3. Visual Language
How have you chosen to set out your designs and why? (Reference
layout, image/text ratio, busy/simplistic etc)
My recipe card was quite simplistic, there wasn’t a lot of visual information
to digest but there was enough to make the final product look professional.
For example: on the front page there was only one main image that was
enlarged to the point it stretched across the page, and by adding a
rounded corner rectangle and creating a clipping mask, it made the larger
image blend in to the background which created a more professional look,
as previously mentioned.
There is definitely more text than images on my design, yet the main
image of the food still draws most of the attention towards it at first glance.
With the text ratio being larger I also have to consider my
background images and the Vegetarian Society, Facebook,
Twitter and Tumblr logos, however, with the amount of listed
ingredients, instructions, serving size, time taken to
prepare/cook and the main title, it would still be more text to
images.
4. The layout worked very well and enabled me to design an effective and
professional end product with success and little need for change. Using
the layout as guidelines made the production process a lot quicker and
easier! It meant that we knew exactly what we needed and where we
needed to put it even if we made a mistake. For example: there were times
where we had to start some production again (due to implications such as
not saving a Photoshop document) thanks to the saved layout we were
able to re-design the card quickly and effectively.
5. Visual Language
The images that I used for my final product were all HD photographs,
sourced from the internet, we originally planned to use our own images but
ended up not being able to afford making our own products and
photographing them, therefore we turned to the internet. However, thanks
to our contingency plan we were able to quickly and effectively work
through the problem and find images that fitted our requirements.
The text that we used ended up being Katana, Japestyle and Ariel, both
sourced from www.dafont.com in a variety of sizes and colours. The idea
behind using these fonts was to add a more Chinese vibe to our cards,
thanks to dafont we were able to source some really interesting fonts
that could have potentially worked, we picked a
few and then tested them as a print out – we
originally used a font called: Real Chinese as
the body text, however on the print out it was
hard to read and not suitable for our cards.
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.)
6. We had a very obvious colour theme throughout the cards, this was red,
black and gold. Looking at the Chinese culture and other recipe cards
enabled us to create a great set of almost indistinguishable cards that
applied to the Chinese culture and made them look legit.
There wasn’t a lot of inspiration for the cards in terms of design but
comparing my set of cards to a few sourced cards we can see that there
are some similarities although in some cases, my recipe card looks slightly
more professional than the actual printed version.
7. 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.)
There isn’t really a lot I can talk about for this one.
The main theme is Chinese recipe cards and looking at the set of cards
that I have created that’s obvious, we used images that represented the
Chinese culture, for example: I used a panda sitting beneath a large
bonsai tree to signify the culture, I used bamboo, koi and some Chinese
art as my background images to again, signify the culture.
I used the colour theme: red, black and gold to relate to the Chinese
culture and again put across to the audience that
that is what the recipe cards are based off of.
For the text I sourced fonts on dafont.com and found
some that looked like Chinese calligraphy or almost like
Chinese calligraphy to put across that China is the
culture that I chose to focus on, so that the audiences
will see the card as a whole and understand that it’s a
Chinese recipe card and not for any other culture.
8. Looking at previously designed cards that also aim at the Chinese culture,
I can see that I have definitely conformed to the right kind of style. If we
compare my recipe card to an already made recipe card we can clearly
see the similarities and the differences that I could look back on and use
next time to improve my set.
9. Audiences
Create an audience profile of your chosen demographic
(Age, gender, psychographic, geodemographic, NRS Social Grade, hobbies,
sexuality [if appropriate] etc)
Age: 15+ - they seem more interested in trying new things and changing
their lifestyle at this age, which means this is the perfect age to aim at if I’m
wanting a demographic that wants to try new things and is currently looking
for new recipes to try.
Gender: both – there isn’t really a chosen gender demographic, the recipes
are quite complex and both genders may want to par-take in creating them.
