3. Visual Language
How have you chosen to set out your designs and why? (Reference
layout, image/text ratio, busy/simplistic etc)
Our recipe cards are full of small details that make them realistic, making the design seem
quite busy. Depending on the recipe and how many ingredients there are and how many
steps there are, there could be a lot or only a little text. Mostly there is more text than
images. We have used the margins from the background image of a lined piece of paper
for the text but let some of the images run over to make it more realistic. We also tired to
fit the text to the lines of the lined paper, though sometimes found it a challenge due to
space. We used paragraphs to break up the text to make it easier to read. The title was
always at the top of the page, as with school work that was always
where the title would go, making the card more
realistic. Having the title at the top was not just
to make it look like school work however, as it
was also to make the name of the recipe clear
and obvious. On every card the banner and logo
when at the bottom of the page. Our designs
are definitely busy, though the text is readable
and it isn’t overpowered by details and images.
On each card there is a different amount of text
and images depending on the recipe and how
4. many high quality images we could get, but mostly there is more text than images.
5. Visual Language
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.)
We used small details such as ink splodges, tea-stains and some little illustrations to give
the card a more home made feel. We also made the brand strip look like ripped paper to
fit with our theme. We put images of tape across the edges
of the images we used to make it look as if they had been
stuck on to the page. For some of our key information such
as vegetarian or vegan suitability and serving sizes we used
an image of a school blackboard and places the text on top
in white to make it look as if that section of text was written
on the board. This makes the information stand out, and
adds some more detail to the theme. The images we used
sometimes had a background and sometimes the background was
cut out on photoshop. Almost all of the photographs we used were
Taken by us, though 3 of them were stock photos. On a lot of the
photos we used a drop shadow to make it more believable that the
photos were stuck onto the page. Non of our photographs
were too busy in order to draw attention to the food rather than
anything else.
6.
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.)
Though our green brand strip was influenced by the colour of the clients logo, it also has
other connotations. You could associate it with environmental politics, or the Green Party.
It could also be associated with green vegetables, which people often stereotype
vegetarians and vegans as people who eat a lot of those. The messy illustrations, small
added details and the hand written looking font have connotations of children. The tea-
stains will be a familiar sight to anyone who ever did homework.
The ink splodges could make you think of broken biros from being
chewed at by children. The blackboard used to contain some of the
important information has strong connotations of how
schools were when our audience was at school. We
tried to come up with recipes to use that would remind
people of being back at school such as shepherds pie and
rice pudding. The text is written in a font that looks as if
it has been hand written by a child, which could
persuade our audience into believing that these
recipe cards are really someone’s school work.
8.
9. Audiences
Create an audience profile of your chosen demographic
(Age, gender, psychographic, geodemographic, NRS Social Grade, hobbies,
sexuality [if appropriate] etc)
Our audience would be people who have left school, probably a long time ago as these are
the people most likely to feel nostalgic when looking at the cards. This could be adults
aged 25 and up. Though anyone of any age who has left school could feel nostalgic and
enjoy the cards. The audience could be both female or male as the cards are not
particularly aimed at either. Any member of society who has attended school would be
able to appreciate and understand this card, though those who haven’t, such as Travelers
or forging adults now living in Britain may not so much as they will not understand some
of the references. Children who are in schools now may not be able to appreciate these
cards either as they wont feel nostalgic. They also may not understand some of the
references as schools are very different now to how they used to be, for example they may
not understand what the blackboard is as they no longer have blackboards in most
schools. Other people who may not enjoy this card so much could be those who didn’t
have a good school experience. These people may now be working class members of
society, possibly because they have missed a lot of school so didn’t get enough
qualifications. The NRS social grades place the working class and middle class into 6
categories, A B C1 C2 D and E. A-C1 is middle class and C2-E is working class. Our audience
is perhaps in the A-C1 area making them middle class. A sociologists study showed that
working class people tended
10. to have a “live for the moment” attitude, where as middle class people tended to think
more about the future. This might mean that our audience is more likely to be interested
in exercise and healthy eating. They are also probably more driven people, succeeding in
work life, their social life and their love life. We also know that our audience might be into
healthy eating as a vegetarian and vegan lifestyle is usually considered more healthy. Our
recipes are fairly healthy, with some exceptions such as the rice pudding. I think that our
audience would typically be vegetarian or vegan as they will be the people most inclined
to go out and seek vegetarian and vegan recipe cards. Though I think that anyone that in
interested in cooking could enjoy this recipe card.
11. 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.
