3. Visual Language
How have you chosen to set out your designs and why? (Reference
layout, image/text ratio, busy/simplistic etc)
Our recipe card design is based on cities all around the world. We chose to lay out our design
to show the city straight away, without using words, we did this by die cutting the skyline of the
city or a recognizable monument from that particular city onto the front and back. For
example, London we used a skyline of the city featuring the London Bridge and with Sydney we
used a silhouette of the Opera House. This is a layout I have not seen before on a recipe card so
this will make our set of cards stand out from the rest, making it unique.
The front of the card is very basic and gets straight to the point of what the recipe is and how it
will finally look. We did this by placing a large image of the final product in the middle of the
front page. From looking at the Vegetarian Society’s existing recipe cards such as the “meat-
free made easy” the front cover is very similar to ours. It
has an image of the food in a similar size to what we did
for all our recipe cards. Both the pictures are bordered to
make them stand out. It has a title and the Vegetarian
Society logo which we also included on our own recipe
card. Keeping the layout simple on the front helps give a
clear indication to what the recipe includes. Having the
circles at the bottom clearly telling the reader if the recipe
is acceptable for vegans, the prep time, cooking time and
how many it serves. I think this is a clever feature to place
on a recipe card as it quickly gets to the point and the
4. audience will know if they need to double the ingredients to get a double serving. Some recipes
also appeal to vegans and this can be found in the circle banner too. The banner across the bottom
of the front page produced by circles includes all these features and the logo. A different banner is
carried onto the back which includes social networking sites and again, the logo. Having information
in a banner easily gathers together important information and allows the information to be taken in
quickly and all at once. Having the servings, prep time etc. on the bottom is useful because firstly
the audience will look at the image on a recipe card, and if the food looks nice their eyes will next
go down the page to the information they need and having it one place will be helpful to all.
The back includes the ingredients and method. We spaced everything out using both the back and
front and using the back for more informational text. The ingredients were placed on top of the
countries flag to carry on the theme throughout the recipe card. The die cut can also be seen from
the back too. Information such as the ingredients and the method should always be placed on a
recipe card. From looking at existing recipe cards online ingredients are usually placed before the
method, or the the left hand side of the method so you will always go the ingredients first. In our
brief we were asked to list the ingredients but some recipe cards use pictures of the ingredients to
inform the audience what they need to get. The method was placed underneath the ingredients as
this is the last thing you need to look at before making the recipe. The method is numbered,
indicated in the brief but also so the audience can follow the steps in a order.
The text to picture ratio is higher, in the text favor, but this is a good thing as the card is not
bombarded with pictures but instruction which all recipe cards need to create the recipe. We tried
to keep the recipe card looking as simple as possible for the busy audience we have.
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.)
The images we chose were stock images from Google. The use of stock images did make it a
lot easier for us but it did produce some problems such as trying to find images that looked
similar. Some images needed editing or cropping to keep the same exposure and brightness
within all the images on each recipe card. If I took my own pictures then we would have got
the same lighting and style easily. The images would look like they belong altogether and
backgrounds wouldn’t be so drastic. But the use of stock images gave us more time to produce
the design and layout of the card. We chose images that looked similar by choosing images
that all looked like they had the same quality and used the same aperture. A lot of images
used on existing recipe cards use a large depth of field. This is to focus straight into the food
and for nothing to replace the importance on the dish in front. This set of recipe cards show
how an image can have 80% ratio to the text and still looks professional and with the use of
aperture it can can create a background but the dish is still in focus and still in
good quality. This is a large image to text ratio and I wanted something a bit
more equal therefore we did not go for a full page image. But I did use stock
images that used a large depth of field because it doesn’t just make the image
more professional but it makes the food stand out more.
6. All the images that we used have a natural wash colour to them. They use light colours
within the images, colours such as white and cream make the images become light and
happy. The greens within the images portrays a healthy lifestyle when they contribute with
the whites and it represents the vegetarian society company as it uses the same colours
that is used on the logo.