Psychographic: Vegetarians – concentrates on the food they eat, makes
sure it’s healthy, there are no traces of meat, almost picky in what they
choose to eat, interested in nutritional values. Wanting to try new things,
bored with their normal choice of food. Could be of the Chinese culture
wanting recipes to try new recipes. Could be a different culture wanting to try
new things.
Geodemographic: National/maybe global
NRS Social Grade: Middle Class
Hobbies: Complex cooking, cooking in general, art, reading, creative or
creativity, designing, discovery, adventuring i.e. trying new things.
10. 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.
The image is of HD quality
and has been put through
post production to make the
image look warmer and
more inviting/professional
looking.
Using a rounded rectangle
box with a shadow has
made the image merge in to
the background enough that
it looks slightly professional
and aesthetically pleasing to
the viewer.
I’ve added some logos of popular social
networking sites to entice younger viewers.
I’ve also managed to keep some level of
professionalism with adding the Vegetarian
Society logo to prove to my chosen demographic
that the dish I have decided to use on my recipe
card is acceptable for vegetarians.
I’ve kept the back page very simplistic
and sparsely decorated to make it
easier for the viewer to read the
instructions and ingredients.
I’ve also made the design on the back
apply to the Chinese culture therefore
making it easier for my demographic
to recognise the design and
understand straight away what it’s
aimed at and easily distinguishable
against other cultured recipe cards.
My writing style is simplistic and casual which
applies to the young age that my cards are aimed
at, it’s easy to follow and easy to understand with
minimal writing and explanation.
11. As explained in the previous slide, I have made sure that my set of cards
applies to the right demographic and it does.
There is minimal explanation and a casual writing style that should entice
the viewer from the start, this also goes for the use of design, on the front,
it seems complex, yet aesthetically pleasing, therefore applying to older
audiences, but on the back with the sparsely decorated back page and
simplistic writing styles, it applies to a younger audience.
12. 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?)
It was mostly photography of the Chinese culture that inspired my final
designs and ideas – looking through the images enabled me to think of a
colour scheme and think of the various different images that I would need
for the final products.
For example, there were Chinese masks, Chinese dragons, Chinese
celebrations (that inspired the colour theme), koi fish, bamboo, pandas,
Chinese traditional makeup and gowns and so on.
13. During the idea generation part of the project, I was looking at Chinese
menus and previous Chinese recipe cards which gave me the idea for the
font, looking at the Chinese calligraphy they have used for these two
media sources, I decided to incorporate that idea in to my own designs.
Sources
My Design
14. Cultural context
Do vegetarian products have a specific design aesthetic and how does your
project reflect/contrast this? Why?
Vegetarian recipe card colour schemes are usually colours in relation to
green and mimic the colour of the food that mostly vegetarians i.e. salad.
My recipe card hasn’t really conformed to this as I have gone for more
traditional Chinese colours to match the culture rather than reflecting the
food that vegetarians consume.
The cards are usually simplistic yet professional looking, the designers like
to use natural photographs and HD images of the finished dish with a side
of either salad or something that relates to vegetarianism – for example an
all natural background, a pot of asparagus in the distance to add to the
artistic vibe and so on.
They usually use very easy-to-read fonts such as Arial or
Comic Sans and so on. They do this because some of the
recipes are complex or there is a lot of information to fit on
to the card and only so much space therefore they have to
shrink the text down.
15. However as I have a minimal amount of writing on some of my cards I
have been able to use quite an intricate, harder to read font that whilst
being quite easy to read, is also aesthetically pleasing, also it makes my
card look unique and stand out amongst the other recipe cards aiming at
the same demographic, it means, or it seems like it means to me that more
of the audience will be interested in my card rather than the others.
16. 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
No, my finished product looks nothing like my initial plans, however, the
layout has managed to stay almost exactly the same!
Front Page: Originally I planned to have the Vegetarian Society logo at
the top, Left hand side of the page, along with a 1.5cm red border around
the entire front page.
