Creative Media Production 2013 1

Recipe Card Evaluation

Hayley Roberts

2

Producing Print Based Media

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

We decided to have two images on the front of the card and then an image on the back of the card. The images on the front showed the audience a visual example of what the recipe is and what it would look like. We added the image on the back so it would add some extra colours and make the back of the card just as interesting as the front of the card. We had a macro image on the front of the card as this showed a more closer perspective of the food and this makes the overall product more appealing and more professional as when we looked at a few recipe cards ourselves, some used some macro images on the back of their cards rather than the front but we thought if we used a macro image on the front it would help to intrigue the audience by making the food more appealing. We used a symbol that represented each country on the front and placed our macro image inside of this. For example for the Italian recipe we used a wine glass to place our macro image inside as this again makes the front more interesting and links the layout together. We then also had a full view image of all the food as this gives the audience a visual look of the recipe and shows the finished product fully. On the back of the card we used a smaller image that wasn’t always a macro image but only showed a certain ratio of the food itself. Our overall design is quite busy as the patterns on them make the card look busier than it actually is and we did a banner at the bottom which was in a block colour and this then contrasted with the pattern we used for the main background. We didn’t want the card to look plain and dull so we used really bright colours and patterns to really make is stand out against any other recipe card and we had to make sure that we turned down the opacity of the pattern as we didn’t want it to make the overall writing on the back of the card really hard to read. We used both on the front and back of the card a little circled stamp of the flag from each country. This represented where the recipe was from and if people struggled to realise what country the recipe was from it helped them understand this with the symbol. On the back, we made the banner slightly different to just a strip across the bottom as we made our banner more curved and wavy as this also contrasted with the patterns as some of them are quite curved and this also made the card more complex and different. We wanted the audience to find the text easy to read and that’s why we used quite a simple and thin font that wasn’t too big and bold as this would make it harder for the audience to understand the writing. The font on the back of the card is again very simple as it makes it a lot easier to read and we made the title for each section (so ‘method’ and ‘ingredients’) a little more bigger than the actual text so it would stand out a lot more and we changed the font so it was a little bolder than the rest of the text but it is still easier to read. We changed the colour of the title for each section different from the rest of the text and we also changed the colour of the measurements needed in the ingredients and each number of step in the method and we did them the colours we want in our colour scheme. We did this so these were the parts of text that stood out to the audience and it also made the steps more separate and not to make it look like one big clump of text.

We also changed the colour for the measurements of ingredients because this highlighted the most important parts of the text and helped in stand out from the rest of the text for the audience. The font for the front of the card is unisex as our cards are aimed at both males and females and it looks more hand written to make it a more relaxed card and more casual and informal. The text and image ratio on the front of the card is more images as there is hardly any text on the front but on the back of the card the text and image ratio is more text as there isn’t as many images on the back of the card. On the front of the cards we used more images than text as this wouldn’t interest the audience seeing a lot of text on the front of the card but having a good proportion of text on the back of the card with less images works well as then the only text on the actual card itself is the instructions and ingredients. Overall, the cards have a simple and easy to follow recipe but with very different ingredients that can be hard to find and the design of our card is very bright and colourful that uses a variety of patterns to make it very noticeable. The images below show one of the recipe cards we looked at that used a macro image and influences us to use one in a slightly different way.

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Visual Language

We decided to make our own food for this project and then take the images ourselves instead of using stock images. We had a variety of visions in our head as to what the photographs were going to look like and not all of them turned out as to what we were expecting. We found that making the recipes and taking the images were a bigger job than we were expecting and it to get the images perfect took quite a while. We found that some of the recipes presentation wasn’t exactly appetising as they didn’t look appealing so we tried to Photoshop the images to make them look a little more appealing but we found that they were still not as appealing so this made it difficult when we were putting them on our cards as we wanted the best looking images that were a high quality to make them look appetising for the audience. We thought that all the macro shots looked really professional because they captured all the detail required to make the images appetising and it really showed the quality of the food. Some of the full view images looked really good and makes the card really appealing but some of the foods presentation failed on us which made them less appetising but because we had taken the images we had tried our hardest to use them on our cards because we didn’t want to use stock images as we had decided we wanted to use our own images. If we ever did this kind of project again we would defiantly use stock images as this was a better and more easier option as our cooking was not the best and this affected our images which was quite disappointing. The use of colour in our cards worked really well and they worked on the card itself and in the images. The food we were making used a lot of different colours and we found that even adding a bit of basil or herbs on the top of plain recipes added colour to them and made them more appealing. We linked the colours on our cards, for example, the banner at the bottom of the cards and the colour scheme throughout the cards linked to the colours in the food. For example, again with the Italian card the colour of the banner is the same colour as the sauce on the pizza we made. We felt that having an image on the back of the card added a bit more colour and visual reference for the audience to look at and as we looked at other recipe cards in the past we saw that they added an image on the back and they added their image in the middle of the cards sometimes to split the text up but it also makes the back just as interesting and gives a different angle and perspective of the food. We found that other recipe cards made their images more professional by using a macro image with a shallow depth of field and I felt that this really gave the cards a sophisticated look and made the images more mouth watering as it gave a close up of the food and shows a lot of detail and texture within the food. We decided to use the Polygonal Lasso tool on Photoshop and cut out the food from the background as the background wasn’t that appealing and this caused a distraction from the food because it took the main focus and attention off the food so we felt that just keeping the image of the food without the background.