Our audience would typically be middle class adults aged 20+.The theme would appeal to
our audience as its all about reminding them of being back at school. This would appeal to
the middle class as they probably did better at school, and were praised by teachers, liked
by other students and got better qualifications. Therefore having a generally good school
experience and having good memories of school. The photographs we have taken look
more appropriate for adults as well. We haven’t used too much colour on the photos. The
photos are simple an high quality making them more suitable for our
audience. The food is also all presented well and quite formally.
Rather than doing actual traditional school dinners we did a
vegetarian/vegan, more delicious take on the old
school dinners, making the food more appealing to
the audience. Though the theme was about making
you feel like a child back at school, the language we
used wasn’t child like, making it more appropriate for
adults. Our recipe cards would appeal to vegetarians,
vegans and non-vegetarians/vegans as the food is
Suitable for everyone, and the fun theme may convince the
non-vegetarians/vegans to give it a try.
12.
13. 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?)
I haven’t looked at any other cards that have particularly inspired me, nor have they
influenced our design idea. Though we have been inspired and influenced by school, and
how school used to be when our audience was there. For example we used images of
blackboards which used to be used in schools for some of
our text. The colours of our text and the ink splodges
were inspired by the blue biros we used for writing in
school. Another of our influences has been our client the
vegetarian society, which has inspired the use of the
colour green on our cards. We used green for the branding
strip at the bottom of the page to remind people of the
brand, but we continued it inside the hole-punched paper
to make it look realistic as if the page was on top of a green
surface. We managed to get some inspiration from the
Vegetarian society for our food photography. As
Photographing food was not something I had ever done or
looked into particularly I needed some inspiration to show me
how to do it. The photos I took followed some of the
conventions of food photography, such as taking the
14. photograph close up rather than from far away in order to get the clearest picture of the
food.
15. Cultural context
Do vegetarian products have a specific design aesthetic and how does your
project reflect/contrast this? Why?
I don’t think that vegetarian or vegan recipe cards have a specific design aesthetic. It varies
depending on the target audience. It can also vary depending on the cards theme, such as
foods from around the world or Christmas. Though one thing that most vegetarian or
vegan products have in common is the use of the colour green, as seen in the two
examples below taken from the vegetarian society website. On our recipe cards we also
used the colour green for our branding
strip and inside the holes in the page.
The colour green often represents
nature and the environment, which is
why I think it is often used on
vegetarian and vegan recipe cards.
Although these example cards were
made by the vegetarian society, and
their logo is green so this could be
anotherreason it has been used.
16. We were inspired by this use of green, and used it for our branding strip and inside the
hole punches inside the paper to make it look as if the paper is lying on a green surface.
However we didn’t use the colour green specifically to represent nature or the
environment, but to represent our client. One other thing that most vegetarian and vegan
recipe cards have in common is their style of photography. Typically, food is photographed
close up to the food to capture a clear image of it. They also have the camera set to a very
small depth of field, making the background appear out of focus, but the food close up to
the camera remains in focus. This is to highlight the food.
17. 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
Looking at our first style sheets
and flat plan, we tried to stick to
one specific style sheet for our
design, though we seemed to end
up using a combination of a few of
the sheets. For example we used
the colour scheme from one style
sheet and the font from another.
We also decided on one particular
flat plan to use for our recipe
cards, however we ended up
changing a few small parts along
the way.
We also decided on one particular flat plan to use for our recipe cards, however we
ended up changing a few small parts along the way.
18. We were originally going to have the vegetarian
society logo at the top of the page, though due
to what was asked of us in the brief we had to
place it at the bottom. We also didn’t necessarily
place all our images in the places we thought we
would originally, this could have been due to the
quantity of photos we took. Though we kept all
the places the text would go the same, so the
changes don’t appear too drastic.
Looking at the test cards we did, we ended up
keeping all the text in the same place on our
finished cards, though some of the font sizes are
a little different. In our finished cards we used
an image of a blackboard to section off some of
the text where as on the test cards we just made
a box around it. The text we sectioned off on the
text cards is also different to the text we
sectioned off on the finished cards. We also
usedbullet points that looked like ink blobs on the
test cards, but we didn’t use those on the
finished cards.
19. Finished products
Does your finished product match what you were set in the brief? How?
The brief stated that we needed to include a branding strip with their logo on the recipe
cards. They wanted interesting and creative designs, with a set theme so it was clear that
they were a set. They wanted to have cards with a front and a back. All the food needed
to be suitable for vegetarians, and some for vegans. Recipe cards needed to include vegan
or vegetarian suitability, serving number, preparation time and cooking time.
