Creative Media Production 2013 1

Recipe Card Evaluation

Hannah Mizen

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Producing Print Based Media

Visual LanguageHow have you chosen to set out your designs and why? (Reference layout, image/text ratio, busy/simplistic etc)

I have chosen to set my recipe cards out in a certain and particular way on purpose to give a certain feel. The layout of the recipe card is fairly simple, structured out in a way with boxes and one circle on some of the cards. This makes the cards feel more like a school exercise book, where everything is ordered neatly but not perfectly, the neat feeling comes from the text being placed in the same place on each card, but the pictures not being the same size give more of a school book feeling, which was decided already on the flat plan. The image to text ratio is about equal, for where there is text there is also an image to support it near. On the front of the flat plan there are 3 images down the right side and two separate blocks of text down the left side of the pictures. On the back similarly there is the same ratio, there is one block of text and one large picture, which makes the card look even and balanced. The amount of text will show the audience that the recipes are detailed and easy to follow, where the pictures will attract people who find large amounts of text daunting or off putting. The way the recipe card is set out is in a simplistic way, as we found from our earlier research that vegetarians preferred either a rustic or simplistic look the most, so we decided to carry on with a clean simple look and work around this idea, with a clean white background which is in the style of lined paper, but then add fake ink splodges and coffee stains so it didn’t make it feel too medical and not foodie. Its simple because the background is simple, so it wouldn’t take away from the text or from the pictures, and so its also easier to look at, read and take in.

Flat plan

Visual Language

The content of the images on the final recipe card are very consistent and continue with a theme across the whole of the cards, so they related and looked like they should be sold together, giving off the same feeling to the audience. The images were photography of the food, that were not stock images, they were taken by me. I did this so I could keep consistent lighting and feelings in the photo, making all the photos match, like with the background colours and surroundings. This has also helped the cards looks like a package instead of being separated. The text was all the same size and the same font and the same colour. The font was the most important part of the text, it was a special one that was downloaded from da font, and this one font was used throughout the whole of the recipe cards, so the consistent font would look most like handwriting. The colour of the font is also consistent, the titles are a pale yellow, then the rest of the writing is a blue, but like a handwriting pen, this colour gives a nostalgic feel, even though it is just a minor detail. Comparing to existing products there are a lot of similarities, especially with the photos of the food, the way all the photos match with the lighting and colour and background. Other similarities are how the consistency is kept within the recipe cards, especially with little details like layout and placement of text and images

Discuss the contents of your final images and reflect upon decisions made. (Content used- image/text/graphic, use of colour, original or stock images. Compare to existing products.)

Visual LanguageDiscuss the semiotics and connotations created from the content you have included. (What meaning or suggestions are created from the images/colours/designs you have used? You could reference how they were used in products you look at during the project.)

In this project the recipe cards had a certain theme to them and we wanted to emulate throughout the whole of the project. The feel we wanted to create was a clean, nostalgic feel. The background is a piece of lined paper, this just sets off the theme and feel for the whole collection of cards, reminding the viewer of a school situation. The colours are minimal and matching in each card, to remind the viewer of a uniform set out, like a school. The layout design for the cards are set out in a similar place, like the pictures will always be on the right side and text will be on the left, but on each card the pictures and text are not in the exact same place, making it feel more hand made and like a young school child has made it, what also makes the cards feel like this is the way the pictures look like they have been stuck on by cello tape, adding ink splodges and drink stains, adding to the handmade, child feel. Another part of this design is the ripped part of the page, making a border on the page that is green (to follow the brief), we decided to make the rip to add to the whole homemade, messy school feel even more.

