The document provides an evaluation of Luke Askew's production process for creating merchandise for a fictional band called "Leach". Some key points from the evaluation include: - Luke's research focused on finding inspiration from similar products and understanding the target audience, though research on the full album production process was lacking. - Feedback from peers praised the consistent dark aesthetic but noted some products like the glitch album were unpleasant to look at due to bright colors. - Areas for improvement included toning down colors on the glitch album, improving the front hoodie design, and potentially changing the asymmetrical disc design. - Luke agrees with some peer feedback and plans to make minor changes to addressed areas like

1. Evaluation
Luke Askew

2. Production Process Evaluation

3. Research
I would say the main strength of my research is that the topic was one I
was familiar with and heavily enjoy, because of this I had effectively
done research before hand.
I made a mood board having plenty of products with similar themes
and genera’s, the products were all linked to what I wanted to make
(such as tops and hoodies for merchandise) so having all these images
gave me lots of ideas and inspiration.
I also did some research on the key audience and what they like about
the products so I could mould my final products towards the audiences
general preferences, however I did find the research of the audience
quite difficult as there weren’t many information sources that I could
look at and take information from, before doing more research and
getting better information about the key audience, I based most
audience preferences off my own opinion as I am technically part of
the audience, I did still include my opinion though parts of the project
but did do more/ better research on the wider audience to see what
others think and to take their opinions into account for my work.
One main weakness of my research was a lack of looking into all parts
of an album and how they work (meaning what I would have to do
when making an album). I was thinking that I would just make the
cover of the album but didn’t think about making the entire album
including the middle, back and disc/ record which would be a better
idea as I could get more experience and show off more skills. However
I did less research on entire albums and just focused on the front
covers of albums, this made creating the other parts of the album a bit
more tricky and because I hadn’t thought about it or properly
researched it, I was less sure what I wanted to do for the other parts
and what should be on those other parts in the first place.

4. Research
For some of my research, I tried out new software and ideas
to get a feel for what I wanted to do, what tools I could use
and if the ideas I had would even be possible or work.
I used Adobe Illustrator to test of making a logo, I hadn’t used
Illustrator before and so researched what it could do and
how I used it, over time I messed about with it and worked
on the logo as I learnt how the software worked. I still have a
lot to learn with Illustrator but I managed to use it to get
what I wanted (this being the logo and its variations) and I
was able to tweak the logos in Photoshop which I knew a lot
better than Illustrator so combining them (mostly) gave me
the desired look for the logos.

5. Research
These images where ideas I had after researching
what I could make, I made these draft album
covers and poster using a few images I had but
mostly images from the internet, this gave me an
idea of what the products could look like and
made me think whether they where good ideas
and where doable with my limitations.
These drafts where made with inspiration from
such sources as the mood board I made and
research on all the products I did extensively on
the research PowerPoint. Apart from the random
images, their bad quality, lighting and other
problems; these drafts fit the aesthetic well.
Out of these drafts, I did carry on with the poster
as I believed it to be easier and work better than
the two album covers plus I moved onto making a
full album rather than multiple covers so I stuck
with the one that I thought worked.

6. Planning
My planning allowed me to make production a lot easier, I planned
where I would go for shots, what and who I needed (props and people),
I even made a shot list.
When it actually came to production I didn’t refer too much to the
planning (as in taking it step by step) but instead followed it loosely and
took some improvising as I figured I will know what I want to do the
most when I'm actually taking the shots.
This same sort of principle goes for the schedule I made, while it is
helpful and should be utilized more, I tend to not use it after making it
but I do follow the general guide I set out on the schedule but just do
what when I see fit unless its important and or something that needs
to be booked (for example booking and using the studio cant be done
whenever).
Having said this, the planning is still very helpful as I can refer back to it
if needs be but working on the planning also gives me ideas in my head
for techniques and shots I could try.