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

We did quite a bit of Photoshop editing on the images to make them really professional and use the skills we have learnt so we could make them even better. We tried turning the contrast up on some of the images so it brought out all the colours in the them and some of the images had a orange/red tint to them because of the lighting so we decided to change the colour pallet and turned up the blue dial so it weighed out the colours and balanced them out a lot more. We used the clone stamp tool to get rid of little crumbs and imperfections on the plate so the images looked clean. We used quite light editing so it didn’t look noticeable but it was just to tweak them a little. If we could take the images again, we could of set up a background so that the images had a background as I think this would make them look more professional like the images on the other products we looked at. On our cards we used a couple of graphics, we used the image of something to create a clipping mask and put our images over them but we didn’t use blobs and stars with our text as this would make the card more busier and distracting as we wanted a very clean and simple look. The first card below shows how badly presented this recipe is and how it didn’t go to how we planned it and the other image shows a different recipe card and the recipe for this one went really well and the presentation also looked really professional and it just gave some of the cards a professional look and then others didn’t have much of a professional look (image wise).

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.)

Throughout all of our cards, we have created a strong link between them all as we have decided to base all our recipes on a different country for every card. The colour scheme of our cards represented every country so for the French card we did, we used the colour scheme white, blue and red as these were the colours of the flag and then this linked the colours used within the card to the country. The recipes we used were one from every country for each card and we used recipes that weren’t as popular and not as well known as some recipes that relate to a country and so when the audience read the recipes they would get a rough idea as to which country the recipe is relating to. We used the little flag stamp on every card so that if they struggled recognising what country we are representing, this helped them out a little as to what country we are using. We incorporated the colour scheme by adding one colour to the ingredients section and another colour in the method section. For example, the blue colour from the colour scheme was used in the method section and the red was used in the ingredients section which helped highlight certain parts but it also helped link the text and colours to the country. We decided to use a clipping mask on the front of our card and we used a well known symbol that was represented with that county and we overlapped the image of food over the top and by using this we are linking stereotypical objects related to the country with the cards and when the audience look at the objects they will instantly realise that they are related to the countries. The patterns that we used in the background of our cards were all picked based on the countries most well known styles and patterns that they would use and this would link all the cards together. The images below show the colour and patterns we used in our recipe card and shows how all the different elements link together. These are all the features that help the audience recognise that it’s an American recipe. From looking at existing products we found that there was a recipe card that was designed for Christmas and the overall design had a Christmassy feel to it and the colours used would represent Christmas too.

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

Our recipe cards were originally aimed at more of a middle class audience and we have kept the audience the same throughout the project. We decided to aim the cards at the age range 30+ because the recipes we have used for the cards have quite different ingredients that can be hard to get hold of and some of them will be quite costly. So we decided that aiming the cards at students wouldn’t be a good idea as they would struggle to afford ingredients at a costly price and the recipes take quite a lot of time to make and require enough time to create and this is why aiming them at an older audience was a better option as they have the time required to make the recipes and can afford some of the ingredients used. The ingredients that our used in recipes are ingredients that might not be used frequently in recipes as they aren’t very common so they must have the money to basically waste on some ingredients as they may never use them again. The recipes that we have used for our cards are all based on different countries and there unique recipes and that’s why it can be very costly with different ingredients used in specific parts of the world and some could be very hard to actually get hold of. We wanted the audience to be wanting to try new things and be wanting to create different recipes that might be out of their comfort zone and that’s why we chose the recipes we did as we found that an older audience would be wanting to try new things as they have the time and money to try new things out. We decided to aim our cards at both males and females and we strongly feel we have designed our cards to reach out to both males and females. We know that the typical stereotype is that women cook more than males do but we found that most middle class males also like to cook as well and that’s why we have aimed our cards and designed them at both genders. We found that when we looked at existing recipe cards, there designs were more towards a more feminine audience because they used feminine fonts and designs and also the colours they used were quite feminine because they used different shades of reds. So for every card we did the banner at the bottom would be a colour that could associate with both males and females, some may become more appealing to males and some could be more appealing to females but as a majority most of the cards are more unisex colours. The NRS Social Grade of our audience would be more middle class than working class and would come under the grade of C1 or even B on the NRS Social Grade. We feel that our audience would have a well paid job that wouldn’t be too time consuming as the recipes are very costly and need the time and patience to make. The geodemographic of our audience isn’t very specific but they would live in quite a well paid area and preferably more out of the CBD of a city or more towards the countryside as the cities can be very busy and the majority of jobs are more based on business and this means they would have the money but not the time to create the recipes and our audience needs to have that extra time on their hands to sit and make the recipes.