I decided to get rid of the border as it took up too much space during the
production and it was quicker to create the recipe cards without it, I ended
up putting the Vegetarian Society logo at the bottom, Right corner of the
page instead, this was because in the original plans I hadn’t included a
banner at the bottom of the page for the logos to go on, this made me
change the bottom title box placement by slightly moving it up the page to
allow room for the banner.
The background was supposed to be lanterns, I ended up not including
them in any of my designs in the end, I changed them to other items
associated with the Chinese culture such as koi, as previously stated.
17. Back Page: in my original designs I had wanted a 1.5cm banner to go
around my design and ended up getting rid of it for the same reason that it
took up too much room on the design.
I wanted to keep the background the same as the front page, however,
during the production process I decided it was better to differentiate my
front page background and back page background to make it look more
simplistic and easy to read when the card is turned over, plus it allowed
me to be more creative and add more images that contrasted with the
Chinese culture.
I also wanted there to be a middle image on the back page to separate the
ingredients and the method, I wanted one particular image of a Chinese
ladies makeup on a mask, however, as much as I kept the images in the
same place I ended up changing the design to images of koi fish, on one
of my cards I used an image as the whole background, a bonsai tree and a
panda and a flower instead, this gave the card design more creativity and
made it look more unique rather than boring and getting the same image
every single time.
Front Page Back Page
18. Finished products
Does your finished product match what you were set in the brief? How?
My finished product does match what I was set in the brief, I have used a
high quality image of the food on the front of the card, along with a title, I
have also put the ingredients and the method on the back, as the brief
requires.
During my planning I have made sure to use recycled paper, vegetable
inks and biodegradable laminate for the end of production.
I have made sure to make my finished product interesting, creative and
unique. I have included designs on the front and back, making sure to
base these designs on a certain country – China, along with the designs, I
have made sure all of the dishes I have chosen to put on to my recipe
cards are of the Chinese culture, I have definitely aimed them at people
who are becoming vegetarians, I have made sure to make the
explanations as simple as possible and easy to follow.
All of the ingredients I have used are definitely suitable for vegetarians and
vegans.
19. I have definitely included: the serving number, the preparation and cooking
time, list of ingredients in order of preparation, I have used metric
measurements rather than imperial, spoon measurements instead of
metric measurements, I have made sure to leave a space between the
number and the spoon measurement i.e. 1 tsp. I have also made sure not
to leave a space between metric abbreviations for example: 300g.
When talking about cooking temperatures, I have made sure not to include
the degrees symbol or the term ‘mark’.
I have made the method points as simple as possible, I have broken the
original methods in to simple, short sentences and I have numbered the
method points and I have not numbered the ingredients.
20. Finished products
How did the use of peer feedback help you in your production?
(Reference specific examples and their final outcome in finished product)
This really gave me an insight on to what others thought about my final
product as opposed to what I thought. I found that they liked my layout and
images – they commented on them the most when it came to positive
responses, such as: “the design on the back of the card 4 shows elegance” or,
“I like the theme of the butterflies around the tree, shows more culture” (for
card 3). Mostly the positive responses reflected my images and how they turned
out.
I found that they disliked my font size and some of my choices as
background imagery the most – they’d rather my font size on the back of
my cards were larger: “the font size for the method could have been a little
bigger” they also didn’t like where I placed my dashes indicating a list for my
ingredients: “again, I think the dashes should be on the same side for
ingredients.” one particular peer thought that the images I chose for the
background on the back of the cards was a tad distracting: “I think the bamboo is
a little distracting but I get distracted easily anyway.”
21. I completely agree with some of these statements, although there seems
more bad points than good, I feel the good statements were more
overpowering compared to the bad.
I agree that I chose good images and I placed them well, I also agree that
my cards definitely signify the culture I was aiming at.
I agree that I could have cleared up the dashes and put them on the same
side, however, during production when I tested that idea out (as it was my
original idea) it didn’t quite go and therefore I went for this style instead.
I also agree that the images I chose for the background are quite
aesthetically pleasing and therefore eye catching, turning the main focus
away from the main text, however, I think it makes the overall piece more
visually pleasing and quite frankly, without those images the cards would
look empty, sparse and unappealing.
