Products and evaluations pro forma (Tasks 6, 7, 8 & 9)

Design for
Advertising
Producing and evaluating

Task 6: Advert Development
At first, I thought that it was key to make the overall advert bright and
striking. All the adverts that I had viewed and were therefore the
adverts I was trying to try and emulate on this task. I tried to contrast
this background with a black text. The inner glow was also black to it
would make the speed+ font more striking and stand out on the advert,
which you want when the purpose of this product is to advertise.
After deciding on the background and the font, I wanted to add a
shape that links with the adverts and adds to the effectiveness of the
colours within the avert. Due to the name of my product, a lightning
bolt would be the obvious choice for this advert. After locating one on
Photoshop, I added the shape and dragged it to the desired size that I
wanted. After it blocked out the text once it was added, I decided to
turn the opacity down on the bolt. This allowed the shape to go almost
see through and allowed the font to be seen again.
After researching and analysing even more existing adverts, I found
that the stereotypical advert involved a neutral background with
striking other elements or a picturesque background. Due to me been
unable to capture a picturesque background, I decided to change the
colour of my adverts background to a neutral colour, black. If I was
trying to invent or open another market of products, I would try and re-invent
this product and make it unconventional to other products and
would have probably stuck with the orange colouring. Instead, I’m
trying to fit into an existing market and therefore had to fit in with the
codes and conventions of this market, which I was now adapting my
advert to fit in with.

After changing the colour of the background and the colour of the font
to a more restrained colouring option, I wanted to try and ad the
lightning bolt shape from the previous page. I think that with the
correct opacity and the correct colour, this shape could be a prominent
and very effective feature of my advertisement. After selecting a similar
colour and opacity to the font, this feature was as effective as I could
get it. The only issue with this shape was that at certain angles, the
shape wasn’t visible to me. This was a big issue because the opacity
couldn’t have been turned up due to the font not been visible if so.
However, I believed that this shape was visible enough to be seen by
the mass majority of consumers, which is what I want my product to be
also.
With my shape, font and colour on this advert complete, I needed to
start to add other conventional advert features onto my own advert.
The next thing to add was an important feature to this print product,
the tag-line. It has the power to hook a consumer into buying a
product, this feature must be concise, not too wordy and most of all,
memorable. This tag-line was added with the same font and colour as
my product name. This looked effective on the Photoshop document,
however, it doesn’t look as effective when it’s been translated onto the
word document. This is maybe due to the print product been copied
and then pasted, or more plausibly, the advert has been shrunk down
to be put on this slide, which makes the text look ineffective.
The black font face with the orange inner glow is effective and
contrasts well with the lightning bolt shape, but the issue of consumers
potentially not seeing it is a major problem. Due to me wanting my
product to be for a mass market product, I don't want to cut down the
amount of people been enticed by the advert before I’ve even put the
advertisement out by a feature that can easily be altered.

After changing colours on my advert for the second time, I wanted to
make the font more prominent and effective. Changing the opacity
would be an obvious choice but I didn’t want to make it too bold and
take away attention from the extra information that I would be adding
later. For this reason, I altered the inner glow. Adding some size onto
the inner glow allowed the font to be more defined and bold without
compromising any effectiveness of the overall advert.
I thought when I changed the advert, the previous problem of the
lightning bolt shape not been visible would be non existent and the
feature would now be one of the most effective pieces on my print
product. However, I didn’t account for the colour of the shape blending
in with the font, due to the two been similar colour and opacities. For
this reason, had to ensure that the opacity of the lightning bolt was
turned up. From the middle image on the right, you can see how much
more visible this feature is now, as well as the fact that it’s now more
prominent and effective as a technique on my advert.
Like on the previous slide, now the shape and the font are complete,
it’s time to add the tag-line. The only thing not to be changed on this
advert, the tag line is a short but memorable tag-line, therefore,
fulfilling the function of a motto. Learning from my previous mistake, I
made the font of the tag-line a little it lighter and turned the opacity on
the font up. The dilemma of where to put the font is now an issue. If I
put it to the left, there is some ‘white space’ on the right hand side and
vice versa. If I increase the size of the font, my extra information won’t
be able to fit in, as well ad the fact that some attention will be taken
away from my product name if the font on my tag-line was too large.
This is why I kept all proportions relevant to the size of the advert
frame.

Since this was a development task, I was now just concentrating my
attention on the design side, instead of the content. I decided that the
best thing was to add a coloured strip at the bottom. This was a way to
break up the elements of the advert, reduce ‘white space’ and ensure
the adverts corporate colours are now a familiar sight to the consumer.
The more about the company the consumer remembers, the better
and the more potential income. The small coloured strip was a little
darker than the text but it was still in keeping with the house style of
the company.
After adding the initial colour/branding strip, I wasn’t convinced tit was
fulfilling a purpose apart from reducing ‘white space’. I wanted to try
and experiment with other elements before I come back to this idea.
This reduction of features on my advert meant that I had to try and
reduce the ‘white space’ with the elements that I already had on the
canvas. Increasing the size of the lightning bolt so it now fit diagonally
across the screen was one thing I did. This reduced the amount of
‘white space’ on the right hand side. This shift around meant that my
text was now covered by the bottom of the lightning bolt and it looked
ineffective. This meant that I now had to move my text to the left hand
side. This therefore meant that the majority of ‘white space’ was now
covered and the colouring/branding strip was now obsolete.
From the top image on the right, I didn’t dislike the branding strip and
would include it if there was any room. After experimenting with
various design options, I have decided that the branding strip has a
place on my advert. After moving the tag-line to the far left, the
lightning bolt up a bit so it doesn’t stretch the full page on a diagonal.
This made space at the bottom of the page for the colouring strip to
add a bit of extra colouring to my print product.

After concentrating on design techniques, I wanted to focus on developing those area and adding some content into it,
therefore, trying to make a rounded and well balanced advert.
After developing a product that featured a few fonts and a shape, I wanted to actually feature the product, which is the function
of this advert: to advertise the product. Showing the consumer the product will give them a visual and an extra understanding on
the product that BOLT is and therefore may entice them more into purchasing it.
Making a can of my own would have been time consuming and with a good design not guaranteed, a risk tactic. Instead, I
sourced an image of a can and rotoscoped round it using the polygonal lasso tool on Photoshop. After separating the can into
three sections (top, main can and bottom) I had created the can that will feature on my advert. Due to the grey colouring of the
bottom of the can and the stoke of the can looking similar, I wasn’t sure whether to just cut the bottom of the can and just have
a simple can, but decided it was more effective with the bottom of the can. I had to put a stroke on the can to ensure that the
back of the can wouldn’t just blend in with the black background.

Developed from my previous design attempt, the lightning bolt had been adapted to full opacity and has been shrunk down to fit
between the brand name and the can. This is not just a decorative item on the canvas, it also helps the consumer guide it’s way
through the advert using line. From the brand name, the shape/line leads to the main focus of the advert, which is the can. It also
helps the consumer get a visual of the brand name, due to people remembering logos rather than brand names so a visual of the name
is almost key to a successful advert., especially if the product/brand is new, it’s trying to get a familiarisation with the consumer.
The next stage was to add my tag-line. Since my last design., I have tested different colours and themes but the wording of the tag-line
remains the same. This is due to a conventional tag-line been short and memorable, which this slogan is. This part may have to be
amended later though because it’s a bit small for the overall space and leaves a lot of white space either side of it. Something else that
might need analysing is the inner glow. The brand name that has an inner glow on it looks effective and striking, however, when
transferred onto the smaller text, it turns it a white colouring which doesn’t fit in with the rest of my advert.
Due to me focusing on content as well as design on this layout, I wanted to add some features that are stereotypically added to energy
drink adverts. After looking at various energy drink print adverts, I listed all the conventions that most commonly appear. Amongst
them were: websites, social media links and QR codes. The website address seemed the easies to add to the layout. After deciding that
I’ll add something on the right hand side, I wanted to add it to the left hands side. I didn’t add an inner glow to this text, due to it not
looking effective on text this small. I decided to make the text this size because I wanted it to be visible to the consumer but it’s
probably the least important element in the hierarchical order of this layout so was consigned to the bottom of the screen with the
smallest font on the page.