The ingredients needed to be listed in the order in which they are used in the method. We
needed to use metric rather than imperial measurements. We should have left a space
between the number and spoon abbreviations but not between the number and metric
abbreviations. We should have left out the degrees symbol and the term ‘mark’ when
referring to cooking temperatures. We should have also left a space between the word
‘Gas’ and the temperature but not between the temperature and the degrees
measurement abbreviation. The method points should be numbered but not the
ingredients.
Our cards featured a branding strip with their logo on it like they asked. I also think our
cards were very interesting and creative, and it did have a set theme. All of our recipes
were suitable for vegetarians, some were vegan and some were adaptable to be either
vegetarian or vegan. All of our cards included a front and back design. At the top of the
20. We did state weather the recipe was suitable for vegetarians or vegans, and we stated the
serving number. I think that almost all of the ingredients were listed in the order they
needed to be used in the method, though there could perhaps have been a few mistakes.
Some of the we made used imperial measurements though the others used metric. Some
of the cards has the method stages numbered however some did not.
Branding strip + logo
Serving
number, prep
time, cooking
time and
vegetarian/veg
an suitability
Method steps
are numbered
Front and back page
21. Finished products
How did the use of peer feedback help you in your production?
(Reference specific examples and their final outcome in finished product)
During the planning part of this project, within our group we gave each other feedback on
each others ideas. I think this was definitely beneficial because we managed to come to a
compromise on our final designs of the recipe cards. It also gave us an opportunity to hear
ideas we may not have thought about before. During our initial ideas development where
we were choosing the theme we were going to use for our cards, we gave each other a lot
of peer feedback. We each created 5 ideas and we would give feedback to each others
ideas. From each of our 5 ideas we would pick 2 to develop, and then pick our favorite
one. We would asses each others favorite ideas until we came up with our final idea. This
was how we came to decide on our school dinner theme.
22.
23. 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.
24. We needed to learn how to use certain effects on
phototshop to create the look of a tare at the bottom of
the page that we used for the branding strip.
We used a drop shadow on some of the images to make it look as if it had actually
been stuck on the page. We also used a drop shadow under the tare in the page so
it looks as if it is actually on a green surface.
Reduced the opacity
of the ink splodges,
tea-stains and the
tape so you can see
the lines and images
slightly through them,
making it look more
realistic.
We mostly took
our own
photographs.
Edited photos lighting, colour and noise level
to improve the quality.
We didn’t number
the method steps on
every single card
which if we had
would have improved
the cards.
Each ingredient is on
its own line to make
the list clear.
We tried to fit the text
onto the lines on the
lined paper to make it
seem neater, and also
more realistic.
25. 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.
26. Made the blueberries look like they are actually
on the page by cutting them from the original
image and adding a drop shadow, adding to the
cards messy look.
Date at the top of the page to make
it look more like school work.
We tried to fit the text between the
lines on the page to make it readable,
but also realistic
The
blackboard
sections off
important
info so you
can see it
clearly, but
it also looks
fun how it
looks as if it
has been
written on
the board
Ink splodges and text are in the colour
are in the colour of blue biro, making it
look realistic.
27.
28. Finished products
What skills/knowledge have you gained/developed in this project? How could
these be applied in future practice?
During this project I have developed my creative skills further. Before this project I had no
experience in creating recipe cards, and I had never though about what themes you could
use and interesting things you could do with a recipe card. I had also never done food
photography, though now I have and I have learned about what sort of lighting, colours
and angles look good when taking photographs of food. I have definitely learned how to
manage my time better than in previous projects, as I have managed to keep up to date
with all of my tasks. I have gained further knowledge of vegetarian and vegan food from
creating our recipe cards, and from creating our vegetarian factfile. Though I already had a
lot of knowledge of vegetarian food, I still discovered many things I didn’t already know
such as food that has animal produce in it that you wouldn’t expect.
29.
30. 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 believe that our work is creative. The school dinner theme of our recipe cards I
think is interesting and fun. We put a lot of thought into small details
such as putting a date at the top of some of the pages, ink splodges,
tea stains and using little pieces of tape over the
photographs which makes the card more fun for the consumer
As it is realistic. School dinner themed recipe cards are not
something I have particularly seen a lot of, so we had to think of
all our own ideas rather than getting inspiration from
Existing cards, which I think demonstrates a lot of
creativity. One of my favorite and most creative aspects
of our cards is the brand strip, as we managed to make
it realistically look as if the page had been ripped at the
bottom. The cards I think are also technically
competent. We have tried to make the text as easy to
read as possible by spacing it out so each line fits within the
spaces in the lined paper. Another way we made sure our text
Was readable was by sectioning off some important information
31. Using an image of a blackboard to enclose it. This is not only practical but I think
very creative as it adds another fun aspect to the cards and will make the
consumer feel nostalgic of their time at school. We have made sure all of our
images are high quality and make the food look its best. We made sure of this by
taking the photographs in good lighting and making sure the food is well
presented on the plate, and also by editing the photographs on photoshop.