We used graphic images of the countries flag on both the front and back page. These were
made slightly transparent by using the opacity tool on Photoshop, because they were to fill
in the background underneath text and images. It makes the recipe cards become more
patriotic with the colours, flags and images that contribute to the country that you love.
From looking at existing products that use graphic images they place text within the shape,
we took this into consideration and used it in our own recipes cards as it gives text some
frame and thought it looked effective.
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.)
The use of the flags, skyline/die cut and colours differ on each recipe card but they are all
placed in the same place. They are different to indicate the country the city is in and to let the
audience interpret this with one look at the recipe card. Let me explain this in detail; the New
York recipe card shows the country in its patriotic colours: blue, red and white, this
compliments the colours on the flag and people from all around the world will be able to
recognize this recipe is for the USA. The skyline indicates what city it is in. For New York there is
a skyline of New York with the main feature of the Statue of Liberty which is again a symbol of
the city. We did this on all our recipes so the audience could quickly know the city through the
semiotic symbols and connotations. Going back to the colours and how they connotation to the
idea, some countries, UK, USA and Australia all have the same colours on their countries flag.
So we chose colours that represented the country such as orange, yellow and blue for Australia.
This comes from the hot weather, deserts and the beaches and sea. This is universally thought
about Australia and people will still be able to understand this is Australia from the colours.
8. From looking at this recipe card which
has a theme of Spain with its Spanish
Potato Tortilla shows that not only is
the recipe connotation to a Spanish
theme but colours do this too. The
Spanish flag is made up of a yellow and
red and this recipe card includes the
same red as seen on the Spanish flag. A
subtle hint of yellow on the picture has
been cleverly used to show the yellow
from the Spanish flag together and
cleverly people will see this as an
indication to represent Spain in a
recipe form.
The use of colours will connote to
different things and luckily countries
have well established universal colours
which we used on our cards to make
them show the counties.
9. Audiences
Create an audience profile of your chosen demographic
(Age, gender, psychographic, geodemographic, NRS Social Grade, hobbies,
sexuality [if appropriate] etc)
The audience targeted for our recipe cards are young professionals working and living in the
city who find it hard to find time to cook meals. They are always on the go working for busy
companies in the centre of the city. Finding time to sit down and have a meal or cook for
someone else has always been hard, therefore simple steps and ingredients is what they need.
Although their work life is repetitive, when they have time to themselves away from work they
like to have an adventure. They love to travel around the world and visit different cities. They
are not afraid of trying new things but just have a shortage of time. They would be new to the
vegetarian lifestyle and these recipes would be helpful for them to get new and exciting
vegetarian ideas.
They would live in busy cities in the UK such as London, Manchester, Liverpool etc. and would
be able to grab exciting opportunities.
10. Interests would include travelling, interesting and exciting activities such as hand gliding etc.
They would be sporty and active. They would live at home, maybe have a partner but they
would not officially live together. The national social grade they would be in would be C1/B. I
think it would appeal to both men and women, but maybe slightly more women would actually
use the recipe card because of the bright colours/fonts and when we did our primary research
questionnaire we found out that most people who used recipe cards were women.
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.
We constructed the recipe cards to appeal to our target audience by choosing recipes that were
easy to make and looked appealing. The ingredients were easy to find in local supermarkets
that you would find in the city. The method would follow quick and simple steps but in a
language that was informative and not too child-like for our middle class audience.
An adventurous target audience needs something to keep its mind on the product for a long
period of time such as making a recipe, therefore the exciting die cut at the top is unusual and
has not been done before on existing recipe cards. This gives the card something different and
unique about itself. It also gives people inspiration, for not only trying new food from a country,
but to even visit that country. It shows people what other cultures eat and what there is to see
and do over there with the die cut showing landscapes and certain monuments from that city.
12. Simple ingredients
that can be found
in shops such as
Tescos/Asda. They
are listed and
separated equally
which makes it
simple and easy for
the reader to read.