Struggling to find features to put on my advert to cut down the white space, I started to brainstorm ideas about what
could be featured on the layout. Due to me wanting a clean and relatively text free design, I didn’t want to add too much
text and make the layout ineffective for the consumer. There was already some content at the bottom and top of the
page so the obvious place to add something was on the sides. Adapting the lightning bolt at the top of the page, I rotated
it and experimented with the positioning of them. After putting them at either side of the can, the layout already looked
better and a more finished product. It not only reduced the white space, it also added familiarisation of the product
name to the consumer through shape.
The next step was to make the tag-line stand out a bit more. Designed to be a technique that enticed consumers through
been memorable, this tag-line was memorable but didn’t really stand out from the advert. Increasing the size would have
been an obvious choice, but it would have drawn even more attention to the fact that there's some white space in the
bottom corner, as well as the fact that I was unsure on the look of the stroke on the took should it be increased in size.
After looking at existing products and analysing what made them successful, I tried to emulate the social media link
aspect. Knowing that the Facebook and twitter logos couldn’t be that big because they weren’t a bit part of the advert
and therefore don’t have to be that noticeable. This is when I decided to determine the logos sizes by using the ruler to
level them up with the website address on the left hand side of the page. After experimenting with positioning, I decided
to put them in the place with most white space, the bottom right hand corner of the canvas.

Even though I had filled the white space on the sides of the layout, I felt there was something missing
on the lightning bolts. They help give a visual aid to the name of the drinks brand but don’t look very
striking or eye-catching. Putting the stroke effect on the shape only made it turn white, instead of the
effective orange colour I had selected. This could not be altered, even when the stroke effect was
reduced to a 1PT stroke. After that, I thought making the lightning bolt like the text and putting an
inner glow on it would make it look effective. However, this wasn’t the case, due to too many things on
the page been inner glowed. I experimented with the lightning bolts been inner glowed and the font
been normal, but it didn’t look as effective as before.
At this point, I was wondering whether an effect would be the best thing for my product. Looking
through them all, I couldn’t think of an effect that would have made the lightning bolts stand out a bit
more. However, when I saw a Red Bull advert with a blurred out font type, I though emulating this
effect would solve the issue on my advert. Trying different blur options, I finally managed to select a
motion blur that would make the lightning bolt look like it was moving towards the can. Now that this
filter had been added, I decided that a gradient level could be added to the shape to make it look like
the lighting bolt was charged. A gradient level allowed me to carry this out. By selecting two shades of
orange, the filter and effects on the lighting bolt were complete.
Looking out of place on my layout, the social network links were the only elements of my advert that
didn't fit in with the colour scheme. I decided that rotoscoping the logos would be the best way to
carry out the task of colour alteration. After cutting out the different parts of the logos, I then had to
colour overlay them to fit in with my colour scheme (below). Even though it was a small feature of my
layout and it was relatively easy to do, it made a huge impact to the final product.
Even though I had added a line underneath the tag-line, I still felt like it wasn’t as effective as it could
be. Now I had added something to the bottom right hand corner, increasing the font size on the slogan
wouldn’t draw attention to the white space at that particular spot anymore. Also, seen as the tag-line
couldn’t have the inner glow added to it because of the discolouring issue, I decided to make all the
text the same and take the inner glow of the Bolt text. It now looked more of a complete advert,
compared to the advert that looked separated and tow different adverts like before.

From the previous design, I decided that I wanted to do an advert for a
range of products from BOLT. I was hoping the colour scheme would be the
same and this advert wouldn’t be separate from my previous design but a
follow up instead. Even though this wouldn’t be my final idea, it would still
give me an idea about my can design for later in the project and it would
help me try and find things that I had forgotten on my final image to add in
later.
Picking the colours for the various cans in this layout wasn’t just a matter of
getting some colours and then just organising the cans in order. On this
advert, the different products would have names. Some names fit better
with different colours, so this wasn’t as straightforward as first thought. I
finally decided on the colouring that would feature on the can, all of which
were in-keeping with the restrained background and the bright colour
contrast idea.
My previous design featured the motion blurred lightning bolt going from
the BOLT text to the can. This idea is one that I took onto this advert and
then adapted it to fit with the advert style. Reducing the size of the shape
was one thing I changed, as well as the colour. After further experimenting
with different shades of orange, I didn’t think the existing colours of the
lightning bolt were effective anymore, therefore new colours needed op be
selected. Due to me making the lightning bolt with a gradient level and then
duplicating them all, In thought it would be easier to create a new lightning
bolt and adjust the effects this way.
The can designs featured on the advert are just in place to show how the
can would look. However, when I complete the product packaging in the
next task, I will add the designs to this layout and the advert will then look
more complete and professional.

After adding the lightning bolt to one of the cans, I realised that this can now
stood out more than any other on the advert, which I didn’t want. Adding the
shape to all of the cans solved this issue, while also reducing the white space
on the advert at the same time. After adding the lightning bolts however, I’m
not sure if all the can designs look effective. The yellow colouring on the font of
the end can makes the white inner glow look invisible and therefore the yellow
can doesn’t fit in with the rest of the range. However, I did try experimenting
with the colours at the start of this particular advert and they were either
ineffective or too similar to my existing colours.
Now the design side of this advert was complete, it was time to add all the
content. I have kept the same colouring for my title fonts and the tag-line of my
first advert still remains. Inner glow on my font was tested but looked
ineffective, due to the tag-line going discoloured when the effect was added. So
far, the layout looks concise and clear and doesn’t need that much adding to it.
Something that needs altering is the centralisation of the text on the advert.
The BOLT brand name looks out of line with the tag-line and because of this, it
looks unprofessional. Using a ruler to align them back up will sort this problem
out and restore the layout to been effective again.
Due to me creating a product range and having different flavours, I knew that I
had to name my products so the consumer could be familiarised with the BOLT
product range. I first looked at the planning documentation on task 3, where I
had constructed potential names for my various BOLT products. After selecting
names that would fit with the colouring on the cans, I had to decide on the
positioning of the product names. I though the can would be a good place for
it, however, I liked how clean and brief my packaging design looked on Task 5
package development. Due to the lightning bolts been at the top, underneath
the can was the only option. The font was now added, however, I turned down
the opacity on the text and it doesn’t fit in with any other fonts on the layout.
This feature might need to be addressed for my final piece.

After the product names of all of the cans has been added, it’s now clearer
that the opacity needs changing. Some of the fonts aren’t visible, which isn’t a
good feature for an advert to have, been striking and viewed is the key
function of an advert. It also doesn’t fit because all the other fonts on the
page have the opacity turned to 100%, therefore the product names don’t fit
with the BOLT house style this far.
White space was becoming a problem, especially for the bottom of the advert.
Making various elements of the advert bigger would be an option for reducing
the white space. I did experiment with this idea, but after increasing the size
of the brand name , tag-line and products, it started to look unprofessional,
due to the cans now been cramped in the middle of the screen. Another
option for reducing white space was to add more content, like I did on my
previous design. After trying to find conventional features that were found in
energy drinks company adverts, I decided to stick with the same two from my
final design. Adding the website address shows that you’re opening your
product up to another platform. Advertising your e-media on a print platform
shows that you are trying to reach a mass market, and therefore trying to
increase you companies profile. The website address is joined at the bottom
of the page by social media links. Deciding not to go for the colourings which
would link with my corporate colours is a decision that I might have to review
before the final idea is created.
The final design features a few changes from the previous development
screenshots. Changing the opacity of the product names has made a huge
impact by changing very little. The same can be said for the social media link
colouring. Rotoscoping them using the magnetic lasso tool was easy to do and
I got effective results. Like my final piece, I had to add a stroke effect to the
edge of the Facebook and Twitter logos because the shape colouring blended
in with my background.

Task 6: Final Advert evaluation
Technical codes
The main technical feature on my advert is the main focus, the can. Using the
polygonal lasso tool on three separate bits, I was able to successfully rotoscope
the can. The only disadvantage of using the polygonal lasso tool is that it’s easy to
go wrong and go over an edge, however, it is very easy to correct this and it takes
little time to do. After layering the pieces via copy, I was able to position them
how I wanted them. This enabled the can to look so effective, even though I had
to further amend the main can. Due to it been coloured black, I had to put a
stroke effect on it to make it visible on the advert. Also rotoscoped on my advert
were the Facebook and twitter logos. Using the polygonal lasso tool I managed to
rotoscope the Facebook logo, due to there not been too many curvy lines on this
particular logo. The twitter logo however was somewhat more tricky using the
polygonal lasso tool, so I had to change to the magnetic lasso tool. Automatically
going round the curves and parts that are of fine margins, the magnetic lasso
tools sticks to the twitter logo and cuts out the corporate badge perfectly. As well
as a technical code, these two logos are also aesthetical features, which will be
mentioned on the next slide.
My other technical code which isn’t as prominent on my print product is the
blurred lightning bolt. This started off as a simple lightning bolt that I wanted to
stretch from the ‘BOLT’ text to the actual can, a subconscious technique to hook
the consumer using line. However, I realised that I needed to add another
element to my advert to optimise the effectiveness. I started by adding a motion
blur to allow the shape to look like it was moving towards the can. This effect
worked well but I couldn’t quite get the correct amount of blur on the shape. A
distance per pixel of 75 was too little motion, where as a distance per pixel of 150
was too great. I settled for 110DPP and decided this was the correct and
appropriate distortion I could use without it looking ineffective. After I had got the
blur correct, it was still missing something. Selecting a number of shades of
orange, I added the colours to my gradient layer option and decided to
experiment with various shades. After selecting two shades I was happy with, I
added the gradient level. At first it didn't quite look right because the lighter
shade of orange was at the top, with the darker one at the top. However, I
wanted it to look like the bolt was charging, therefore I reversed the colours and
got the look that I wanted.