Our audience wouldn’t have any specific hobbies just a real big passion for cooking and enjoy new things that are quite different and love travelling and tasting new recipes from different countries and feel inspired by their recipes. The design of our card uses different patterns that again will be quite unisex on most cards as well as our colour pallet. The font on our cards are unisex as well and it looks more handwritten to make it a little informal rather than formal cards and this makes them more relaxed for the audience. We wanted the overall design to appeal to both genders and so we made sure every little detail on the cards weren’t aimed at just one audience and the cards can appeal to a few different cultures with the patterns and recipes and this makes the general cards more open to a wider audience and not pinning it on certain people. Some features on the cards may come across more masculine or feminine but this doesn’t impact the cards as a whole and balance it to one gender. The images below shows the card we originally looked at and how it’s more feminine than masculine because of the colour and font on the card and the other image is one of our cards that uses quite a feminine pattern with a masculine banner but they both link together and still create a unisex design all together.

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.

We constructed our cards so that they were aimed at both males and females. The images of the food that we use come across to both genders as they display a lot of colours and show just the food without stereotypical backgrounds in them. The font on the front of the card is quite handwritten and relaxed and isn’t curvy and has a fancy style to it as this would come across very feminine so we used quite a bold yet thin font that is big and easy to read and is just plain black because if we used a different colour for the title it might be more appealing to one gender of an audience. The patterns on the cards are appealing to the culture of that specific country as the pattern is based on that specific country. The colours used on both front and back have been based on that specific country and so they haven’t been used to reach out to a certain gender and so even if one colour comes across more feminine, another colour on the card will come across more masculine and this will balance the colours on the card out. For example, on the veggie korma recipe card we made, we used a green colour for the ingredients section and this can come across quite masculine more than feminine but we used an orange font that could come across more feminine than masculine so it balances it out more. On the back, the recipes that we used are quite complex that need quite a bit of time to prepare and make. This is why we aimed our cards at a more middle class audience from the age 30+ because this could even include and older audience because the writing has been made easy to read and the methods have been made so it’s easier to understand but contains enough detail for the audience. The ingredients used in the recipes are not exactly easy to find some of them and some of them might not be ever used again as they are quite rare in recipes so the audience needs to have the money to waste on some ingredients and that’s why we used recipes like we did because the audience will have enough money for the ingredients where as students would prefer to save their money and make the cheapest recipes possible. The font on the back of the card is easy to read and again isn’t curly or more feminine or isn’t bold and more masculine it’s a very simple font that can appeal to both genders. We also added a tip at the bottom of our cards as we felt that this would be ideal for our audience. We appealed our cards to an audience that would like to try new things and experiment a little and we felt that adding a tip at the bottom of the card would help them experiment a little with the recipe if it’s something they want to consider and some include adding extra ingredients which means a little more money and time needs to be made for this to happen and that’s why we added it as they will have the time and money for it. We added high quality images on our recipe cards that included various shots of the food so the audience get a real good idea of what the end result would look like and as it’s a middle class audience we are aiming it at, the use of high quality images is needed as they will be paying money for a well presented card with good images.

The patterned background has a range of different colours to appeal to both genders.

Two high quality images have been used (a macro shot and a normal view) and this is something a middle class audience would want to see as this is the first thing they would look at.

A banner at the bottom that displays the time it takes to cook and how many people it serves so the audience get a rough idea of how much time they need for the recipe. The colour of the banner is quite more masculine but that is the only part that is on the front so it wouldn’t not attract a feminine audience too.

The title of the recipe on the front is very big so it can be easily read and it’s a unisex font that would come across as relaxed and appealing to both genders.

The tip at the bottom gives the reader some extra ideas to experiment with the recipe and develop it further.

Another high quality image has been used on the back of the card as well and the writing is written in a unisex font again that is very simple and easy to read.

The colours on the back of the card appeal to both females and males. The ingredients section is written in a more masculine font but the method is written in quite a feminine font and this balances out the card a little more.

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?)