32. 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 think we managed our time very well. We managed to meet each deadline without any
problems. We during the production period of this project we seemed to find plenty of
time to mess about with our designs and make a few versions. I know that I needed to
start my cards again a few times in order to get the design perfect but I managed to meet
the deadline for putting the final designs on my blog. Though it took us a while to get all of
our photographs together we still managed well. We didn’t particularly stick to our original
schedule, I think this was because we got everything done much quicker than we thought,
and I think we needed to change the order we did everything a little due to the amount of
time it took us to get our final photos. I think that we managed our time more effectively
than if we had stuck to our schedule.
33. Production process
If you could repeat the process what would you do differently?
If I were to do this project again I would try to follow the brief a lot more closely. Though
most aspects of the cards fitted the brief, a few didn’t. For example, we didn’t have the
cooking time and prep time on all of the cards, some cards didn’t have numbered method
steps, and also some of the cards used imperial measurements rather than metric. This
was down to not reading the brief carefully enough. Next time I would definitely read the
brief more than once, perhaps keeping it open while I was working just to check I was
following it correctly. I would perhaps have communicated with my partner a little more,
in order to get the best outcome for our project. We found that when we brought all of
our finished products together the cards didn’t quite look like a set, and some were better
quality than others. This could have been prevented if we had communicated better. If I
did the project again I would much rather take all of my own photographs that use some
of my own and some stock photos. Taking your own photos means that you can control
the amount of high quality photographs that go onto your cards. The photos will come out
looking like a set because you have taken photos of the same item of food, with the same
setting on the camera and the same lighting. When using stock photos you cannot
guarantee that the photos will look like a set, and you cannot guarantee the quality of
those photos. This has meant that on some of my cards where I have used stock photos
there are not as many photos as the ones where I have taken my own.
36. Constraints
What constraints did you encounter and how did you consider/avoid them?
Legal: We could have had some copyright issues if we had used stock photos or
photos from Google images. Some stock photos need to be paid for before you
have rights to use them. Also, if we had taken photos from Google, we would have
no rights to those images, and so we would have been infringing copyright law. We
managed to avoid any of these issues by taking most of our own photographs for
the recipe cards. For the images we didn’t take ourselves, we took them from food
photography websites that had royalty free stock images. For 6 out of the 8 of our
recipe cards, we used out own photographs, though for 2 of the recipe cards we
took them from royalty free food photographs websites. This means that we didn’t
have to pay for the rights, and so we could use them without any legal implications.
The one problem with using stock photographs, is that you cannot always find
what you want, and if you want to use multiple photographs, you cannot always
find some that match.
In order to comply with the the current laws on food packaging and labelling, I
needed to ensure that non of the information that I provided on my recipe cards
was misleading. In order to do this, I didn’t provide any information which could
give the consumer any impression that my recipes had any health benefits that
they don’t have, or aided weight loss in any way. Though I am not selling the actual
food product, these laws would still apply to me.
37. Regulatory: During the project, we also has to ensure that we were abiding by Advertising Standards
Agency (ASA) regulations, and Food Standards Agency (FSA) regulations. When completing the pre-production
techniques pro-forma at the beginning of this project, I considered some of the regulatory bodies and their
regulations, and how they would affect my work. In order to comply with ASA guidelines, I needed to ensure that
everything stated on the recipe cards was true, such as the ingredients and the vegetarian or vegan suitability. The
ASA (advertising standards agency) states that “Commercial product advertising cannot reasonably be expected to
perform the same role as education and public information in promoting a varied and balanced diet but should not
undermine progress towards national dietary improvement by misleading or confusing consumers”. We have taken
steps to ensure that all of our recipes are healthy and balanced. Most of our recipes contain lots of healthy
ingredients, such as vegetables and pulses. The recipes feature food that contains lots of what we need, such as
vitamins from the vegetables and protein from the cheese, and the pulses.