Aesthetic codes
The first aesthetical feature is evident as soon as you glance at the
advert. The contrasting colours are the key to making this print product
effective. Neutral colours along with bright fontal features make for an
eye-catching and striking design piece. Used in a lot of the energy drinks
companies adverts, I have tried to emulate it as a feature I will use also.
Using a mix of subtle and prominent orange features, I have been able to
create an advert for what I believe can be a mass market. This function is
one that is very rarely carried out by existing energy drinks (they are
usually trying to target a niche or focused market). Another feature that
helps to add to the contrasting colours are the Facebook and Twitter
logos on the bottom right hand corner of my product. The altered logos
to fit in with the house style of the rest of my advert is an effective
feature of my print product.
Shapes and object to try and further get across your message or catch
someone's attention are commonly used in advertisement. The advert
that I have created is no different. Using lightning bolts to point to the
can, I wanted to further the consumers understanding of what the
product and the product name is. I think if there was just one lightning
bolt, there would be too much white space on the canvas to make an
effective advert. However, three shapes reduced the white space and
ensured that the advert didn’t lose any of that key effectiveness. To make
sure I positioned the lightning bolts correctly, I used the ruler tool on
Photoshop and made sure that the bolts were equal and in the right
positions. Out of place of disproportionate shapes suggests
unprofessionalism from the producer and the consumer will therefore
lose interest and confidence in the product.

Are there opportunities to further develop my work?
Due to my advert been concise and relatively empty, the
white space could be developed on. I didn’t want to clutter
my advert and have loads of content and text on the page.
This, in my opinion, will make the consumer not want to
read or glance at my advert, which is not fulfilling the
purpose of the print product. Instead, I de-cluttered the
page and made sure that text was kept to a minimum.
However, especially in the right and left top portions of the
screen, there is too much white space. The reason I haven’t
filled the space yet is because I am unsure what to put in
the space. After adding the social media, digital link, tag-line
and decorative item, I had exhausted the things that
are relevant on an advert. Everything that is key to an
advert, I have got on the advert, so I might have to
experiment with different features and techniques to see if
I can solve this issue.
The size of the social media/QR code could be a little larger.
These were the last elements of my advert to be added and
complied with the size of the text on the left hand corner of
the screen. Matched up using the ruler tool, the two things
at the bottom of the screen are the smallest because as the
hierarchical status in layout states, the least important
information should be the smallest and the lowest down on
the screen, which it is.

Is your final piece fit for purpose?
I think my previous versions and developed designs were
slightly restrained and wouldn’t have caught the eye of the
consumer had they been produced. A few tweaks to the
colour, components and layout and I believe I have a print
product that is fit for purpose. When I started this task, the
purpose of the advert was like any other, to advertise and try
and persuade the consumer to buy the product on offer. I think
the restrained background colour with the bright and striking
contrasting orange fulfils the conventional striking nature of
advertisements.
Even though I believe this final layout is fit for purpose, I would
still like to experiment with other colours and try and find two
bright colours that contrasted and appealed to a mass market.
While I realise I won’t appeal to everyone, I want to try and
make bolt a product for the mainstream market, instead of a
niche one. I think this advert is relatively mass market, but
probably appeal to a young male demographic more than any
other, due to me emulating some conventions from the
monster campaign in terms of colour scheme. Monster mainly
appeals to a young audience with males seeming to purchase
that particular product more, therefore I thought emulating it
and then altering a few details might bring it back towards a
neutral demographic and therefore a mass market.
Task 6: Advert Evaluation

What areas of planning and development worked well?
I think having extra time on the colour and text theme, as well as
effects, compared to other projects. While you did get some
time to develop layouts and colour schemes on previous
projects, this project allowed us to experiment a lot with layout
and technical aspects. This time allowed me to see what doesn’t
work before I could amend it and find something that I thought
would work and was fit for purpose.
Font choices and colour schemes were thought of in more depth
and the wording of the tag-line was planned on paper before
been transferred into a digital platform. This was useful because
I find planning my ideas in rough more beneficial in the long run
of projects. Even though this is the case, I have never planned
my ideas on paper before. This area of planning and
development has led me to have a reasonably effective product
and this method of recording ideas and plans might need to be
taken in future projects.
Looking at existing products in this market was very useful and
key in the planning of this project. After only seeing a handful of
energy drink adverts before, I was relatively uneducated in the
energy drink market. Looking at the actual physical product as
well as digital copies, I was able to get a better understanding of
what features these adverts had and what enticed the consumer
to buy products in this particular market. Looking for existing
products has been part of most of my past projects, but I think
in this project, it was key for me to look at some previously
made products before carrying out the tasks of the project.

What areas of planning and development could have done with
more work?
While the text and the tag-line development was carried out well, I
think that the font planning and development could have been
carried out better. On my mood board, I had a range of texts which
I had specifically sourced the fonts with my particular product in
mind. After this stage, I then cut the fonts down and then went
into development wit my chosen font, which was done in the
space of a day. If I was to have spent more time on the font
development, I could have ended up with a more effective print
product. The amount of fonts I started with wasn’t the issue, but I
could have maybe experimented more with the fonts on different
colour schemes, however, the tag-line and the layout got more
time spent on them. On the other hand, since creating my final
piece, I have looked for more fonts and have experimented with
them to try and improve on this piece, but there aren’t any fonts
that I have found that are any more effective than the one I
currently have.
The shapes and technical elements of my product could have been
developed better. The lightning bolts that I now have on my advert
look effective, however, they didn’t always look like that. Previous
versions of the product had big lightning bolts which had low
opacity that looked ineffective. This wouldn’t have been an issue if
they would have been analysed and experimented on earlier, but it
took me a long time to realise that these elements looked
ineffective. If I would have seen this earlier by planning and
developing them better, I could have had the product I have now,
faster, or an even better product. An extra bit of planning and
development could have made this task simpler, however, I
completed the task in time and I wasn’t disadvantaged that much
by this issue.

What effect did you think your development stages had on the final
product?
I think I furthered the advert creatively and made my print product a
more well rounded and effective product. By developing the font, colour
schemes, effects and layouts, I was able to establish what did and didn't
work in the energy drink market. The bottom image shows where I
started on this task and the top image shows where I finished. At first, I
thought if the font filled the whole page, it would be more effective and
catch peoples attention, same with the orange background colouring.
However, through development, I found that a smaller font type and a
cleaner looking layout was the conventional design. As previously
mentioned, I wanted to go for a conventional layout, due to me trying
to fit into an existing market, not trying to establish a new market, it
needs fit into the market not be a very niche product.
I was also concerned with my layout and design at first, I didn’t really
address the content side of the product, I just wanted to get the design
side sorted first. The development helped me to get the effective look
that I ended up with. Starting with just a simple design, I was able to
adapt the effects (inner glow, stroke), the colour scheme (bright to
restrained with bright elements placed on the page) and the font. Not
only this, with every development, I started to experiment with
different codes that you see in energy drink advertising (website
addresses, social media links, tag-lines). Some of these various
techniques worked, while others didn’t, but that’s what experimenting
is about: finding what works and what doesn’t. For example, the social
media links didn’t look right at the top of the page but look good at the
bottom of the page because they balance out the text on the left hand
side of the page. I also like the tag-line with a big and bold font because
it matches the font at the top, but before it was like that, it had a stroke
on that discoloured it. Therefore, the development stage for me has
been crucial in making my product and has allowed me to make an
effective advert.