Before we decided what design we were going to use, we looked at a few recipe cards to get an idea of the common layouts and designs used in different recipe cards aiming at different audiences. We looked at a total of 6 cards overall which included recipe cards made by the Vegetarian Society itself and a brand called Cordon Vert. and we also created a mood board which helped us get an idea of the different colours and designs we could use for our cards. Overall we liked the simple step to step methods used on the recipe cards we looked at as we thought that this would be easier and take up less room on the card so that we can use a bigger font for the audience as it is quite a large age range we have used so we had to think about different peoples needs. In this case using a larger font would help certain people who struggle reading and making the methods shorter make the recipe as a whole easier to make and don’t lose interest of the reader with a lot of explanation but our methods still maintain a lot of detail so the audience can get the recipe right with the right amount of explanation. We used more of a note form way of writing the methods rather than sentences because this kept to a more informal look with the card rather than a formal structure even though we are aiming the cards at a more formal audience that are middle class but this reaches out to everyone in our audience. On existing recipe cards we saw that they used macro images to show the quality and the texture of the foods and so we decided to use a macro shot on the front of our card even though other cards used their macro shot on the back. We felt that putting it on the front would entice the audience a little more rather than placing it on the back where if the audience isn’t interested, won’t see the image. We put the image over a silhouette of a stereotypical subject of each country because we thought that this would make the image a little different and not just a square image on the front of the card and this made it very interesting on a whole and linked with our theme throughout the cards. On the rest of the images on the cards, we cut the image from it’s background even though on existing recipe cards they had kept the background in them. But we felt that our background wasn’t as appealing as their backgrounds as they had set one up so we changed our backgrounds with a pattern instead of keeping a background but I feel that we should of set a background up and used it just like other recipe cards do. We found that the recipe cards from the Vegetarian Society used the colour from the text to match the colour in the images and this was to link the whole card together. We decided to match the colour of the text on the back of the card with the colours from the flags from each country as this would be more appropriate for our design. We felt that this idea was really good because it linked the text to the country and made the card as a whole come together and we felt that using the idea of linking the colour of the text to something would work really well. We also found that some of the cards used really bright colours and we felt that if we used really bright colours on our cards it would attract the audience a lot more and it would also make the cards a lot more attractive as a whole. So we thought that having a pattern as the background with bright colours would work really well.

The recipe cards that we had looked at had a simple and clean design with similar structures and so we decided to follow their type of structure with our cards and even though some parts we liked and didn’t try out, our cards do come across interesting and appealing for our audiences. We did find that one of the cards did use a cut out affect for their image just like we used but they kept the background which was quite simple and dull and we wanted to use something to capture people’s eyes. The images below show what kind of recipe cards we looked at and show the different features that I pointed out on.

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

We had a look at different recipe cards from the Vegetarian Society to see what was similar throughout the cards and we spotted that some things within the cards were the same and vegetarian products do have specific designs. We found that most of the cards used some specific colours throughout there cards and that the colours green and red were popular ones that were used on most of the cards. This was because these colours linked specifically to the colours of fruit and vegetables and these are common throughout the cards. We didn’t really stick to certain colours within our products as we didn’t really think about what colours vegetarians would prefer to see. We used quite a few shades of greens and reds for our banner at the bottom of the cards but we didn’t think back and relate it to the existing products that we had seen and the colours in the patterns and food showed a variety of different colours. We also found out that the layout of the cards were quite plain and basic and used a plain white background with either green or red text to link to the banner and the colour scheme is kept the same throughout the cards. The images used on both the front and back of the card involve a macro image and a big version of the final recipe that takes up the front of the recipe card and this is to make it look really appealing to the audience and because there is certain things that vegetarian can’t eat they try to make it look as if they can cook anything by using quite a lot of ingredients within the recipe and that’s why we chose the recipes we did. We did vary the images and used a macro image on the front as well as a full view image of the whole recipe when it’s finished as well as including an image on the back as well which shows only part of the image so that it makes it look appealing to the audience and varies in different views of the dishes. The fonts on the whole cards were the same and there wasn’t a variation in fonts just different sizes and it is kept quite mute as well so the title of the card wasn’t jumping out to the audience it’s jut blended in with the rest of the card but it does have a banner at the top to support it a little. We decided to make the title look really big on the page so it’s made obvious to the audience what the recipe is and stands out on the page and makes it eye catching for the audience. The methods on the recipe cards are very long and go into a lot of depth with what to do for each step but for our card we decided to make the methods as short as possible so it made it a lot easier for the audience. They keep all the cards the same for vegetarians and the layout doesn’t change much between the cards and I find that the colour scheme is really dull and there isn’t much brightness in the cards which can come across as boring and this could be done so it doesn’t attract as many people as they will be only aiming there cards at vegetarians. We felt that our layout is completely different to there layout and how they appeal to vegetarians. I feel that there is a certain design that vegetarian recipe cards stick to but we decided to go for a totally different design as we never realised that there would be a certain design that they stick to.

There is a very clear difference between both of the cards and how we haven’t used the same reds and made the colours match with either the colour of the country or the food. We have also made the design on the front a lot more intriguing and different from other recipe cards and the back is also very appealing and it has been made to look interesting. Where as the card from the vegetarian society is quite plain and simple with limited colours and with the same fonts.