I disagree with the statement about font size, only because I have made a
test print and it came out fine and easily readable, therefore I won’t be
changing these things, however, I will use this as constructive criticism and
utilise it next time I do a project similar to this one.
22. Finished product
Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of your final product regarding its
technical qualities. Reference what you like and dislike about the work with
consistent reference to correct terminology of tools/effects used. Reference
existing products.
I like the effect that I have used on
the background, I put a normal
photograph on the document and
turned it from ‘normal’ to ‘multiply’
giving it this effect and conforming to
the background colour.
I like the background colour, however
on products like this, it could do with
being lighter, the colour red is very
hard to get right, however, it can be
seen as a negative or a very
passionate colour and that is where I
seem to have struggled with this, it
comes across as slightly angry – this
could even affect the viewers mood.
I like the font that I have used for the
title writing, it’s interesting and
conforms to the culture I am
currently aiming at.
I dislike the image, I think if I
was going to do this again I
would need to change the size
and maybe dodge and burn a
little more to make the image
darker and look more like part
of the whole image rather than
looking out of place and
awkward.
I dislike the brightness of the bottom bar, it almost steals
all of the attention at first glance, which is good, but it
could also do with being darker or maybe a different
colour altogether. I could have been a lot more creative
with the way I have incorporated it in to the image as well.
23. I like the way I have incorporated the koi in to the space separating the
ingredients and the method, I changed the blending mode on the
image layer from ‘Normal’ to ‘Multiply’ which completely got rid of the
white background and left this silhouette of the koi, I did this for almost
every image I have used in my cards. I then duplicated the image layer
and rotated them vertically to create the final effect. I dislike the way I
have placed the ingredients, I would try to make it look neater if I could.
I like how simplistic yet professional it looks. I dislike how there is
nothing in the middle of the koi. I like how it took little effort to create.
I like the image that I have used for this card, however I dislike how it
seems to be off centre, to make the image look more professional and
fit in with my card I had to dodge and burn to create my desired effect. I
like the type of font that I have used, as previously mentioned, I like
that it’s a different design; however you can still tell its still in the same
card set. I dislike how out of place the serving number and preparation
time look I’d like to have changed that, possibly by ridding of the
rounded corner rectangle and just put them against the yellow/gold
banner.
I dislike how sparse the overall design looks, I think I could have made
the back more interesting/aesthetically pleasing, I like the background
image I have used, I think I have successfully incorporated the Chinese
culture look in to this card, I dislike how some of the text is positioned, I
think I could have maybe spaced the text out some more using the
paragraph panel tool.
24. 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.
I think this text looks
unprofessional and
cheap.
I find that this text
is more eye
catching and
unique compared
to the existing
recipe card.
The image looks
slightly blurred and
it’s not very
aesthetically pleasing.
I think that the
image stands out
too much against
the background – it
also seems slightly
blurred.
I like how they have sold
the product more with a
sort of catchphrase. Compared to my recipe card, the
existing card hasn’t got any logos,
serving times or
preparation/cooking time
25. I like the background image I chose for this, it doesn’t exactly conform
to the Chinese culture but it is Chinese art and therefore fits, I think
it’s quite eye catching and aesthetically pleasing and compared to
other recipe cards I have seen, such as the card I looked at in the
previous slide, it’s quite unique and interesting compared to standard,
neutral colours and designs. I dislike how the font covers it, however,
I think I could have spaced out the writing a bit more. I like the whole
page set up, I like where I have put the writing, I just dislike how the
writing doesn’t really fit the card design.
I dislike how the image looks out of place on this card, I think I could
have maybe made it slightly smaller rather than it taking up the full
top half of the card, I think its too bright, I maybe should have dodged
and burned a little more. I like the font that I used, I think it makes the
card look more unique and conform to the culture I was aiming at. I
dislike the rounded rectangles on the yellow banner, I think I should
have changed their colour or completely erased them. I like the
background image I’ve used for this card, it’s unique, however I don’t
really like how the red looks on it, I think I could have changed that.