AudiencesCreate an audience profile of your chosen demographic(Age, gender, psychographic, geodemographic, NRS Social Grade, hobbies, sexuality [if appropriate] etc)

The kind of audience these cards are aimed at are made up of different things that the audience fits into. The age of the target audience is around the middle age, parent age, 30-50s, so they are able to feel nostalgic about these recipes, but the recipes are also going to be enjoyed by the whole family or whoever it has been cooked for. The psychographics of the audience will be how their personality and choices effect their family and cooking, and their choices towards eating veggie food, so they would be quite family orientated and also aware of healthy eating, wanting to convince people to be vegetarian, or catering to a vegetarian family member. I think that the NRS social grade would vary from B to C2, because the recipes are simple and quick, but they are different and include interesting ingredients. The gender of my audience I don’t think is important and don’t think that our recipe cards lean towards a specific gender.

AudiencesHow have you constructed your work to appeal to this audience? Include an annotated copy of an example of your work to help illustrate how you have done this.

Gender neutral.These cards have no specific colours, images or graphics that would make a certain gender of person want to buy them more than another gender. The colours would appeal to anyone with the main colour being a green relating to vegetarianism, the colours of the text relating to the school theme, and the photography of the food being clear and informative. Wording.The way the recipe method is worded is important, and mainly relates to the NRS of the audience. The way it’s worded is simple and informative, but includes some key terms and words specifically related to cooking. This will be more well known to the C2 to B class people as they would have to cook their meals and may be more conscience about what they put into their bodies.

Layout.The layout of the card and the way is constructed is very simple. The text and images on the front page are always placed into the same place the ext being on the left and the images on the right. This is so that the audience or person who is looking at the recipe cards is familiar with the placement of the information and know where to look when they are cooking, so finding the place where they were last reading is easy to find, so making the meal is quicker to follow and make.

Photography.The photography on these recipe cards is taken for the style and theme of the recipe card. The photos are more an informative guide on how the food should turn out and how it could be presented, in a simple way that anyone could copy. Technical aspects.

On the recipe card there is not a lot of complicated aspects but there is one part of the ripped paper effect at the bottom of the page which did require some more thought and skill. I think this ripped page effect would appeal to the audience because it makes the whole recipe card less serious and less daunting to pick up, it looks more friendly and inviting to read and make the meals on their. I also think the graphic images of ink stains and coffee stains add to this feeling of the recipes being more relaxed.

The recipe card appeals to the audience because of its relaxed and friendly feel, whilst still looking professional and clean.

Cultural contextWhat did you use as your design influences and why were they chosen?(What existing media products influenced the final look of your work?)

When doing research we came across a lot of recipe cards that were online or downloadable, but found out quickly that the designs were very simple and bland, there were no themes to the recipes or cards other than the fact of being a veggie dish. The colours were also very boring like on the quorn recipe cards the colours were orange and grey, which does not stand out and is not appealing to look at, so won’t make people want to make the recipe. But from this design I found out the best way to layout the card was to keep a simple structure, keep images clear and text readable and not too dense and also keeping the background white and simple, letting the rest of the graphics stand out against the background. The research we did influenced our final piece also in the style of photography that is placed on the page, that it is simple and informative, to create a simple picture, then build a theme around the photo, instead of adding lots of props and making the photo too busy, which takes the attention away from the food. Another thing that influenced our final design was on the quorn card, they made a separate box for time it took to cook and how many it serves, so we took this onboard and used the separate placement of this information, to make it easier to read and pick out.

Cultural contextDo vegetarian products have a specific design aesthetic and how does your project reflect/contrast this? Why?

From the research I have done I have found out that there seems to be a reoccurring theme that happens with vegetarian recipes, they seem to be always choosing vegetarian related colours, like oranges and browns, but mainly different shades of green, which differ, darker greens for adult recipes and lighter for children’s dishes. The design aesthetic of these pictures seem to be very photograph related, with large photos that are made to look appealing and tasty, being used as backgrounds then simple text being placed on top. I feel like our project reflects and contrasts this in different ways. It reflects this because the colours on our card does mainly consist of a green as the border strip to match the vegetarian logo, and the green showing up in the holes of the page, to make it look this paper has green paper underneath. But in contrast I think that our recipe card is a lot less photo orientated, and more about the actual over-all theme of the cards, along with the language used in the recipes, so the card is concentring more on the recipe rather than the photo. The text on ours is also a lot different, it is themed and carries on throughout the cards, the font is designed to look like handwriting and fit with the theme, where as the other recipe cards have fairly plain and boring fonts which are not very interesting and don’t seem to set off any feeling or theme around the food.