It looks like a
shopping list so if
they need to go
and get the
ingredients they
can tick it off easily.
The method is step by step and easy to read.
The language is very formal and informative
for our middle class audience. It is not too
childlike which will bore them or too
challenging.
The die cut is exciting
and unique for the
audience. It has never
been done before on a
recipe card and it gives
the card something else
and something else for
the reader to look at. It
also gives an certain
audience the inspiration
to visit a city with
beautiful landscapes
and monuments.
The banner at the bottom
of the front page informs
the audience about quick
information they need to
know before making the
recipe. This is for the quick
lifestyle the target audience
has.
The picture was chosen
to make the food look
professional and tasty.
This is to catch the busy
audiences eye with one
simple look.
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?)
From the initial research we did before we started designing and production I looked at
different media products that influenced my final design. Because the brief was
produced by the vegetarian society we looked at existing recipe cards that they already
produce online and physically. From looking at recipe cards specially done for vegetarians I
could see a specific layout and format and what they include. Also looking at vegetarian
products for different audiences made me see what needed to be on a recipe card to change
the audience. For example the “Veggie Kids’ Kitchen” booklet by the vegetarian society is a
lot different than “Eats, Shoots & Leaves?” booklet. The booklet aimed towards kids has
bright colours and stickers over the recipe cards. It shows kids in the kitchen smiling but the
other booklet is very neutral and professional. This showed me how to keep my audience
engaged through what colours, images, and layout I use.
From the festive Christmas pie recipe card, I found the
information and pictures on the babbles very effective. It
gives a frame to the text making it stand out. We choose to
do this with the ingredients because I feel this is one of the
most important things for a recipe and making it stand out is
eye catching for the audience. We used the country’s flag for
a graphic to place behind the ingredients which also linked in
with the patriotic theme.
14. During our research we produced a questionnaire on survey
monkey, this questionnaire help us design our final product
through peoples answers. We used it to help us decide the
colours and recipes. The graph to the side is from the
questionnaire and looking at the results we made sure we used
the top five most popular colours. Luckily we did agree with the
colours chosen and they did appear on our recipe cards.
Neither of us were vegetarian and we didn’t know very many
vegetarian dished therefore we asked people what cuisine they
would like. We gave some options and an other box that they
could suggest ideas. We understood people wanted Italian foods
so we used Google and searched for vegetarian Italian dishes and
it came up with lots of ideas. Here we found pasta, pizza etc
dished and many more recipe cards. A UK chef, Jamie Oliver, has
Italian restraints all over the UK and I found one of his recipe
cards. The language is at a high standard when describing the
method. The layout was cleverly used.
Having all the information on the back so
the reader can get all its information in
one place was a good idea and it looks
effective rather than busy. A well thought
out layout can make a recipe card look
professional and this is what I wanted
with our set of cards.
15. Cultural context
Do vegetarian products have a specific design aesthetic and how does your
project reflect/contrast this? Why?
From looking at existing vegetarian products they have certain features tat are
consistent throughout. For example there is a similar colour scheme, even if it is just a
slight hint the colour green will always be seen on the card. If this is just portrayed
throughout the whole card or from small colours on the picture or logo. Not only is the
Vegetarian Society’s logo green most of their recipe cards are in different shades of
Another thing many vegetarian products have to make them look appealing and let
them stand out is using bold fonts. This happens a lot on packaging for vegetarian meals
and ingredients. Quorn uses a bold white font on top of a bright orange to contrast
together to make it stand out. I have also noticed, packaging for meat products can be
boring and will not stand out, but vegetarian product have bright pictures and colours
and fancy bold text to try and catch a new audience. This is a clever way of getting
people to buy your product that usually wouldn’t. in my own product we used bright
colours to attract our audience and used different fonts to make them stand out.
greens. Green connotes to the healthy lifestyle and
vegetables in their diet. On each recipe card I have
used the colour green, even though it may vary from
a lot to a little from the vegetables used in the
photograph, there is always some green to show the
healthy vegetarian lifestyle.