Looking at other recipe cards, they follow a very neutral theme using
greens, greys and so on, I think by using red it’s a stand against the
norm and I like that about my set of cards. I dislike how much I’ve had
to squish my writing to fit in to the bottom part of the card, I could
have spaced it out using the paragraph panel tool or I could have
made the Koi smaller, however, I do like how the Koi look, I like the
way that it seems they are following each other, it’s very proportionate
and aligned and personally, I think it’s aesthetically pleasing.
26. Again, as previously stated, I dislike how the image seems off centre, at
first glance it seems like I have cut part of the photograph out when this
is not the case, I like the design at the top of the card, its almost a
banner but it only stretches across the top rather than going all around
the edge of the page which conserves space and makes the overall
design look nice. I dislike the yellow banner at the bottom of the card, I
think its quite plain and standard and I would have liked to try something
interesting and different with it, use creativity to make it look more
professional or fun.
I like how simple this design looks and at the same time I also dislike it,
I’m very pleased with how the butterfly effect worked, I also like that I
added a panda, it again conforms to the culture I chose and it’s quite
aesthetically pleasing. I dislike how sparse the page looks however, it’s
nice and simplistic but it might be a little too simplistic, I would have
liked to add more to the design, possibly even put a border around it or
used the butterflies to make the page look more busy.
I like how I edited the photograph on this card, I blurred and sharpened
certain areas to make it look more eye catching and appealing, I also
dodged and burned the image so that it was slightly darker and fit in with
the card design. I dislike how squished it seems, I should have moved the
image of the tofu nuggets up and moved the title up with it. I like the
background I used, I found an image of bamboo and utilised it as the
background for this image, I think this is different and unique and I find it
very aesthetically pleasing.
27. Finished products
What skills/knowledge have you gained/developed in this project? How could
these be applied in future practice?
I learnt how to effectively use the paragraph panel tool, this allowed me to
increase/decrease the amount of space between writing and sentences. I
could use this for the future when creating written documents on
Photoshop, it really helps with spacing things out and being able to make
the page look more densely designed rather than not having much visual
information.
I also learnt how to easily erase backgrounds on imported pictures and
create silhouettes without using the wand tool – instead I change the
Blending Mode from ‘normal’ to ‘multiply’ like I have previously talked
about. This enabled me to create most of my backgrounds and will make
the whole process a lot quicker and easier in the future, especially when it
comes to deleting the background of an image.
This task also enabled me to effectively use different paint brush styles, for
example: ‘special effect brushes’ these enabled me to create the butterfly
effect on card 3, I can definitely use this in the future for when I want to
create crafty little designs for future projects.
28. I have also learnt that exact measurements and placement is very
important, I filled a whole sheet with numerical information that told me
and my partner exactly where to put certain images, logos etc. this
enabled us to make our cards look almost identical apart from the
difference in design. I definitely need to remember this for the future and
always write down my measurements so if I need to, I can refer to them
and make sure they are in the same places.
29. 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 productd work and compare your products to them)
I do believe my work is both creative and technically competent – I’m particularly impressed
with my third card. What I like about this is the effect I used on the tree to make the
butterflies look like they’re disembarking from and flying off.
I also like the panda, I used the blending tool and got rid of the background which gave this
effect, I then placed him next to the tree to give the illusion he is leaning against it.
Honestly with all of my cards I am impressed with the front page, I liked being able to utilise
this new skill, it gives a really nice effect and makes the overall piece look a lot more
professional.
Comparing my pieces to other recipe cards, I think they are probably around the same level
of skill, obviously my cards are not as good in terms of quality, but I’m not a professional, I
think for my first attempt at something like this I did a good job.
I do think my recipe cards look
less compacted compared to
professional standard ones, but
that could be a problem in terms
of cost for me/my company.