Task 7: Product Development
The product packaging development in task 5 showed that cans with
little titles and a lot of content were the least effective and the ones
that didn’t grab the consumers attention. However, the ones that
featured a bold title, not necessarily all the way round, but were bold
enough to grab the consumers attention, were the most effective and
most successful. This is why I started this task with a bold font choice
that filled the whole of the screen.
Adding layer upon layer of the same font, I was able to create a 3D
looking brand name on the packaging design. This seemed like a good
feature at the time, but it didn’t really fulfil the clean and concise
layout that I wanted when I started this project. Perhaps taking off
some of the layers would be the best option for the final first design of
my packaging. This would allow the font to remain 3D but also look
clearer and more readable. Sometimes the design that’s the brightest
or the boldest are ineffective because they are trying to hard to be
seen by the consumer, the ones that succeed are the ones that feature
most neutral colours and have a number of subtle bight coloured
elements dotted around the product.
The nutritional information font face, that is in keeping with the
corporate colours is then added. When developing the font and layout
on Task 5, I finally got to a stage where the font looked effective against
the brand name. However, when it was added on this particular design,
the orange coloured text blended in with the ‘BOLT’ lettering. This issue
can be resolved by either turning the opacity down on the brand name
or changing the font colour on the orange font parts. I think the latter
will be easier to do, due to the amount of layers I would have to alter
to turn down the opacity of the overall brand name would be time
consuming, compared to the alteration of the font colour.

Some of the layers have been cut down from the previous layout
design and it looks a lot more effective for it. The 3D effect still remains
but the crowded font face didn’t pose a problem anymore. However,
the problem of the font colouring blending in with the brand name
issue is still evident and hasn't been developed since the last version of
this design. This feature will soon be altered and the problem will be
resolved for the next version of this particular design. The ellipse
shapes that hold the nutritional information also overlays and blocks
sections of the ‘BOLT’ brand name. This can be amended using a simple
change in the opacity on the ellipse shapes.
The text has now been changed on my design, which I believed would
make the layout clearer and more effective. However, the black
colouration that I selected for the font type also blends in with the
brand name, due to the ingredients font spanning into the black spaces
between the letters. The problem that I previously had therefore still
remains. Changing the font again to the white colouring of the rest of
the font would be the best thing to do. Without testing or
experimenting with the font colour, I know that this colour won’t blend
into the brand name, due to the existing white coloured text on the
layout not doing so.
Changing the font to a white colouring has proved to be the correct
way to develop this design. Not blending into the brand name
anymore, the nutritional information text is now readable and
contrasts well with the black and orange colouring on the rest of the
design. To develop this design, the brand name could perhaps be
moved down so it’s centralised on the layout. This would reduce the
white space at the bottom of the screen. A collar design could also be a
effective feature to add on this particular design, but may make the can
look cramped should the ‘BOLT’ brand name stretch all the way around
the collar, like It does on the can.

Moving back to the more traditional and preferred method of laying
out the packaging is an indication that I may decide to use this sort of
layout for my final design. Adding the brand name in the middle of the
layout and adding a lightning bolt above gives the impression that
there will be more content added below the brand name. However, at
this stage, I haven’t decided what this section will feature, I just knew
that I wanted to experiment with a centralised brand name. The collar
design of the can is another feature that has been restored to my
layout. I think without this feature, the can has too much white space
featured on it.
Sticking to the corporate colours, the ingredients and flavourings
information is added to the design. Staying centralised with the text
layout, I feel as if because the brand name is centralised, I don’t want
to end up with a boringly constructed product that looks professional,
but isn’t striking and doesn’t entice the consumer. At this stage, I’m still
thinking about what could fill the white space at the bottom of the
screen. A design similar to that of my avert could be a good way to
make an effective product, while keep the consistency with the design
elements, therefore creating a familiarisation with the consumer
through corporate colours and the company logo.
Adding the nutritional information next was the feature that I was least
sure about on this design. Adapted from the table design., I had to
decided to set the information out in a column system. Even though it’s
not as effective as the ellipse shapes on the previous design, I wanted
to further experiment on this feature and try and get another original
idea, just in case my ellipse tool idea goes wrong or doesn’t look how I
expected to on my final design.

After adding the barcode and other little pieces of content, including:
the recycling logo, the barcode and the website address, my packaging
design was now starting to take shape. The only major problem still
involved having a large gap of white space at the bottom of the layout.
However, I knew that this feature would be amended before the final
version of this draft. Making the lightning bolt bigger and moving the
brand name to the bottom of the screen was a possible solution to this
problem.
Another solution to the white space issue was the one that I decided to
take on this design. On my advert, I had added lightning bolts so they
were pointing to the brand name at 3 points. Trying to emulate this
feature, I added 4 lightning bolts to the layout, which reduced the
white space and made the overall design look effective. Even if this was
not the direction I wanted to go with my design, it works as a concept
and fulfils the purpose of looking striking to the consumer.
After the addition of the 4 lightning bolts, there was still too much
white space on the bottom of the layout. With the top of the can
having the collar design, the bottom of the can didn’t have anything on
it and I feel like the addition of something could help further the cans
effectiveness and give the consumer some extra information about the
product. Due to the barcode and recycling logo been stereotypically
found on the back of the can, I couldn’t transfer them to also be
included on the front of the can. However, the website address could
be used. As a subtle reminder, I added it on both the front, back and
side of the can, which would make the consumer aware of the website,
while creating a familiarity of the brand.

Like the previous can, I continued with the corporate colours that I had
established back in Task 5 and used throughout this development task.
However, instead of positioning the brand name in the middle of the
design like my previous design, I positioned it at the bottom because I
wanted to use all the space available on this particular design. This may
lead to it been less clear and concise than I wanted but it would be full
of content and striking to the consumer.
Adding the collar design from the previous layout, the design was now
framed and just needed the content I wanted to make up the rest of
the design, while trying to come up with how my logo can be displayed.
In the end, I use the same colouring on the logo, but I just increased
the size of the shape. However, when I increased the size of the bolt,
the motion blur faded off the shape and it just had the gradient overlay
on. Re-applying the motion blur on a 111PT blur helped to restore the
lighting bolt to it’s previous blur level. After adding my brand name at
the bottom of the screen and having my collar design added, I wanted
to make the lightning bolt stretch all the way from the bottom of the
collar to the ‘L’ of my brand name, giving it the visual appearance that
it’s striking the lettering.
Next, the addition of the nutritional information. Continuing with the
preferred style of setting this information out, this was fit onto the
design. All the other content was included as normal and all that was
missing was the ingredients and flavourings information. Like I have
stated throughout the development stage, I could experiment with
changing the colouring of the recycling logo to fit in with my corporate
colours. My design on the nutritional information has remained
consistent throughout the project, but I didn’t want to change it
because I believed this was the most effective design I had. Despite
trying an experimenting in this task, I haven’t yet found a more
effective way of laying out the nutritional information.

This design might be one of the most effective designs I have created in
this project so far, but I believe it needs something adding to it to make
it look more effective. I decided that altering the colour of the
background was he way to experiment with different striking features.
Been kept consistent throughout the project, the restrained black
colouring might be the reason why this packaging can’t be as enticing
as it could be. I therefore decided that flipping the colours of the
current design and having the background as orange and other
elements as black would be the best way to alter the design.
After changing the colours of the background and the gradient level on
the lightning bolt, it was clear to see that this feature wasn't going to
work with this particular layout. The lightning bolt shape didn’t look as
effective, the brand name blends in with the background, as does the
ingredients list. This bold and risky technique hasn’t paid ff on this
occasion and restoring the colours to the restrained black with a few
subtle bright features might be the way to carry on my design.
Even though this design might not be the most striking or colourful can,
it certainly has plenty of features to catch the consumers eye. The
contrasting colours, the motion blur lighting bolt and the bold font
choice on the brand name are just a few features that make this can a
successful and effective packaging design. The white on the stroke of
the ellipse tool, which I worried about at the start of the task, now fits
in with the rest of my layout colouring, due to the font of the
ingredients been of the same colour, as is the website address of the
company.