16. Bright colours and a bold, stroked
title makes the product stand out
from the usual packaging for meat
foods.
This font looks very similar
to the font I chose in my
initial ideas to use.
The “Veggie Patch” logo is eye catching because
it looks like a veggie patch. The colours are bright
and eye catching and the use of greens make it
recognisable to vegetarians and their diet.
The packaging looks bright and
colourful and stands out from
meat product packaging to
make it look more appealing.
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
The finish product looked similar to our initial plans but it has slightly
changed. In my initial ideas I only did one side for the recipe card, this
made it look squished and very busy. So in the card design PowerPoint I
slightly changed the design. This time making it spread across two sides.
This gave me more space and the layout looked more professional. I could
space features bigger such as the picture to make it stand out. On my final
design I stuck to the design on the front cover but on the back page I had
to changed the layout to make the information fit together well. When
the method and ingredients were first placed onto the template they
were too long to fit in the original place therefore editing the layout
slightly made a lot of difference.
Secondly we thought the front needed something else to it. It looked
rather plain so we added a graphic of the countries flag and a banner.
This made the front look more appealing to the audience and more full.
The flag connected to the patriotic theme throughout the card and
makes the card look more appealing when placed on the front with a
banner.
Initial Idea
Design Ideas
Final design
18. This is the initial plan of the back of my recipe card and the final end product of how it
turned out and the differences.
The method has been put to the bottom because this is the last
thing you need on a recipe card so it would make sense to go in
order and it makes it easier for the audience to find.
The
ingredients
were
changed to
go above
the method
because it
would not fit
in the small
box so it
make it fit
and look
well spaced
out we had
to move the
layout
around a bit.
There is no
picture on
the final
product now
because we
used a
graphic to
complement
the patriotic
theme
throughout
therefore a
picture
would have
made the
layout look
too busy.
19. Finished products
Does your finished product match what you were set in the brief? How?
The Vegetarian Society produced us with the brief, and when I read through it I
highlighted the bits the brief asked me to make sure I had on my recipe cards. This
made it like a tick list for me when I was designing and producing my work. The first
thing it asks is to include a picture and title on the front with a branding strip which
includes the Vegetarian Society logo. I did this all on my front cover. Although the
branding strip is not in a typical block line I did mine in a circle with the logo being the
center. A block strip took away the theme from the flag therefore having a transparent
block and centering the main features in a stroke I feel this was more appropriate.
“We want to see interesting and creative designs.”- I feel I have produced a set of recipe
cards that are creative and interesting because our idea is one you have not seen before
and the die cut has not been done before either with a clear theme throughout.
“Ensure that all ingredients are suitable for a vegetarian diet.”- We found vegetarian
dishes easy to find on the internet, but once we had finished our recipe cards we found a
large mistake… On the Sydney recipe card we found that we had mistakenly put King
Prawn skewers. Obviously fish is not vegetarian but we found a way of solving this. We
20. AS Media Studies 2009 20
Researched if you could get vegetarian prawns and Linda McCartney had made some fish
free king prawns. This saved our recipe and we changed the title and ingredients to Linda
McCartney’s fish free king prawns. There is no difference to them, they still look and taste
the same which is great and shows vegetarians don’t miss out on any other foods.
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)
I felt my peer feedback was important to me and how it effected my final outcome. It helped
me develop my idea and for the idea that we choose, the feedback given to it helped us
develop further. For example my partner said the areas that needed development on were
“spacing the layout out so some can go on the back because when it comes to making it , it
might be all crammed on the front of the card.” Straight away I created a design that included
the back and front. She also mentioned that the die cut was interesting and makes the card
original and unique. We thought we would choose an idea that has not been done before and
that caught peoples attention.