30. 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 honestly think I used my time quite well, I was able to one hundred per
cent complete the set tasks within the time that I was given to finish them,
however I actually finished planning and production very early on during
the production process, this gave me more time to very carefully go over
my finished products and correct any errors.
Maybe in the future I should try to space out what I’m doing during the
production process or add to my designs so it takes me longer to complete
set tasks rather than finishing them before I should have.
31. Production process
If you could repeat the process what would you do differently?
I think I would carefully think through the planning process again, maybe
even during the planning process actually create some of the ideas that I
came up with, just to make sure they actually work, I ended up changing a
lot of aspects during the production process – I think it would be better if I
very carefully thought through my actual designs.
I might try a different culture, I really wanted to do American culture and
aim it at the 1960’s period, I had a full plan but it changed at the last
moment – I’d really like to give that a try.
Further research in to the Chinese culture and use that as inspiration for
designs and ideas – I got stuck towards the end with ideas on exactly what
to put on to the cards.
32. AS Media Studies 2009 32
Production process
If you could repeat the process what would you do differently?
34. Constraints
What constraints did you encounter and how did you consider/avoid them?
Legal: the only legal constraints that I really faced during this project was
when collecting sourced images – most of the images I wanted for my final
product had watermarks on them which meant I couldn’t utilise them.
35. Regulatory: I don’t think we really encountered any regulatory
constraints throughout our project.
36. Financial: When looking at the financial aspects of my project, we can
see that the total cost was quite dear.
I also found that, as opposed to the original plan, I had to change from
making the recipes and taking the photographs myself, I had to scrap that
idea and source the images instead – this didn’t have much of an impact
and saved money, time and effort.
37. 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?)
I personally think that I work better as part of a group as opposed to
completing the projects individually.
I don’t think there was an overall leader during this project I think it was
equally separated between the both of us, however, I do think at some
points I did take charge, this was due to my partner not working or
cooperating with the task or getting the images and designs in the right
places.
I think i definitely took charge of the actual production, when it came to
designing the cards and creating the finished look in Photoshop, that was
down to me, I got all of the measurements and numbers in the right
places.
I did enjoy working as part of a group, I usually do, this is because it’s easy
to distribute the jobs between us so the product gets finished a lot faster. It
also usually means better end products as its two sets of ideas instead of
one.
38. Management
How important is communication when working in a group?
(Use specific examples from working in a group on this project)
Communication is very important during group work – without
communication we wouldn’t know what we would be doing, we’d end up
with two completely different end products.
An example of important communication is when my partner didn’t have
the right measurements or design that followed my own making our set of
cards incompatible – after some evaluation, we decided to move them in
to certain areas, we decided this together. It made the final set of cards
look complete and almost identical, making it hard to differentiate them,
which was the target.
39. Management
How important is communication when working in a group?
(Use specific examples from working in a group on this project)
There was also the whole problem with cooking the food ourselves, we
both had to contact each other at first to make sure that the plans were
going as scheduled, this is where we both found out we couldn’t actually
afford the initial preparation of the food and therefore couldn’t follow our
plan directly, using our contingency plan and communication, we
overcame the problem.
Basically without communication, our whole project would have been not
only a mess of random designs and recipes, but a complete disaster, it’s
very important to maintain this tool when working within a group to make
sure the end product is exactly how it should look and ensuring that we’ll
get the best results.
40. Management
What have you learnt about working in a group and how will you apply this to
future practice?
I have learnt that sometimes you have to take charge, if one member of
the team wasn’t working effectively, it means someone has to motivate
them and me and my partner both took that particular role in turns,
especially when it came to the planning part.
I have also learnt how communication is important, as previously talked
about, as within our group if we didn’t communicate effectively, then the
end product wouldn’t look like it does and we’d end up with two completely
different set of cards that wouldn’t look right.
I would definitely apply these to future tasks, I think it’s important when
working in a group to establish maybe a leader, but seems as there was
only two of us in this particular project, I think dividing up responsibilities is
very important.