What are the technical qualities of your work?
One technical code I have included in my design is the little ellipse shapes
on the nutritional information side of my can. This was done using the
simple shape tool in Photoshop, and transformed to the desired size.
However, I wanted 5 of these shapes and wanted to get them of the same
proportions, so duplicated them instead of doing each one individual.
After I had completed the ellipse shapes, they were black in colouring,
which would evidently blend in with my background of the same colour. I
looked at my effects I had to choose from and decided that a stroke would
be the best technique to add to the ellipse shapes, It gave them enough
definition to stand out on that side of the can but didn’t detract too much
attention away from the key content on there either.
Another technical quality I experimented with on my packaging was trying
to make the lightning bolt stand out more than it already did. Inner glow,
outer glow, stroke and drop shadow were a few of the effects I tried to use
on the shape. However, they all gave the lightning bolt the look I didn’t
want. What I wanted was to have the lightning bolt look like it was in
motion. I then decided that maybe a filter might be the correct effect for
me to use. Blur was the most relevant to what I wanted and after
experimenting with tilt-shift and Gaussian blur, I knew that motion blur
was the correct filter for my product. Giving the correct amount of blur
without making it impossible to tell what the shape is, motion blur gives
the impression that the lightning bolt is in motion, moving towards the
bolt text. After this, a gradient level was added to the shape to make the
lightning bolt in motion look like it was charging and about to strike. This
was done by selecting different shades of orange and adding it to the
gradient level options to choose. However, unlike my advert, I didn’t need
to experiment with colours, due to me already getting the correct colours
for my adverts lightning bolt.
Task 7: Packaging Evaluation

What are the aesthetic qualities of your work?
The Orange and black colouring of my design compliment each
other well by contrasting, which makes the packaging design look
striking and effective. When first thinking about my can design, I
wanted to make it as bright and vibrant as possible, which led to me
colouring the design orange. However, on finding that my target
audience will be turned from a mass market to a younger
demographic, I changed the colouring to a neutral colouring.
Also contrasting on my design is the text on my nutritional
information. Picked to match the colours of the font and the fonts
inner glow, the text on the nutritional information doesn't stick out
and add another colour to the design, but instead, matches the
colours already on the layout.
I experimented with the size and colours of the lightning bolt
throughout the development process of this task. Making the shape
too small led to there been too much white space on the canvas
and therefore the overall design was deemed ineffective After this, I
decided to see what a full page lighting bolt with the text fitted
around would look like. The overall design looked good but the
shape took too much away from the product name, which, in can
design, can’t be done. Ideally, a producer wants the imagery and
logos to link with the product name on the page and try and create
some familiarisation with the consumer through house style.

Are there opportunities for further development of your work?
Due to me deciding on a clean and clear layout for my packaging design,
there are very few pieces of information or design elements featured on
my layout. This is an effective way to carry out can design and a
conventional drinks company technique. Many consumers of the product
buy it because of the advert or the packaging, but very few, if any, buy it
for the information on the can. If I were to repeat this task, I would
experiment with different content and try positioning it in different areas
around the layout to see if I can try and make the most of my space on
the can.
The nutritional information angle of my can looks too simple and clean to
be striking and enticing to my target demographic. The use of the
restrained beige colour for some of the font type doesn’t fit in with the
rest of my can design, while this colour choice doesn’t show a
continuation of house style throughout my products (advert and
packaging). Another colour could be selected for the font type, but I think
the same thing can be said for those colours: they don’t feature anywhere
else on my design. I think either changing the colouring to white or having
it all in the shade of orange are the options that I have, which I would
experiment with further should I revisit this task. The same central
positioning of the content on the back doesn’t help to make the can more
aesthetically pleasing either. On the other hand, most conventional
energy drinks cans use this way of display on their nutritional information
and as I have stated on other tasks, I am trying to fit in with an existing
market, not try and create a new market, so must fit in with product
design and existing codes and conventions.

Are your final pieces fit for purpose?
A packaging function is to look striking and eye-catching to the potential
customer of your product. With the contrasting colour scheme and the
bold lightning bolt shape, I believe my product is fit for purpose. Previous
versions of this design have been badly constructed and focused more on
layout than content, which led to an unprofessional quality to the product.
However, with the addition of formal elements such as shape and line, I
was able to make a product that would be marketable, had this project
required me to. The back of the can features most of the text ton the
overall product and is the side of the can which looks the most
professional, due to it looking effective and, surprisingly, not crowded,
despite the amount of text. When I add my packaging to my advert in task
6, this will be the real test of whether it is fit for purpose, but as far as just
the packaging is concerned, I think it fulfils it’s purpose and is effective at
doing so.
If I were to make any changes and make it more fit for purpose, I would
make the beige text on the nutritional information, orange like the rest of
it. I believe beige is a restrained colour and isn’t striking, which the overall
packaging design should be. However, if I changed the font colour, there
would be no change in colours on my layout and therefore there would be
no contrast through the fontal style. If I were to repeat this task again, I
might have to experiment with various colours to contrast the orange
colouring.

Like all development tasks, this one helped me decide what works
and doesn’t work on my packaging design. The areas of my can
design that were developed on throughout the process and how
this helped me make a better product:
• The separate lightning bolt shape and brand name was one
aspect of the can I wanted to develop. Previously in task 7, I
created a design which incorporated the letters of my brand
name spanning round the whole of the can. Due to the white
space and lack of collar design, I decided that the two should be
separate.
• My corporate colours have been experimented with and
changed at many pints in this task. Starting as Black and orange
as my two primary colours on the design, I developed it to also
include white colouring within the layout. This is therefore
following on from my advert design and showing continuity on
my house style. If this product was to be made, it’s important to
get the consumer familiar with your corporate colours, so
continuity through different mediums is a good way to do this.
• Layout regarding nutritional values was a big aspect of my
development on this task. Starting as a table, I soon developed
this design to feature the information in ellipse shapes. This was
due to drinks companies not laying out their nutritional
information in table in the UK, but instead, list them. However, I
wanted to emulate a design from an existing product I had
found that is relatively unconventional in the energy drinks
market.

What areas of planning and development could have done with more
work?
• The centralisation of my text on the nutritional information section is
restrained and dull. This feature could have been developed more and
experimenting on this aspect may have led to a better final product.
However, when I previously addressed this issue on previous versions
of this can, it didn’t look any more effective as the current design. As
well as this, existing energy drinks companies use this kind of layout
and I wanted to try and fit in with the market.
• The ellipse shapes that hold the products nutritional information is an
effective way of displaying this information. However, the final design
features these shapes with a matte black colouring, compared to the
reduced opacity and metallic look of the rest of the product. This
makes it stand out, compared to the other elements on the can.
Nutritional information is a key feature, but is less important than the
brand name or company logo. A simple opacity change will resolve
this issue and restore the product to look effective again.
• If I would have left the can design that included the letters spanning
round the can back in the packaging development task, instead of
developing it on Task 7, I would have had more time to develop good
designs like the one I have now. On the other hand, I thought I could
develop it and make a good product with the big lettering layout.

What effect did you think your development stages had on the final
product?
Looking at the last two slides and seeing how my development and
planning stages have benefited and disadvantaged me, I would say this
stage didn’t help that much. However, I had a set amount of time to
develop and plan he product, I had to work on the areas that were top
priority and would give the product optimum effectiveness.
If I wouldn’t have had the development stage, certain features wouldn’t
have been noticed and amended and my product wouldn’t have been as
effective, so I would say, overall, the development stage had a huge impact
on the construction of my final product.
If I wouldn’t have had the development stage, these elements of the
packaging wouldn’t have been changed:
• The brand name and logo would still be spanning the whole can, with
the nutritional font blending in with the brand name text. The
development stage enabled me to amend this feature and have a clean
and clear looking can design.
• The nutritional information side of the can would still feature a table on.
This, of course, would have led to the can been effective in the UK
energy drinks market, due to the table been a US design feature instead.
By developing the can and planning the design features, I discovered this
feature flaw and immediately developed it to the design that is now
featured on my final design.
It can therefore be said that my product wouldn’t have been half as
effective, had I not had the planning and development stage and the impact
of these stages were monumental in the construction of a successful can.

Different flavours
Things I like about the design
• The way in which the names of the products fit the colours that I have added. I did this by
selecting which names I wanted out of the list I had compiled in Task 5 and then paired it with the
colour I believed would best suit this name.
• I like how every can transfers perfectly well, regardless of the colour. Even though some cans
look mores striking and effective than others, as an overall product range, they are all effective.
Things I dislike about the design
• Some of the aesthetical features on the design are not centralised and look out of line. This can
easily be changed by selecting the ruler tool and put all the content on the same line. If it’s for
textual elements, you can do this by pressing central on the paragraph layout, but design
elements will have to be placed manually.
• The inner glow that is evident on the orange ‘BOLT’ text isn’t visible on any other colour in the
product range. You can see a slight hint on the red can but not as much as I would like. As for the
others, it’s non existent. This is another feature that can be changed easily. By selecting inner glow
and increasing the size, the inner glow will then be visible on the designs.
What I would change if I repeated this process
• The positioning of the product name may look like it’s on the can, but the black overlay is hiding
the fact that this would be the traditional metal bottom part of the packaging. This would
therefore mean that if the product name was placed here it wouldn’t be visible. Finding another
place for the can will be an easy task, due to all the white space available on the design layout.