Throughout making the final product me and my partner would keep checking each others
work to see if it looked the same, if things did not work out we would discuss this and develop
it to look the best on each recipe card. For example the layout design was brought up by my
partner because her method and ingredients wouldn’t fit with the original layout so we
worked this out and made sure it worked for it each recipe card. Development and feedback
throughout production made our work develop more into a product more for our audience, a
unique product that has not been done before and so it could work all together in a series.
22. 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.
Regarding the technical qualities of my final product the die cut at the top looks effective
on programs like PowerPoint or uploaded to a big etc. but on paper there may be some
issues. It could possibly flop or come off. There would be ways around this like laminating
the card or using thicker card. The strength of the die cut in a technical way was the fast
and easy way on Photoshop I was able to create it. Although it looks difficult, the Colour
Range tool quickly got rid of all the white background space. As long as the background is
all the same colour then the tool will work to a high standard leaving me with an outline
of the silhouette I need. Photoshop is a great program to use for producing a product like
this because its tools are easy to find and use. The use of Photoshop also lets you use
layers easily. We used layers to create the product to make things stand out for example,
the graphic of the flag was layered underneath text and pictures, we also lowered the
opacity so the text could be seen more clearer. A weakness of the technical qualities we
used was that it was sometimes hard to get the logo to stand out depending on the colour
background it was. We put it a drop shadow behind it but sometimes this made it look too
intense and fake. We wanted something subtle but sometimes it didn’t work.
23. The die cut was
successfully done with
the Colour Range tool.
This is quick and easy to
use as long as you make
sure the background is
all the same colour. It is
quicker than the
polygon lasso tool. If we
used this our work
would have taken a
much longer time and
we may not have kept
up with our schedule.
The colour range tool
looks as effective, if not
more, because it would
have been hard to take
out all the lines on the
bridge without using
this tool.A drop shadow was used underneath the logo to make it stand out
and bring the text out from the background. This worked well in
some cases but others the background colours made it look too tacky.
We used a stroke to
outline things that
needed to stand out
more from the
background but without
coming off the page.
We used this on the
picture and in
information inside the
circle. It is a great
simple way to make a
shape or picture stand
out.
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. You can
reference existing products here and compare your work to them.
The look of my recipe cards do not look like any other recipe card, for example, the
die cut on the top I have not seen a recipe card that has done that, especially from the
vegetarian society. I like the die cut idea, it makes the card and connects the theme
well, it give something exciting and new to look at. I do the the fonts we choose. For
the title we tried to used a font that connected to the theme. So this changed on each
card but it didn’t look bad. I think it made the theme of the recipe card. The text that
we used for the main body of the text was easy to read and was simple so it got
straight to the point.
The thing I don’t like about the look of the recipe cards is the colours we used.
Although they connect to the theme of the countries, they seem too bright, and maybe
together didn’t work in large parts. If the recipe cards were not in a set, then the
images would look great but they were and because we didn’t take our own images
they were not all the same and it was hard to find similar looking images. If I was to do
this again I would take my own images so they also looked in a set and try and do
something to the colours to make them work together and look less vibrant.
25. The die cut is something
that I had not seen on a
existing recipe card
product before,
especially not to this
level of detail. It brings
something different, new
and exciting to the
recipe card and it good
for an audience who find
it hard to concentrate.
The text was chosen
well and it connects
to the theme but is
also easy to read.
The main body text
on the other side of
the recipe card was
simple and easy to
read and gets
straight to the point.
This is needed for a
recipe card, it needs
to be quick, short and
easy for people to do
the recipe.
I would like for the
images connect to each
other a bit more. They
do not all have the same
angle, lighting etc.
Although the colours
connect to the country
and the flag making it
easy for the audience
know what country this
is for, I don’t think the
colours work in large
scales together.
Small features telling you
information, like the
cooking time, are handy
for a busy audience like
ours. They stand out and
tells you information
quickly.
26. Finished products
What skills/knowledge have you gained/developed in this project? How could
these be applied in future practice?