In order to comply with the Vegetarian Societies brief, I needed to ensure that all of the recipes were vegetarian,
and some needed to be vegan. This meant that we could not feature any recipes in the recipe cards that featured
ingredients such as meat and fish, and some less obvious ingredients such as cheese prepared with calf rennet such
as some parmesan, or anything with gelatin in it such as jelly sweats. In the vegan recipes, they could not feature
any of these ingredients, plus no other animal products such as milk and milk containing foods, and egg and egg
containing foods. We have fulfilled the brief by doing a bit of research into vegetarian and vegan recipes and foods,
to ensure that everything that we were using was classes as either vegetarian or vegan. We decided on 4 recipes
that were vegan, and 4 recipes that were vegetarian.
38. Financial: In order to make our food to photograph we needed to buy the
ingredients, which ended up costing a fair bit. In our budget we stated all of the
ingredients that we might need, and we stated how much each meal would cost.
We thought that the food alone would cost us around £96.35, though that was split
between us. We managed to cut some of the costs by using some royalty free
stock photographs for some of the recipe cards. This meant that we didn’t have to
pay for the ingredients, and that we didn’t have to pay for the use of the
photographs. We also cut back on costs by doing all of the cooking ourselves
ourselves, rather than hiring a chef to prepare the meals. The problem with this
however was that the food ended up coming out looking a lower standard than it
would have if we had hired a professional to cook it. It also meant that we needed
to take some time away from the design and copy side of the project in order to
cook the food.
Another financial constraint that we faced was not being able to afford to hire other
staff to come and help us with the project, for example another graphic designer, or
a photographer. We couldn’t afford to hire any more people to work on the project
as we were self funding the project. It meant that we had to create all aspects of
the recipe cards ourselves. It mean that we perhaps ended up having to work on
some aspects of the recipe cards that weren’t particularly our strong points, so the
quality of the recipe cards could have been impacted.
39. 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?)
In our team we managed to split each task between us, so we both played an equal role in
the team. For example, when we were creating our recipe cards we each did for cards,
front and back. I think that this was beneficial to us as we both got the opportunity to try
out every aspect of the project and develop out skills in different areas, for example
graphic design and photography. Splitting us a task also mean that we got it completed
much quicker, meaning that we met the deadline stated in the brief.
We also split us all of the tasks during the development stages of the project, which meant
that we both got the change to get our ideas out there. Though perhaps it was nice that
we both managed to get an equal amount of ideas across into the final product, I don’t
think that it benefitted the product, as our ideas about what we wanted didn’t seem to
integrate. I found that during the project we lacked a lot of communication, and so our
cards didn’t come out looking like a set. Because we were not communicating effectively
and frequently, our ideas were perhaps misinterpreted, and so we ended up with cards
that looked different. This ended up diminishing the quality of the cards quite a bit.
40. Management
How important is communication when working in a group?
(Use specific examples from working in a group on this project)
Communication is essential when working in a group. It is important to communicate
effectively and frequently with your team, so that you understand each others ideas, and
so that you all know your role in the team. If you do not communicate your ideas
effectively, you may find that your ideas are not getting put across, and may not be used. It
could be that you have a good idea, though due to ineffective communication the idea
doesn’t get used and the products quality is effected. It is also possible that if you do not
communicate regularly and effectively, then ideas might be misunderstood, and you may
end up coming out with products that do not all match, or low quality products. Also, if
you do not communicate with your team members about what role each person is to play
in the team, then perhaps multiple people will end up working on the same task. This
could massively impact your likelihood to finish on the deadline required.
During the project, I found that me and my team member struggled to communicate
frequently and effectively. We both ended up creating similar cards, though cards that
were not exactly identical in style as required. This prevented them from looking like a set,
and ended up diminishing the quality of all of them.
41. Management
What have you learnt about working in a group and how will you apply this to
future practice?
I have learnt how important it is to communicate with team members in order to come out with the best product,
and therefore I will definitely consider this when doing team work again in the future. From the mistakes that we
made during the project in terms of communication, I have leant that we need to frequently and effectively
communicate. This will help me to create better pieces of work in future group work.
I have also learnt how to compromise on ideas, such as when we where in the ideas development stage of the
project and we had to decide on which idea was then best out of the original 5 and who’s idea we were going to use
in the end. As I perhaps had some bias to my own ideas, I had to be able to look at all of the ideas objectively in
order to help us to choose the best idea. In the future when working in a team I will remember that compromise is
important otherwise the project cannot be developed, and I will consider team mates ideas before my own.
I have learnt that it is important to consider each others strengths and weaknesses and work around them to your
advantage in order to achieve the best outcome. As we split up most of the tasks equally between us, it mean that
we both ended up having a go at everything, from the graphic design work to writing up the copy. I think that
because this project was designed to help us to develop our skills, it was important for it to have a go at everything.
However, in the future in order to come out with the best product possible I think that I should assess what I am
good at, and then stick to that role.