Different flavours
• The new positioning of my product name is now clearer and more noticeable to the consumer. This a
good feature when starting to promote a new product range, due to the producer wanting to get the
consumer familiar with the products, the corporate colours and the company logo, which this design
does.
• Even though I liked the lightning bolt shape been incorporated on my products and as my company
logo, I wanted to experiment with a sourced image as my packaging background. This therefore ranked
my bolt shape obsolete for this particular can design and the lightning on the sourced image was
enough to allow the consumer to make the link between the image and the product name to make an
instant recognition, even when the original lightning bolt is on the front.
• I don’t like that three cans differ in design, compared to the other three. The sourced image is the only
difference on the cans, however, it has a huge impact, due to one of the images been a lot darker than
the other, this leads to the cans looking like they're part of a different collection. On the other hand,
these are alternative designs and experimental designs should be the function of these designs.
• The product name on my can design is much improved in the positioning, but the size of the text
needs increasing to be more striking on the layout. However, my product name and logo is the primary
piece of information, where as the product name is a secondary piece of information and should be
smaller than the product name text. Therefore, the size of the font on the product name could be a little
bigger, as long as it doesn’t overtake the company name on the hierarchical order of layout.
• Due to my product trying to be for the mass market, I might need to change the opacity on the
sourced image. A younger demographic would not struggle to see the sourced image that has the
opacity turned down on it, however, an older audience may struggle with the image. Therefore,. I think
this feature should be changed so the target audience of this product is restored to a mass market one.

Different flavours
• I like that the sourced image remains a prominent feature on my design, despite having a lightning bolt
added on top. Despite it looking effective, I may still have to change the opacity of the sourced image
because it is been somewhat blocked out by the lightning bolt shape. Another way of resolving this issue
would be to turn the opacity of the lightning bolt down to make the sourced image more visible.
• Since I mentioned that I would have improved the inner glow on some of the designs had I repeated the
designs, I took that onboard and changed it for this design instead. The inner glow is now evident on all six
of the cans and helps the key text on the layout stand out from the less important information.
• The addition of the lightning bolt makes the layout of the can look crowded and busy, one function that I
didn’t want for my design. I think the packaging only requires either the lightning bolt or the sourced
image, not both. However, if they are both added together, the opacity of the shape needs turning down
to blend into the sourced image.
• The shapes and fonts that are evident on the layout are not aligned, just like on the previous layout. Due
to there been the sourced image, which has a line that runs from the top to the bottom of the screen, it
can be a lot more easily seen on this particular design.
• I would remove the lightning bolt shape and remain with the sourced image. You can only have one of
these aesthetical features on the layout at once or it looks ineffective. However, the sourced image on it’s
own would have been a replica of the previous design, so further experimenting on it was the only way to
go with it.
• I would pick a darker colour to contrast the lighter one on my gradient layers. Without the motion blur,
you wouldn’t be able to tell that these lightning bolts were charging and ready to strike the company
name. Selecting a darker colour will show how the bolt goes from dark to light on the gradient layer ad will
therefore gives the visual suggestion that the bolt is just about to strike.

Different flavours
• How I could just take one portion of the sourced image and transfer it onto the can, giving the distinct
impression that this shape ahs now replaced my motion blur lightning bolt as the logo on this particular
packaging design. This feature travels from the top to the bottom of the design, and because it’s not as
wide as the bolt shape, it doesn’t cut out any of the text at the bottom of the layout.
• This is the clearest layout on any of my designs yet, but because it has a shape flowing down the whole
can, it doesn’t look as empty or full of white space as some of my previous versions. The bolt helps to
split up the white space and makes it look like there is hardly any white space, when in actuality, there’s
plenty.
• While the bolt from the stock image is effective and striking, it needs moving slightly over toward the
left hand side of the can. This doesn’t affect the middle of the can because it’s full of white space, but
nearer the top of the can, it blocks a bit of the ‘BOLT’ company name out and makes it a bit more difficult
to read. Moving the can over a a few places won’t be time consuming, however, it will make a major
impact on the success of this product range.
• I move the company and product name up towards the middle of the layout, due to there been a mass
of white space around the middle of the design. However, I don’t want this layout to look like my second
draft on my development section when I first started and have a lot of white space at the bottom of the
screen and have nothing to fill it with.

Different flavours
• The addition of a secondary lightning bolt means that there is even less white space than in the
previous layout. However, a lot of white space still exists on the edges of the layout, but I have to choose
between having a clean and concise layout or having white space dotted around my design.
• This layout is the most striking design I have constructed so far in this project. The bright colours and
the bold shapes help it to look enticing to the consumer. On the other hand, the busy aesthetical look of
the product detracts some effectiveness from the design.
• The primary lightning bolt in the design doesn’t look like it has the gradient layer added to it. On
previous designs, it’s been clear to see how the shape goes from dark to light, however, on this set of
products, it’s not as clear. Selecting a darker secondary colour might need to be undertaken to restore
the lightning bolt to it’s gradient layer colour.
• I would remove one of the lightning bolts. Like I said on one of my previous product ranges, only one of
them on the same design works, two doesn’t. However, an alternative to removing one of the shapes is
to turn the opacity down on the front lightning bolt so the one at the back is more visible.

Task 8: Web Banner Development
I thought due to the e-media platform been more accessible to a
younger demographic, I would design my web banner to include
features that would most suit a younger target audience. This therefore
prompted me to choose a bright colour that would contrast with a
darker colour. Unlike my previous colouring of dark background and
bright font and content, I flipped the colours to have a bright orange
background with black font and other aesthetic features. This was a
good idea for this particular design, due to a younger demographic
trying to be reached, however, the inner glow on the BOLT brand name
could have been changed because it’s barely visible on the orange
background behind.
This product was the third in the range so far so I was hoping that if
these products were put out to the public, consumers would be
familiarised with the brand by now. For this reason, I decided to drop
the tag-line for Task 8, but instead, rely on the brand name and brand
logo. This was a big risk: if the consumer was familiar with the brand
and products, it would pay off, however, if not, the product won’t be a
successful one.
The same content on either side was decided on because it fills in
white space and makes the advert clear and to the point, while
informing and advertising the product. The motion blur lightning bolts
stand out on the layout but not as much as when the black background
and orange bolt were used on my designs, this may need to be
reviewed later in the task but for now I’m just experimenting with
different elements of design.
Finally, I added the social media links to my layout, which would
hopefully appeal to the younger audience that view this web banner,
while potentially prompting the older demographic to discovering the
product through a new medium that they may or may not be familiar
with.

After I had produced my first design, I did some further research on web
banners, as well as the research that I had done before starting Task 8. I found
that the web banners that I had viewed and made assumptions about the
audience been younger were tailor made to a younger demographic, but more
importantly, I found that web banners can be for a wide range of audience types.
Deciding that a web banner aimed at younger demographic wouldn’t appeal to
my desired mass market target audience, I changed the design and colour for my
design.
Going back to the traditional BOLT house style that I have used on all my other
products in this project, I knew this layout would target a mass market,
compared to my previous design. Adding exactly the same elements as my
advert, the BOLT brand name was the most predominant feature on the layout,
with the tag-line been absent once again. I wanted to rely on brand familiarity,
rather than a memorable tag-line.
Adding the motion blur lightning bolt with the gradient overlay gave the design
some bright elements to the layout, which it need s to be effective. Adding the
secondary brand name was added because there was some white space at the
top of the screen, while the lightning bolt that replaces the ‘L’ lettering furthers
the brand logo and hopefully furthers the consumers familiarity with the
product, which will therefore prompt them to subconsciously buy it. However,
the inner glow has not been increased on the top brand name and doesn’t fit in
with the main brand name on the layout. Adjusting this element will be quick to
do but will make a huge impact on the success of this particular product.
Lack of room on the design meant that I couldn’t fit the website address on the
layout tat fist. Realising that this certain content piece is key to the product, I
transformed the font and rotated it 90 degrees to enable it to fit on the left hand
side of the screen. The same could be said for my social media links, they
wouldn’t fit horizontally on the page like normal. Instead, I had to arrange the
logos so that they were vertically arranged and therefore could fit on the design.

Due to this part of the design been the development stage of the task
and therefore experimenting with the design and aesthetical qualities
was key to the success of the web banner. After establishing that web
banners can be made for a range of target audiences, not just a
younger demographic, I wasn’t going to change the colour that would
appeal more to a mass market. Instead, I decided to change the web
banner size so that I would have to change the positioning and the
layout of my web banner to fit the change in size.
Going for a more rectangular design, it was important that I stack the
fontal features of the design on top of one another, instead of
spreading them out across the screen. Centralising both the website
address and the brand name, it made the web banner look
professional, instead of looking poorly made had I not constructed the
layout or formal elements properly. Again, the secondary piece of text
on the screen doesn’t have an inner glow added to it, however, if you
were to add this effect to the website address, it would discolour and
look more ineffective than it does without the inner glow.
After looking through my designs for previous task, I came across the
different flavour section of my packaging development. Within this
section, I found a feature that would fit perfectly with a web banner.
The lightning bolt that I had emulated from a sourced image would
further the effectiveness of the web banner should it be added
correctly. Putting the shape through the text made the design look
striking , while allowing the text to be readable still. The absence of an
inner glow on this shape made the website address fit in a bit more
with the overall l colour scheme of the layout.
White space in the right hand corner of the screen was my biggest
issue on this design. After looking for other content that could fit in
that space, I decided to remain consistent and go with the social media
links that I had used in my previous designs.