Finished productsDoes your finished product reflect your initial plans? How? If there are any differences, describe why changes were made.(You can use visual examples of flat plans and finished products to illustrate this

I think that the finished product does reflect our initial plans. At the start the idea was to do with a school themed recipe card, for adults. First we made different style sheets to decide on a style and colour, these included different patterns and textures to add more diversity to the card plan. In the end we didn’t choose a particular style sheet, but picked and chose different colours from each sheet, to see which looked the best and most relevant. Then we made different flat plans, to show the ideas for a layout of the recipe cards, this reflects our final piece because we chose one flat plan layout, which has developed slightly but you can still see the similarities between the original and the final. There were over-all 4 changes from the original to the final, these were:1. Where the title is placed2. Where the logo is placed3. The image amount on the back page4. The ripped paper borderThese different things that were added really made the

card come into its own as a strong and clear design that works really well and if effective.

Finished productsDoes your finished product match what you were set in the brief? How?

The final recipe cards I think do follow the brief mainly.

We want to see interesting and creative designs for a new series of recipe cards. We need designs on both the front and the back of the card. There should be a clear theme across all the cards so it is apparent that they are a set. You could create a series based on an ingredient or the food of a certain country. It could be aimed at people just becoming vegetarian or those who gave up meat years ago. You don’t have to come up with the recipes yourself but you must ensure that all ingredients are suitable for a vegetarian diet. It would be good if some recipes were suitable for vegans as well. You don’t have to take your own images but we do want to see high quality food photographs being used.Presenting information: Include serving number, preparation time, cooking time and vegan suitability at the start of the recipe. For example:Serves 4Preparation time 10 minutesCooking time 15 minutesCan be veganList all ingredients separately on a new line, in the order in which they are used in the methodUse metric rather than imperial measurements (grams rather than ounces or cups)Include spoon measurements where these are more widely understood than the equivalent metric measurement (eg 1 tsp rather than 5ml)Measurement abbreviations should be used without explanation.Leave a space between the number and spoon abbreviations tsp (teaspoon), tbsp (tablespoon) but not between the number and metric abbreviations. For example: 400g flour1 tsp baking powderLeave out the degrees symbol and the term 'mark' when referring to cooking temperatures. Leave a space between the word 'Gas' and the temperature but not between the temperature and the degrees measurement abbreviation. For example heat the oven to Gas 5/180C.Keep method points as simple as possible, breaking down into shorter sentences if a single method point involves more than one action.Number method points but not ingredients.

I think that this product meets the brief, everything on the recipe card meets the requirements. Things like the prep time, the vegan suitability, cooking time and the serving amount. The only requirements that I found difficult to meet was the oven requirements, stating the gas number of the oven because only one of our recipes included an oven, and when I cooked it in the oven it was actually cooked in an AGA so it has no gas mark. I think the finished product is a creative design, both front and back. The theme across the cards is clear and consistent. All the recipes are vegetarian or vegan, they are simple and easy to follow, they fit to their target audience also, which is a middle aged, parent/family orientated vegetarian in the B-C2 class.