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

Our final product is quite different to our original designs and plans. The theme of the cards have been kept the same since we decided what idea we was going with. We have always stuck with the fact we will be basing it on different countries as we liked this idea of this theme for the cards and had a lot of ideas to link with this theme. But with this theme we were originally planning to use the die cut method around the edge of our cards with stereotypical symbols of each country as we felt this would make the card different and very decretive and link the cards together. But we had been given some feedback which explained with the small gaps in between each little die cut, it would make the cards on a whole very difficult to make and wouldn’t work as well and also by getting rid of the die cut it would give us some extra room for writing and not make the cards look as squashed with information due to lack of room. So instead we decided to use a stereotypical symbol for that country and used a macro image to out over the silhouette so that it still kept part of the idea but used and interpreted it in a different way. But we felt that this worked better as before we were just going to put a square image of the macro shot and this one works a lot better using it as a silhouette because it makes the macro image stand out a lot more from the image behind it as we used a drop shadow to help define the image. On the front as well we were going to place the heading so it was on the left hand side turned onto it’s side and so we decided to move the title after as we got rid of the die cut method and we found this would make it easier for the reader to read and make it stand out more on the page itself. We also changed the colour of the background and added a banner at the bottom as that was part of the brief. Before we decided to have a plain white background with nothing on it but as we decided to cut out or image from the background we added a patterned background to it instead of a plain white background. We had a few testers before we decided to keep a patterned background. At first we were going to keep the background black but then we felt that was too dark and really dull again and then we were going to use the flag of every country as the background but this really didn’t work well with the image and made the card overall really busy. Then we felt that having a patterned background made the overall card really colourful and bright and this would attract the audience a lot easier than a plain white or black background and it also didn’t keep it too busy looking. We then changed the font on the back of the card as we found it was too boring and plain and some of the audience might find it hard to read so we went with something a little more easier to read and more simpler as before we went with an American typewriter style of font but for our finished product we went for a basic font that comes with Photoshop. We decided to keep the font for the title on the front of the card the same because we found that it was an easy to read font that was simple and we put a glow around the edge of the font so it would stand out against the background.

We changed the font style where it says ‘ingredients’ and ‘method’ on our finished product because we wanted it to look more fancy and bolder than the rest of the text so it doesn’t blend in. We kept the colour scheme the same by changing the different numbers in the method and the measurements in ingredients to a different colour so it stands out a lot more. We decided on the font of the cards to cut the image out from the background rather than keeping it with the background like we were originally going to. We also decided to add a tip and stamp of the country on both the front and back to make the country a little more obvious if it didn’t look it with some recipes. We also decided to get rid of the image that had a list of ingredients visually, even though we thought it was a good idea we needed the room for the writing and just added an image of the final recipe after we made it. The images below show our test plan and what it was going to originally look like and then the other images show what the finished product looks like.

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

The brief that we were set by the client asked for very specific things for our recipe cards so we had to make sure we went back and checked if we were matching what they set in the brief. One of the things that was asked for and wanted in the final product was that they wanted the cooking time, the number the recipe serves and suitability for vegans. In the banner at the bottom of our recipe cards on the front we placed the serving number, time to cook and vegan suitability at the bottom instead of writing it at the start of the recipe on the back. We decided to do this as we thought that it would fill up the empty space at the bottom of the banner and so when they first pick up the recipe card they will see how long it will take to cook and how many it serves so they get a rough idea of how complex and time consuming the recipe actually is. The brief also asked for the ingredients to be placed on a separate line in the order that they are used in the recipe. We did place every ingredient on a new line and didn’t merge any ingredients onto one line as we thought this would make it slightly confusing for the reader and it sets it out a lot more simpler and easier for the reader. We didn’t check the order as to what ingredient came first in the recipe so we don’t know for sure if the ingredients that we put first is an ingredient that is used first in the method so this might not match the brief and what they asked for. The client also asked for the measurements to be displayed using metric measurements rather than imperial measurements. When we first looked at the recipes and decided which ones we were going to use, we looked at the ingredients and we didn’t see any measurements that were imperial as we would of automatically changed this. This is because imperial measurements will be harder for some people to understand and most people don’t measure in imperial measurements and most technology (e.g. scales) won’t work using imperial measurements and we would also find this very confusing on a whole as we don’t measure this way. They asked for the measurements of certain steps to be displayed using spoon measurements instead of metric measurements. This is because these are more easily understood than the equivalent metric measurements. We made sure that we used spoon measurements as we felt that this would be easier for the audience to understand and use rather than measuring out the measurements in a jug and like the brief said it is easily understood and we want to make our recipe cards easy as possible to understand. They asked for measurements to be abbreviated without explaining what the actual term is for the measurements. For example, we used tbsp instead of tablespoon as this makes it a lot shorter on the recipes and most people use these terms when cooking as the audience find it easier to understand it this way and by using longer terms when it’s not needed is slightly pointless and takes up more room than necessary. We made sure that we abbreviated the terms as some of them were said as tablespoon so we changed it to tbsp ourselves to make sure it was said as a shorter term. They also asked for a space to be left between the number and the measurement tbsp (e.g. 1 tbsp) but to not leave a space between the number and the measurement grams or another measurement similar (e.g. 400g). When we looked at the recipes they left a space between the number and measurement grams so we made sure that we closed the space.