The previous design was good to experiment with and develop but I
knew after constructing them that I wasn’t going to take them forward
to my final design. For this reason, I went back to t eh full banner size
for this design.
Carrying on with a bit of continuation in regards to the colour scheme, I
wanted to further experiment with the aesthetic features of the
previous layout. The lightning bolt shape worked well on the last
design, but because it was a rectangular web banner, it had to be
shrunk down, which made it look poorly constructed and ineffective. I
wanted to use this feature because it meant that I didn’t have to use
the motion blur lightning bolt which has been overused in y previous
tasks, while the lightning bolt also ensures that white space is cut
down.
In terms of font on this design, I had to reduce the size of it because I
knew I would add other elements to the design, which I wouldn’t have
been able to accommodate, had I kept the size of the text the same.
The reduction in font size meant hat the inner glow added a
discoloration to the font. Removing the inner glow was a clear choice
because of this reason, but also because it now fitted in with the
other non inner glow features on the design.
Like other designs, the web address was then added to the product.
After adding the web address, a large portion of white space was
evident on the right hand side. Looking through my previous designs, it
was clear which feature I would add to this particular design. The social
media links were added and increased in size, due to me matching the
size of the links with the text on the right using the ruler tool on
Photoshop.

Further development on my second and third drafts

Further development on my final design

Task 8: Web Banner Evaluation
What are the technical qualities of your work?
For my web banner, I knew that I wanted to try and emulate some content and design features of my advert, some of which can
be seen on the web banner. However, a few features that I added to my web banner are features that weren’t included on my
final advert or packaging designs, but were on the different flavours section of the packaging development.
The lightning bolts were made by selecting a certain section of a sourced image using the magic wand and then transferring it
onto the desired design. After going through this process, I still had to change the colour of the shape. Colour overlay was the
obvious choice, but just in case I wanted to add a clipping mask later on, like on a few of my development versions, I needed to
add an inner shadow. The inner shadow added the colour I need for now, while leaving the option to add the lightning strike,
metallic colour in later.
Another technical feature that is included on my layout are the social media logos. Included on my advert, this is a feature that I
wanted to try and transfer onto my web banner. Due to the risk of the logos getting pixelated if you transferred them over
Photoshop documents and resized them, so I had to repeat the rotoscoping process that I had to originally undertake in Task 6.
Rotoscoping the logos are relatively easy and quick to do, but they can easily go wrong and you have to start the process again.
Starting out with the polygonal lasso tool, I managed to rotoscope the Facebook logo, but it missed out a few pieces, due to this
sort of tool been designed for straight line rotoscope work. This is when I decide to swap the polygonal lasso tool for the
magnetic lasso tool. Going round the edges and doing what it suggests, sticking to shapes, I managed to perfectly rotoscope the
logo. Repeating this process on the Twitter logo gave me two effective logos for my web banner. Even though the background is
not black anymore, I kept the stroke on the edge of the box to signify the logo even more.

What are the aesthetic qualities of your work?
Like all of my products I have made this far, the contrast on the web banner is the main feature of this product. Even though the
orange doesn’t contrast as effectively as it does with the black on the advert and packaging designs, the white of the lightning
bolts, along with the orange text contrasts well with the dark background of the sourced image I have added. If I were to repeat
the process though, I would turn the opacity up on the sourced image to allow it to stand out more and further contrast with the
more vibrant colours on the design. Doing this would take little time, but would make a huge impact on the effectiveness of the
web banner.
The sourced image is a feature that I used on the product packaging development for my different flavours and
discovered that it looked effective when teamed with bright colours. Amending the image to fit onto the web banner was my
first task. Realising that it would be easy to make the image pixelated by stretching it too much, I made sure that I held down the
shift key so the image would transform in equal proportions and wouldn’t pixelate as much as if it was free transformed. Initially,
after I realised that the image would have to be stretched, I tried to look for other images. After experimenting with other
sourced images, I decided that the best image was the one that I had added initially to the layout.
On my previous design, I had relied on my tag-line and my brand name to try and advertise my product. However, due to me
picking the full banner, I didn’t have much height on my piece to fit my brand name on top of the tag-line, so had to choose
between the two. I decided to use the tag-line, due to my brand name been incorporated into the tag-line and the tag-line been
more memorable and relatable than the brand name on it’s own.

After completing the web banner for this task, I looked at a few existing web banners that were trying to advertise and sell their
products online. While they had a similar layout to mine, due to them also having issues with the available room that they have
to work with to get all the relevant content on, they also had an animation element to their web banners. Whether it was just a
change of colours or moving text or products, they had something changing on their web banner that made it stand out more
than just a normal, still image banner. If I added an animation to my banner, it would makes sense that I try and add it to the text
or the bolt on my page. Making it look like my lightning bolt is striking would be a feature that would be effective and wouldn't
take too much attention away from the other content on the web banner.
Throughout this project, white space on my products has been a major problem for me. Even though I have wanted a clear and
concise layout on all my designs, there has been a bit too much white space for my liking on the designs. This web banner is no
exception this rule, there is too much white space featured on the product. The left and right hand corners on the web banners
could feature some form of information that will inform the consumers about the product. However, if it’s too busy on the
layout, it’s already been said that a busy layout is ineffective for trying to grab the consumers attention, so this type of layout
might be better if the purpose of the products to try and inform or advertise a certain product.
Even though I have chosen this design to be my final one, I think I still need to experiment with the positioning of the lightning
bolts. On my previous design, the lightning bolts curved towards toward the right and left corners of the screen at the end, but
on this one, the bolts cross and finish in the middle of the screen. This isn’t an effective feature, but the previous design helped
to reduce the white space, while ensuring an easier method of animating the bolts should I go forward with this technique (You
may struggle to see movement t the ends of the bolts if the shapes are crossed at the ends).

Are your final pieces fit for purpose?
The purpose of a web banner is to advertise and to grab the attention of the consumer. Through features such as the colouration
of the shapes and fonts and the sourced image, I believe that my product fulfils the purpose it set out to achieve. If features like
the animations and the sourced image opacity increase were amended then this product would be a lot more effective and
therefore further the enticing nature it has towards the consumer of this web banner.
A continuation of the house style from previous products is another reason why this final piece is fit for purpose. The dark
background with the bright coloured fonts and shapes have been features that I have used throughout my products and tasks.
Making this a feature in the web banner mean that consumers would identify the product as a BOLT one without reading
whether it is or nor, they will subconsciously know the house style of the company in their products. As well as this, on the web
banner I was able to change my background and my bolt shape because the tag-line and the colouration of the product meant
that consumers would still identify this product as in the BOLT product range, despite having different design and layout
elements featured within it, therefore making this product fit for purpose.

Through development and planning, I was able to find certain design features that worked for this particular product but not for my
other products in this project. For example, the lightning bolt that I used on the banner didn’t work on my advert or packaging tasks.
Even though the idea of this type of bolt came from the packaging task, it didn’t quite look effective enough to be used as my final
feature, but due to the small amount of room I have to work with on the banner, the lightning bolt that I used on the advert didn’t
seem to look right on the web banner.
Not specific to this particular task, but relevant to the overall project, development and planning has helped me get a relevant
house style that has worked for all my products in this project so far. The dark background, contrasted with the bright and vibrant
coloured text and formal elements, such as shapes has been the house style that has seemed to be most effective for me.
Development has helped me change the colour, the content and the background.
The colour – At the start of the web banner task, I decided that a younger audience will be viewing this particular product because
it’s e-media based. For this reason, I thought a brighter background, instead of the restrained black background would be the way to
progress in Task 8. After adding the orange background and amending all the text and shape based features to a black colouring, it
was evident that it wasn’t going to work as a final design for the web banner task. Due to it working on other products, I decided to
continue with the same house style on this one too, despite me wanting to be more experimental on this product, due to a creative
design been more e-media accessible and would fit in to the stereotypical younger audiences values. A majority of young people
would view this , due to them using the internet more than an older demographic.
The content – The same type of content has been used throughout the planning and development stages, it’s the positioning that
has differed. I started off this task by adding the website address, the lighting bolt shape and the social media links to both sides,
which made the layout look busy. I then moved onto centralising everything, but this left mass white spaces on the layout. After
going through these stages, I decided to emulate the advert design and put the website in the left corner and the social media links
in the right hand corner. This balanced the design and made it look effective an reduced the amount of white space evident on the
layout.
*All these features add together and have contributed some way in making my final design the most effective it could be.