Finished productsHow did the use of peer feedback help you in your production?(Reference specific examples and their final outcome in finished product)

The use of peer feedback from my ideas really helped to get a opinion from a different point of view from a different person with similar ideas. With initial ideas it is helpful when you can get someone else to give their voice on what you have created, to see whether it works or not, what needs to be improved, constructive criticism. This helped me develop my ideas further and narrow down my initial ideas until I just got to one main idea, that we both like and thought that would work. An example of some positive feedback was on my 5th idea, an Indian theme, their positive feedback was that they liked the recipes and thought that vegan ice-cream was interesting, but an area that they said I would need to develop is the colour scheme may become too over-whelming and busy that it may distract from the food and theme, this is something I didn’t initially realise or think about that these busy colours may not add and take away from my theme and recipes, so I decided this wasn’t the best idea to go with. Another one that I also changed my mind about after the peer feedback was idea 2, the feedback suggested I needed to think more about the set out of my cards, the design and how they would look if I developed them, but at that point I realised that I wouldn’t be able to develop my idea much further because I couldn’t think of anything else. I’m glad now that I didn’t choose this idea because then if I had have picked it then I would have struggled to create an interesting recipe card, and would have hit a wall. After this feedback I we decided to choose the school themed one as it gave us a lot of scope to expand and develop our ideas.

Finished productDiscuss the strengths and weaknesses of your final product regarding its technical qualities.Use box below for text or page space to include an annotated copy of your work to help illustrate how you have done this.Reference what you like and dislike about the work with consistent reference to correct terminology of tools/effects used. Reference existing products.

On my recipe cards there are not that many technical qualities. But there are a few that are a major part of the cards, these were preformed of photoshop. The first one is the ripped paper effect, which is done by layering different coloured pages on top of each other, then using a stroke brush pattern to give it a torn and rough effect, then by putting a drop shadow underneath it made the pages and layers separate like it was placed on top. This is put on both sides of the strip of the paper that I want to look ripped, then the layer underneath the ripped effect layer I changed to a green colour to create a border and to pull the vegetarian look of the design all together. I really like the look of this effect, I think it looks really detailed and even though it isn't obvious, it adds a lot to the design and makes it look more professional and interesting.

With the green we had to keep this consistent and a running theme throughout the cards so they would all match. Because we wanted it to look like the green was another piece of paper. Because the lined paper which is the top layer has holes in it like a real piece of paper I had to cut the holes out on photoshop, then layer a rectangle of green behind where the holes showed up. I like this little detail being taken into consideration because I think this makes the card look more professional and realistic.

Another technical aspect of this which is a more minor detail is the cutting out of images, to put them in a particular shape, I did this by just cutting a circle around the plate and around other food, like bread. This made the theme of the recipe cards more enforced and clear to the audience. This also makes the photos look more like they have been cut out and stuck on with cellotape. Because it gives this feeling I think it is successful and I like the way it looks a lot, it’s a small detail that makes a big difference to make the card look more professional. I think that the quality of the cutting out varies slightly one each card, but because they are quite small, little imperfections are not very visible.

During research, I looked at different recipe cards and how they placed their photos on the page, how they were cut out, how they were shaped. I found that all the cards that I looked at only were set in a square shape, some with borders, others plain. This inspired me to cut the photos up into shapes making the images more interesting, instead of adding borders I took them away.

I think that there more unsuccessful elements of the technical aspects would be how when cutting the pictures, especially in a circle, I was impatient and messy so there are some imperfections on the photos were some of the background is still present on the photos, because the image is white and the background is dark and it contrasts to this. Also where I have cut into the photo a small amount, making the circle shape bumpy and not perfect.

Finished productDiscuss the strengths and weaknesses of your final product regarding its aesthetical qualities.Use box below for text or page space to include an annotated copy of your work to help illustrate how you have done this. Reference what you like and dislike about the work with consistent reference to correct terminology. You can reference existing products here and compare your work to them.

StrengthsThe strengths of my work about how it looks is the technical aspect of how I made the paper tear effect on the recipe card by just using some simple techniques on photoshop, I think it looks professional and like I have really taken time to add the details in.

I think the photography on the cards is really good, as it looks like a stock photo. The photos are clear, detailed and informative. They show a lot of detail on how the food should look when its finished, but also a simple idea on how the food could be presented. Some shots were close up and almost macro photos, to show how the texture of the food should look like, I think this is especially helpful to amateur cooks in the kitchen, because if it was explained in words they might find it difficult to understand and picture.

