even though
this was done as part as a team, it was very much working on each others own, expanding and
developing initial ideas, then evaluating and comparing work together at the end to give pointers and
praise each idea, which one each person liked and didn’t like the most, what could be improved. The part
I enjoyed about working in a group was the outsider’s opinion on my work, and the additional ideas and
development that had been added to the initial ideas, to gravely improve, or to maybe create a whole new
different idea all together, because of that other persons fresh eye and perspective. An example of this
happening is what happened to our final piece, in the initial stages, we both recognised we had two similar
ideas that related to a school theme, so we decided to combine our ideas and develop my side of the
school theme idea a lot more, concentrating on nostalgia for parents rather than another motive e.g.
‘healthy eating for kids’. I think creating a good idea or developing a good idea is easier with a team as
you have other perspectives and more ideas, it also stops you from hitting a creative wall and not being
able to creative anything inspiring, because you can both combine ideas and use that to an advantage.
The only disadvantage about being in a group is the large difficulty you come across with accuracy of
placement, how you are working on 2 separate computers and so you cant check that each piece of text
or image is 2mm away from the border.