At the start of this project we were taught have to use InDesign. I had never used this
program before but now I learnt how to use grids which are helpful to line specific parts
on your page. These skills will be useful to use in the future and developing my knowledge
on Adobe programs will be useful when I go into designing work and I may have an
advantage to others.
My knowledge on Photoshop gets greater every time I use it. This time I learnt about
Colour Range. The colour range tool highlights parts in the same colour and by deleting
the selected parts I have the silhouette that I needed for my die cut. This it s technique I
can take with me to get a quick cut of a shape that I can use in other pieces of work e.g.
posters etc.
27. 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 products work and compare your products to them)
Yes I believe my work is creative and technical competent. I believe this because we
created an idea that had not been done before, the theme and layout was unique. This
comes from the die cut shapes on the top of our recipe cards. This was technically
competent because I had to learn a new skill to do this and using the correct picture
will give you a different feel to the whole recipe card. It was also creatively competent
too because it was an unusual design to have on a recipe card. If I was to pitch this to a
company for a real product there may be some questions about if it would break of
flop off. There would be many things we could do to help this not happening.
28. 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 completed everything I had set on my schedule to plan. But I worked at a fast pace and
I was nearly a day ahead of schedule. This helped me refine my idea and let me make
sure I had included everything that was asked of me on the brief.
I could have used my time more wisely by looking at even more recipe cards and looking
at professional layouts because this is what I feel it lacks. It is very unique but having
some features that could link to some existing products would be helpful to make the
recipe cards consistent with other recipe cards already around.
The only thing that went wrong was realizing we had used a fish product as part of a
recipe. But we had organized some contingency time, so we used this time to research
fish free prawns and change our recipe card slightly to make all our ingredients
vegetarian. Contingency time is always a good thing to plan just incase anything does go
wrong that you don’t think of while tabling a time schedule out. The time schedule was
helpful and kept us on track. We could have worked more efficiently, I feel this was
because we were given a long time to produce the cards and we felt we had time to no
concentrate as much because of all the spare time. But overall I feel we used our time
well and produced a good recipe card in the time given.
29. Production process
If you could repeat the process what would you do differently?
If I was to repeat this process again I would do more research on more existing products
that are not from the Vegetarian Society. Although they set our brief for us and the
product was for them every recipe card I looked at looked the same and nothing original
was out there, the most original recipe cards I saw were the Sainsbury’s own recipe cards.
This is why I went of an original and interesting design. But if I was to do it again I would
incorporate more features that are used on existing products. I would make sure the
layout worked more before producing my final design, although I did o test plans I only did
it with one recipe card and other recipes had more to their method or to their ingredients
so we needed to change the design so they all fitted in the same layout. I also would make
the picture on the front slightly bigger to make it stand out more and look appealing. The
things I would change are small but they would make my product appeal more to my
audience.
31. Constraints
What constraints did you encounter and how did you consider/avoid them?
Legal: The legal constraints we encountered were copyright and health and safety.
We had to gain permission by the person who provided us with the stock images. Here
we would have to pay money to them or get it in writing that we were aloud to use their
images in our product. If we did not do this we would be breaking the copyright law and
they would have to right to sue us, sending us to court and in extreme circumstances,
prison. Using any product commercially without all of your work, for instance the
images and recipe you would need to get permission by whoever you got the ideas and
products from. Because our work was not for commercial use but for education purpose
we were able to use images without asking for permission but if it was for a commercial
use we would have known what to do.
We followed two of the health and safety legislations while producing our product. The
first one was the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 so we didn’t trip over any hazards
such as wires or spill any drinks over electrics that could cause electrocution. We also
followed the Display Screen Equipment Regulations Act 1992 because we were
constantly using computers to compete our product. This tells us how long we should
be sat at a computer for and how we should sit so we do not get back pains and aches.
There are other points in the regulation such as if you wear contact lenses, which I do,
and how that might disrupt you because of irritation. We followed these legislations and
no injuries happened throughout the production time.