I think the overall theme is a very successful and strong point on the whole. I think that the theme is a very different idea that hasn’t been done anywhere else before, (what I saw from my research). I think the messy, structured nature of the layout is quirky and different, it gives a friendly feel, so it is more inviting. It is also a theme that nearly everyone can relate too as the majority of people have been to school at some point in their lives, so everything on the card is recognisable and in context with the audiences past school life.

Close up, detailed shot of texture of the food.

Presentation ideas

Page border rip

Brings together school theme

WeaknessesThe weaknesses on my recipe cards from an aesthetical point of view, is because me and my partner did make the cards separately on different computers, some details on the different bunch of cards we made are similar but not exactly the same. The colours on the cards are not exactly the same, the main and most noticeable difference on the cards is the colour and shade of the green. On my card the green is a lot brighter and more of a cold feeling. Where as my partners is a warmer, more yellow tone of green. Although these are not matching, I think the similarities between these colours and the vegsoc logo are almost exact, so I think this point maybe a weakness but it has not made the cards unsuccessful.

Another weakness of the look of these cards is the alignment of the text with the background. The background is lined paper, so the text had to fit into all of the gaps correctly, but unfortunately on some of the cards the background lines are crossing through the text, which makes it a lot harder to read, makes it less neat and tidy, this was a problem that was encountered a lot of times because of photoshop and how it would only let us a certain amount of text between the lines of text.

Finished productsWhat skills/knowledge have you gained/developed in this project? How could these be applied in future practice?

The kind of skills I have acquired and developed throughout this project have been varied.

I have expanded my knowledge about vegetarians, by doing second hand and first hand research, it showed me what differences and similarities can occur when researching into a target market. I learnt how to create effective and helpful research accessories, like a questionnaire, and an interview. The questionnaire was the most helpful, because we were able to get more varied ages and types of people. From this research I found out that the favourite time of the year for vegetarians is summer followed by autumn, this information could have helped us pick out a theme or the type of food we put on our recipe cards.I have also learnt a lot about other companies and their views towards vegetarianism. Some companies like ‘LUSH’ and ‘Linda Mccartney’ are completely based around vegan and vegetarians, making all their products strictly veggie, so that they make their target audience a lot more concentrated. Where as some other companies are cater for both veggies and non-veggies, like the shoes company ‘Dr.Martens’ they mainly sell a wide range of leather shoes, but they do do a range of vegan shoes. It is interesting to see different companies views towards animal welfare and how seriously they take it.I required knowledge also about religions, about how some religions like Jainism, which doesn’t allow the people who follow to eat any animal products or any by-products of animals and even avoid eating rooted plants as it disturbs animals homes. Other religions are not so strict, like Hinduism, which encourages a veggie life-style, but it is not mandatory. I have also learnt about copyright in photography, mainly through stock photo sites. I have learnt that some sites may allow you to use their photos for free if its for a personal project or if the use isn’t going to earn money. But some of the site require you to pay for all photos regardless of its use.

Production processDo you believe your work is creative and technically competent? Why?(Reference specific examples (use images if this will help) of where you believe your work is particularly visually or technically impressive. Reference professionally produced work and compare your products to them)

I believe that our work is creative and technically competent

Production processHow effectively did you manage your time? (Could you have used time more wisely? Did a particular aspect of the project take longer than expected? Did you complete everything on schedule?)

Production processIf you could repeat the process what would you do differently?

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Working to a brief

ConstraintsWhat constraints did you encounter and how did you consider/avoid them?

Legal:

Regulatory:

Financial:

ManagementHow did you work as part of a group? (Did you lead the project? What parts of the project did you take charge of? Did you enjoy working as part of a group? Why?)

ManagementHow important is communication when working in a group? (Use specific examples from working in a group on this project)

ManagementHow important is communication when working in a group? (Use specific examples from working in a group on this project)

ManagementWhat have you learnt about working in a group and how will you apply this to future practice?