What areas of planning and development could have done with more work?
Due to me concentrating on the font, the colours and content, I didn’t concentrate on the following elements as much in the
development stage and they therefore suffered creatively or aesthetically:
Lightning bolt shapes
Developed from the can design that I constructed for my product range at the end of the last task, I amended the lightning bolt
shape to fit horizontally across the page. When I first added the shape, I had a singular bolt stretching across the screen and
through the lettering, not two like you see now. After moving all the layers in front of this one so the bolt doesn't block the text,
there was still a problem with the amount of white space that was evident on the banner. Adding another shape allowed a
reduction in the white space, while giving the consumer visual help with what the brand name is.
The sourced image
Added to the design to give the consumer a bit more of a clue on the brand name, the sourced image provides the dark
colouring that the bright font contrasts with. However, due to me not experimenting with the sourced image from the start of
the task, but at the middle of Task 8 instead, it meant that I didn’t have much time to alter the opacity and the cropping of the
sourced image. Having to settle for a low opacity and a quick crop of the image was a feature that I wish I would have planned
and developed more because it could have been an effective feature on my web banner, instead, it’s a feature that fades into
insignificance on this particular design.

What effect did you think your development stages had on the final product?
I think without the development stages of this task, I would have made a web banner that wasn’t effective or fit for purpose, as
well as not enticing the consumer and therefore leading to an unsuccessful overall advertising campaign. At the start of the
project, I believed I knew what the consumer wanted from a web banner. After researching existing web banners, it was clear
that little content was a clear popular choice, due to too much content leading to disinterest from the audience. Another thing I
noticed what the colouring of the web banners: bright colours were a consistent theme throughout the web banners I viewed.
For this reason, I decided I was going to try and emulate the colouration of those web banners and put bright colours on my
product. After doing so though, it became apparent, through further research, that I had only managed to view the bright
colours web banners in my initial research, where as my secondary research showed that there were all kinds of coloured web
banners out there on the market. Deciding that I needed a change, I continued with the house style that I had used for the rest
of my products in this project, which worked really well, apart from the fact that I wanted to design a more experimental about
on this particular task. Adding the sourced image from Task 7 managed to give the experimental addition that I wanted, while
maintaining most of my corporate colours (bright text and shapes with a dark/restrained background).

Task 9: Storyboard Development
For this project, we had to use a programme that we had not come
across in previous projects, Strip Generator. Using various items and
characters, you are able to create different comic strips and
storyboards. Due to it having the 3x2 frame option, this was the best
site to use, 3x2 is the easiest to work with in terms of storyboards.
Getting used to the programme was the first thing I had to do. After
discovering all the items and characters, I started to explore the
options on the right hand side (duplicate, alter, opacity and blur were
just a few). It was now time to se how near to my first initial plans
could be translate into a comic strip. I soon found out that I would have
to compromise on a few aspects if I was to make my product on Strip
Generator. For one, they didn’t have any characters that could depict
Usain Bolt and they didn’t have any other sporty looking people either,
which would prove a problem for this storyboard. Regardless, I carried
on using the programme and had to make do with the tools that I had.
After completing my first frame it was easy to see how the rest of the
storyboard was going to pan out, and it may look ineffective. Simplistic
was the way it looked when I had completed a few more frames. It was
now time to add the copy to the bottom portion of frames. This won’t
take a lot of time, due to me already writing it in Task 5 as part of the
copy development section. Since task 5, it hadn’t changed much and
was added to Strip Generator using the text boxes provided.
Due to my product been for a mass market, the copy wasn’t full of
formal lexis and it was kept to a clear font, which is easy to read,
despite this storyboard been tough to follow if the copy wasn't
available. I could have added more copy to each frame but this is
something to be worked on and developed later in the task, therefore
making my final product a more effective one.

The Strip Generator constructed storyboards didn’t look much better
when all of them were complete. However, the only good thing about
making all of the storyboards, instead of stopping after making the first
one, is that I discovered using Photoshop to partly design the
storyboard would be more effective than solely using Strip Generator.
Due to there been no items to depict cans or bottles on strip generator
I thought that it would be more straightforward to collate sourced
images and add them onto the design on Photoshop. Even though they
look out of place, I had to work with what I had and make the best
product I possibly could with the resources.
As the frames drew on, I gradually had less and less to talk about on
the bottom parts of the frames. At the start of the storyboards, I was
filling most of the space available on the frames, where as in the latter
stages of the storyboard, there was a lot of white space visible.
Strip Generator has been a good tool to use on this project. Not only
have I learnt new skills by using it, I have discovered a new creative
programme that I can potentially use in future projects, should the
brief be correct to use it on. I may not make my final product on Strip
Generator and the programme is simplistic, but it gave me a starting
point on this task and it helped to develop the copy and will help to
further this design along and make a huge impact in giving me a
successful product at the end of the project.

The use of Photoshop at the end of the last storyboard design prompted me to
try and construct the product on this particular software. Knowing that using
shapes to make characters and items would make the product look just as
simplistic as Strip Generator, I knew I had to use another technique to construct
my storyboard. After experimenting with opacity adjustment to make the
product, I realised that this technique didn’t exhibit any technical quality
whatever, but instead used existing products to make a current product. For
this reason, I could not use this feature on my final piece or risk making a
product that doesn’t look very effective and doesn’t require any skills to carry it
out.
Thinking back on projects that have previously undertaken, there is one
technique that has been used far more than an other, rotoscoping. I know that
this feature is effective and is relatively easy to do. I decided that I would
rotoscope round all the items and characters to construct my piece, while
adding the same copy and text boxes that were on my first draft. After deciding
on this technique, it was time to start rotoscoping some items for the
storyboard. Despite you been able to rotoscope individual pieces from a
sourced image and then put them together to make a character or item, I
decided to cut round the subjects first before rotoscoping individual parts. This
would be more time consuming, but you would get a better overall product at
the end of it.
After cutting round all my characters and items, before individually rotoscoping
the various parts of that object, it was clear to see that this as a more
professional product, compared to my first draft. The basic layout of my
storyboard was taking shape, but I wanted to try and rotoscope the background
into the frames to try and make the product more aesthetically pleasing.
However, time constraints on the project meant that this wasn’t possible and I
had to restore the white backgrounds. While they aren’t as effective as
rotoscoped backgrounds, I worked with the time I had and I believe I have
made the best product that I could have done in that time frame.

Task 9: Storyboard final (alternate design)

Task 9: Storyboard Evaluation
While the majority of my storyboard is effective and looks well made, there are a few
features that I would add or amend to make this piece even better. These features are:
Most items on the storyboard are rotoscoped, which was done using the magnetic
lasso tool round the whole subject, before rotoscoping individual pieces of the object.
On a whole, this was done without any problems, with the exception of a few mistakes
that were revisited at the end of the task. However, there are a few things on the
product that aren’t rotoscoped, due to them been difficult to carry out this technical
feature on. In particular, when experimenting with the rotoscoping, the cans and the
speaker were very difficult to look effective. In the end, I kept the speaker because I
managed to improve it, but I had to source some images in for the can and bottle. If I
were to repeat this task, I think I would experiment with the rotoscoping of the can
and bottle that I didn’t do this time around, due to me been conscious about time on
this project, I was already starting to eat into the time that I had set aside for
evaluation and a bit of my contingency time also. After sourcing the images, this
meant that I now have enough time to complete the evaluation in time, the shapes
may not have been rotoscoped by in terms of priorities, the evaluation comes higher.
Another element of my storyboard that could be further developed is the background
of the frames. Instead of the plain white backgrounds, I wanted to rotoscope the
background like I had done with the various people and objects in the storyboard.
However, due to time constraints, it would have been improbable that I would have
finished the project in time. I did attempt to cover the background in my alternate
version by sourcing images and turning down the opacity, but I prefer the white
background to the sourced images. Rotoscoping the background would have reduced
the white space while allowing the overall product to look more effective. If I were to
repeat the process, I would create a test slide to see what it would look like before
adding it to the rest of them if it makes a sizeable impact on the storyboard.

Products and evaluations pro forma (Tasks 6, 7, 8 & 9)

Products and evaluations pro forma (Tasks 6, 7, 8 & 9)

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