32. Regulatory: The Vegetarian Society was our regulatory base. They produced us
with the brief for a product with they wanted. They informed us on how many prints
they wanted, what they wanted to be placed on the recipe card and of course only
have vegetarian foods. Having it all placed in a brief made it easy to see what we
needed to do and how the vegetarian society regulated it was so we didn’t go over
the amount of recipe cards they wanted. For example we didn’t do more than eight
designs, they were front and back and they wanted 3500 copies made for the first
batch. We followed this to point so our regulator would be happy. The foods we
used of coursed had to be vegetarian because of the target audience.
33. Financial: Before we started making our product we did a budget plan which
highlighted all the things we needed to spend money on as if we were a real company.
We included the cost of printing the recipe card, paying for stock images, the graphic
designer, transport and also getting the die cut cut on the top of the card and finally
laminating it all. All of this cost more than expected and the die cut was the most
expensive thing to get done costing £1.98 each card equalling to £6,930 for all the
prints to be die cut. This was a special feature for our product though and we feel it
would be worth it because it is original and different therefore people will be interested
and will take one home and try the recipe. By finding out this information we found lots
of different companies, we went with the cheapest but the one with good reviews and
showed us products that they have produced. This is what you would do if you were
doing this for real so we have gained experience on companies that do this and how to
research further into them for get the most of your money.
Item
Cost per
item/hour Number Total
Graphic Designer £30.00 30 £900.00
Transport £1.50 6 £9.00
Recipe card print £0.05 3500 £175.00
Stock photography £25.00 16 £400.00
Die cut £1.98 3500 £6,930
Laminate £0.50 3500 £173.00
Total £8,587
34. 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?)
Together I feel we worked well as a group. We were able to discuss things openly about
ideas to do with our product and even if the other person did not like that idea we would
not just drop the idea we would think of ideas to improve it and if we felt it would not go
any further we would then drop the idea. Neither of us were mean about ideas we both
gave. This made us be open with ideas and improvements.
Although my partner was off a few days during production I got on with my work and
tried not to change things too drastically so she could easily pick up. Neither of us rushed
ahead, we both went at the same speed as the other person so we were able to get
everything in the right place on the recipe cards so thy all looked the same. Every now
and again we would stop and go through each recipe card we had made and made sure
we both had the same size and font text and everything was placed in the same place on
each card.
I enjoyed working in a group, it helped ideas expand and although it takes longer I feel we
did a good job in making our recipe cards look like they have been made my the same
person.
35. Management
How important is communication when working in a group?
(Use specific examples from working in a group on this project)
Communication is extremely important when working in a group, it helps you expand on
ideas and if one of you wasn’t happy with what they other one was doing they could say
something and we would both be able to compromise and create an idea that would help
the product.
We used communication a lot when we started producing our first recipe card. We
thought going step by step with each other on the first card would be the best so we both
know where everything is going and if anything needed changing we could say at this
point rather than while making the last card. We did make changes on our first card. This
was where we realised my partners recipe would not all fit on due to the layout, therefore
she mentioned this and we resolved this by changing the layout slightly on each recipe
card. Without communication here we would have had one card with very small text that
would not have been the same to all the rest of the card. By just talking and changing
one small thing we resolved this quickly and efficiently.
36. Management
What have you learnt about working in a group and how will you apply this to
future practice?
I have learnt by working in a group that it is easier to come up with ideas and by quickly
telling the other person if something is not working it can easily be solved. Although it
takes longer during production I feel that when developing and designing your ideas and
product the more minds you have the better and more creative your idea will be. Each of
you needs to be comfortable with each other though so you can both speck your mind
and not be shy to change something the other person has though of because for the long
run it will benefit you and the product.
In the future, when working in a group, I will feel more confident to speck my mind and
not hold back on an idea because it will benefit everyone and peoples development on
my idea will always be welcome because I feel that is what will always make an idea
better. I have enjoyed working with my partner and feel we have both benefited from it.