They also asked for the degrees symbol to be left out when explaining how hot the oven should go and to remove the term ‘mark’ when explaining what gas mark the oven should be on and to leave a space between gas and the temperature but not between the temperature and the degrees measurement abbreviation. When looking back at one of our cards, we also left ‘mark’ we left the degrees symbol on our method when explaining what temperature the oven needs to be on but we did take away mark and left a space between ‘gas’ and the number. But on another card we took away the degrees and we didn’t leave a space between the mark and ‘gas’. So we were wrong on some elements of this need the client asked for but then again we were right on some elements too. They asked for the method to be shortened down as much as possible and breaking down the sentences even if one method involves more than one action. We made sure we broke down our method to as little as possible but still keeping the main detail that is needed for the recipe and we did include more than one action within one step of the method. They also wanted high quality images for the cards that didn’t have to be our own but we did take our own images and some of the images come across really professional and high quality but some do lack quality wise. There needed to be a theme throughout the cards which is what we did with our cards as we used the theme of different countries. They wanted the recipes to also be suitable for vegans as well as vegetarians but most of our recipes weren’t vegan friendly. The last need the client asked for in the brief was the method needed to be numbered but the ingredients was not to be numbered. We made sure every step of the method was numbered and highlighted in a different colour to make it stand out a lot more and we didn't number the ingredients but we added a little dash for every ingredient listed so it didn’t look like one big clump of writing and it evened it out a lot more. The images below show some of the clients needs we got right and which ones we didn’t get as right.

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

As well as getting peer feedback in this project, we also got some feedback off some of the tutors to help us out with the final outcome and stages of our designs. When we had got our test plan done and finished, we got some feedback off the tutor to say that using the die cut method that we were going to around the outside of the card as a border wouldn’t work as well as we thought it would. With the die cut pieces being small it wouldn’t leave much paper in between them to support the die cut which could of caused the paper to tear and be ruined. So we decided to then get rid of the die cut method all together and we then had to change our design completely but it will have worked out for the better as getting rid of the die cut gave us more room to write more and to add a banner at the bottom as well as having more room for the whole design and layout of the card. We also got told that the font on the back of the card that explained the method and listed the ingredients would of made it hard for some of the audience to read and was quite plain. We changed our writing to a more handwriting style of font but again this was even harder to read and realising our age range is quite large and some of the audience will struggle reading this, we changed it again. So we went for a basic font already on the computer that was easier to read and not too bold but was given definition from the boldness it had which made it easier to read. This on a whole made it a lot easier to read but it was still not as boring but it wasn’t too exciting that it made it hard to read. Before we had made our test plan, we came up with a few initial ideas that we thought would work for cards as a whole. I got my peer feedback for the ideas I had come up with and some ideas worked well as some didn’t work as well. Overall, my first idea was aimed at a younger audience mainly for children. My peer feedback for this idea was that the idea at aiming at a younger audience was good and laminating the page would work really well especially with aiming it at a younger audience so if they spill anything it will stop from staining the card. They liked the idea of it being fun and bold and even though our card now isn't aimed at a younger audience, we still made it fun and bold on a whole with bright patterns and colours used. In this plan I didn’t mention anything about adding tips or hints which the peer feedback said could have been used and we did do that for our final outcome on our cards. For my second idea I was aiming the cards for an audience between the ages 11-20 so mainly students. The peer feedback for this idea was that the recipes for this card would be quick and light snacks that were cheap to make as this would encourage this audience. As we didn’t aim our cards at a younger audience we decided to use more expensive and complex recipes that would take time as a younger audience wouldn’t want this. They liked the idea that the instructions wouldn't be too informal but would be simplistic and this is how we explained our recipes on the cards we created as we didn’t make them too formal and long and well explained, we tried to use note form. For my third idea, I decided to aim it at a much older audience. The feedback for this idea was that they liked the idea of the theme being for different countries and this is the theme we did use for our cards as we thought it would be ideal for an larger audience.