7. Time Management
I didn’t manage my time well, I don’t tend to manage my time well.
I like working on things and then working on something else for a while to switch
up what I'm doing, because of this I don’t really work to schedules but work on
what needs to be done sooner first.
I also didn’t manage my time well for all my work as I found myself rushing some
work late into the production, however this is also because my plan for what I
was going to create changed half way though the production.
If I had more time for production of taking pictures and using software's; I would
have made more merchandise and more album work including front covers,
back covers, track lists and disc designs.

8. Technical Qualities
The main similarities are that the colour black is
used a lot as it is an edgy, moody colour that most
audience members enjoy wearing or owning in the
form of merchandise.
The products link together whether that be through
logos, colour schemes or objects like the leech
which would be a key part of the artists identity,
such as AC DC’s main identity to do with lightning
due to their music, name and logo design.
Because of the name Leach, the listener/ viewer
gets the idea the music might be gory, edgy, dark,
violent and the imagery might be disturbing and
there could be blood involved which is true, so the
themes that are with the products also link to the
name and what they might be about.

9. Aesthetic Qualities
I think that most of the work looks good, there are some products like the
glitch album that can be unpleasing due to its bright colours or that it’s a bit
hard to read some of the text but it fits the aesthetic it was going for and
looks good.
The red and black colour scheme throughout the products looks very good in
my opinion, it gets the sense of dark moodiness with the black and gory,
blood and disturbing but edgy with the red, both these themes matching that
of a leech which is the main part of the artists identity.

10. Audience Appeal
I think I have appealed to the target
audience by sticking to the dark, edgy
and disturbing themes within my work.
The colours are consistent and the
imagery can be thought provoking and
edgy.
The products can easily be traced back
to the artist as there are plenty of
colours, logos and objects (such as the
leech) that make you think of them or
their work.
The work also resembles a lot of what I
took inspiration from and the genera of
music so it makes sense the people who
like these types of products would like
something similar.

11. Peer
Feedback

12. Feedback 1
• What did you like about the product?
– Interesting and a lot going on
– I like the contrast of the black and red through the
products
• What improvements could have been made to the
product?
– There are a lot of colours on the Glitch items and it
sometimes isn’t nice to look at
– The front design of the hoodie doesn’t look like its part of
the hoodie like the back design does

13. Feedback 2
• What did you like about the product?
– I like how the leech looks quite real and disturbing
– I like the variations of the logos throughout the products
• What improvements could have been made to the
product?
– The glitch album back cover was too bright and I couldn’t
look at it properly

14. Feedback 3
• What did you like about the product?
– The dark, mood themes are consistent through the
products
– The album art seems to have some mystery to it and lets
people interoperate it how they want
• What improvements could have been made to the
product?
– The poster has some empty spaces that maybe could have
been filled with more leeches or something
– Don’t really like the disc design because its not
symmetrical and don’t like that some text is hard to read

15. Peer Feedback Summary
• What do you agree with from your peer feedback?
– Some of the colours in the glitch album work do make the product a
bit hard to look at
– I partially agree that I like when there is a lot going on
– I agree when there is deeper meaning or media can be interoperated
by the viewer
• What do you disagree with from your peer feedback?
– I don’t think the text is too hard to read, some texts are just darker or
warped in a small way
– I partially disagree with the poster having space to be filled in because
I think I looks better now that for instance when I had a made up
quote on the top right of the image

16. Peer Feedback Summary
The changes I might make are to the back of the album, the front
design of the hoodie and maybe the disc design.
The back of the album probably does need to be toned down a
bit more even though I already toned it down, this being the
colours and the filters affect on the image.
The hoodie’s front design didn’t really look part of the hoodie, I
would have used a different hoodie to make the imperfections
match with the design and given the design some miner wear an
tear using brushes.
I am not 100% sure about changing the disc design back to the
normal version because this glitch one fits the album but does
look a bit less appealing, I have kept it this way so in a real life
scenario, you could tell with more ease what album the disc is
from due to the connections with the glitch effect.