They also liked the idea of having a large image on the front of the card as this would help the card stand out to the audience and this is what we did for our final cards by placing a large image on the front of the card to stand out more and make the recipe look appetising. For my fourth idea, I decided to aim the card at the age range 51+ and at both males and females. The feedback for this idea was that the Christmas theme was a good theme as it specifically uses food for that certain theme. We didn’t go for a Christmas theme but we did se a theme that used specific food and ingredients relating to the theme. They also liked that the audience would pick the card up and instantly know what type of food is on the card and this would instantly tell them what theme this card is related to. That’s why we added a little stamp of the flag from each country we did our food for because this then tells them straight away what kind of food they will be making by recognising the country. For my final idea I decided to aim it at a younger audience again for below 10 up to the age of 15. The peer feedback for this idea was that the theme being Easter would make it more interactive and enjoyable for the children and even though we didn’t use an Easter theme or aim it at children we still made sure that our audience would feel interacted with the card by trying and doing new things. They also thought that an image should be used on the back of the card as well as the front as I didn’t include one on the back. This would make it a lot more interesting on the back and more visually appealing alongside the writing and would balance the text and image ratio on the back of the card. So on our final cards we did add a little image on the back just to make it more appealing and visually interesting as well as having the writing too.

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.

For the technical qualities and how successful and unsuccessful they are, I think that there is balance of both successful and unsuccessful. I think most of the Photoshop work that we did on the images were very successful. We used the Clone Stamp to get rid of crumbs and imperfections on the plate/food because this made the images look more professional and more appealing to the audience and in the brief it clearly stated that high quality photographs needed to be used. By looking at images from other recipe cards we saw that they were really high quality and had no imperfections on them and they also used macro images to show the quality of the food. So we decided to use a macro image on the front to show the best of the images and show the quality of the food and we found that adding a macro image made the images and work look even more professional which was successful. But there was also some unsuccessful parts to do with using Photoshop. Even though we tried to make the images a higher quality as we could get, the colour balance was more of a red/pink tone to the images because of the lighting we had. So we used the Colour Balance tool on Photoshop so we could get some blue tones in there to balance the colour of the images out. For some images this really worked but for others this didn’t work as well and so they didn’t turn out to a higher quality that we wanted and some went too blue and it was hard to balance it out. We used the Burn tool as well to bring out the shadowing more from the food and this made it look even more toned and made the shadows stronger and this worked successfully as it didn’t burn the shadows too much. We also used the Polygonal Lasso tool to cut out the background as this would become slightly distracting and wasn’t the best background to have for the images and this worked really well and was successful for us. But we also found with this that other recipe cards used a set up background for their food images which we should of done and this would of made the image more interesting and more natural in the environment so this part was unsuccessful for us. We also found that using this tool made some of the corners quite sharp and not rounded off. For example with the plate we used was round and some of the turns we made using this tool made some of the parts quite sharp and not as rounded as we hoped for. We used a Clipping Mask to add our images over the silhouette images we got off the internet for our macro images and this made them stand out so much.

This is one of the images that has quite a high quality aspect to it but it has quite a red/pink tint to it.

We got rid of all the little spots of the korma off the plates so there was no imperfection on the plate and we made sure we edited it to how we wanted it to look.

For this image we got rid of the crumbs on the plate and on the edge of the cake there were parts missing from it so we decided to fill that bit in by using the Clone Stamp as well. We also added more icing sugar on the top as if wasn’t completely covered in icing sugar by using the Clone Stamp. But the image also has quite a blue tint to it because we got the colour balance a bit wrong.

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. For our final product I felt there were a lot of strengths and a few weaknesses that could be improved. I feel that the strengths of our cards include the theme for sure. I feel the theme we used worked really well throughout the cards as this linked them all together and I feel it worked really well for our target audience and that they will really like the cards. Every detail that we added onto the cards linked to the theme and it brought it all together as a whole set. I thought that having the measurements in the ingredients sections and the numbers in the method section really highlighted the important parts in these sections and this is what the audience need to see first so then they can either see what step they are on or how much they need for their measurements. Also, by using the colours that linked with the flags of that particular country links the text with the theme and the colours are really bright which helps focus the audiences attention and I find all this very successful with the cards. When looking at products that already existed they used all the font in the same colour and this made it quite plain and bland and it didn’t stand out as a whole and that’s what we were trying to avoid. I thought that the banner at the bottom of the page worked really well and was successful because it contrasted really well with the patterned backgrounds because we turned down the opacity of the patterns and left the banner in bold colours which then created a strong contrast. We found that from existing products they used a bold coloured border against a white background so it contrasted too. We liked the idea of having the image on the back in the stamp because this then didn’t look as boring with just a square image on the back and gave it a little border as well so it framed the image which looks really decretive. I think some of the banners colours at the bottom are quite dark though which makes it harder to read the time and servings of the recipe and this can make it harder for the audience so I found this unsuccessful. We used a drop shadow on the front of the dish as this highlighted the macro image a lot more and separated it from the image that we used in the back. I think that some of the symbols that are used for the macro images are quite hard to see and understand what they are. For example, having the shape of France for the French card makes it really hard to see what it is and not everyone will know what shape France will look like. But we found doing it this way would be more interesting as other products have done as they just used a plain square image without any definition or decretive designs for them and we think this is more appealing.

The banner at the bottom of this recipe card is really dark which makes it even harder for the audience to read what we have wrote on the bottom of the banner.

We used a stamp on the front of the card so it was made easier to the audience what country the recipe we used are from.

We added a drop shadow for this image so it stood out a lot more on the page against the background image.

We used a stamp image and used a Clipping Mask to put our image over the top. We felt this was very decretive and added a border for the image to help it stand out.

We changed the colour of some of the text that was important so it stood out more to the reader and we matched it to the colour of the flags for the country we chose.

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

Over the course of this project there are a few skills and knowledge that I have gained that can be good to use for future practise. One important skill that I gained from this project was definitely the Photoshop editing I did to the images and taking the images for the project. This will be really useful for future practise as I want to be a photographer so doing the photography for this project really helped me gain some more knowledge to do with food photography, especially because I haven’t done photography in this field before. I also edited the photographs when I had taken because they needed to be high quality images and it also helped me gain some more skills using Photoshop. I used different tools to edit the images and these included the (1) Clipping Mask, (2) Burn Tool, (3) Colour Balance and (4) Clone Stamp. I have previously used some of these tools but not as much as I have done for this project so I learnt a lot more about them and this helped develop my understanding of them. I learned how to remove parts of the image by cloning different parts of the image onto it and this helped neaten up the image and I also learnt how to even out the colour tones in the images by changing the red tint by adding blue tints to it so it looked a more natural colour. I also learnt how to change the opacity of an image by turning down the opacity of the background so it wasn’t as harsh with the writing and as strong. I also learnt how to put a texture onto the banner at the bottom because we added a textured pattern so it wasn’t as plain and had some height to the banner and this is also something new I learnt. I also developed my skills of cooking as we cooked our recipes so I learnt a little more on how to cook certain foods. I also learnt a lot more on the layout and designing of the page. At the start of the project we learnt about margins and grids and throughout our cards we used the margins and grids to make sure everything was the same between the pages and everything was positioned right. This took some time but made it easier as we went along the cards as it was then all in the right place everything we put on. I also found that the designing of the actual layout helped me gain some knowledge so if a task ever came up to do with layouts, I would have a rough idea as to what I’m doing and have a clear idea on how to use grids and margins to help design something else. I also learnt a little more on how to position certain things on the page and with having a theme that we have to use, I also learnt how to link everything on a page to a certain theme and this could become quite useful in the future when given a certain task to work with.

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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 products work and compare your products to them)

I feel that some of the areas on our cards are visually and technically impressive. I feel that the editing that we did to the images were impressive. Especially when we used the Clone Stamp because this got rid of parts of the image that weren’t visually pleasing and it made the photographs a higher quality because there isn’t little imperfections and it is visually appealing to the audience. The photographs are a high quality because they are sharp and we did quite a few different shots of the food so the audience gets a different perspective of the food every time. The macro images are the ones that are the highest quality personally because they look really professional and look just like the ones on existing products that we looked at because they are very sharp and show all the detail that is needed to make the food look really appetising. Using the clipping mask also frames the images by having a decretive outline for them and they also link the images to the theme of food. The patterned background that contrasts with the block coloured banner really looks visually impressive because the strong contrast between the two make the whole cards eye catching and make them stand out a lot and this is what we want when the audience see the cards. One of the previous cards that we looked at wasn’t exactly eye catching but they still made the banner contrast with the background because they had a block coloured banner against a white background and this has a strong contrast between them both. There banner at the bottom was just a straight square banner which is quite simple so instead we decided to change our banner at the bottom so it was a curved banner so it went with our curved patterns and this contrasted really well and makes it visually pleasing. I think that the text at the back with the most important parts being highlighted with a different colour because it helps it stand out on the page and this makes the important details more obvious to the audience and this contrast really well with the black writing and by having it the same colour as the countries flag links them together and this makes it very visually appealing to the audience. When looking at existing products we found that all the text was just one colour which was the colour of the border. This made it hard to read in some cases as it was a bright colour against a white background but it was also very bland and it didn’t really point out the key information that was needed to be seen by the audience.I also like the texture on the banner at the bottom as well as it makes the banner more interesting and not as boring as a plain banner. When looking at existing recipe cards there was no texture or patterns added to the border and this doesn’t really draw the audiences attention and it’s quite plain so we decided to go for a banner that would appeal the reader and that was bright so it was visually appealing.

I also liked the grid methods that we put in place because this made sure everything on the cards were in line and in the right spot and then when doing another card it made sure everything was in place. I also like the space between the text and having the text in the method all lined up away from the numbers so it makes every step in the method noticeable. When looking at existing products we found that for their methods they didn’t do this which made it all a big clump of text and didn’t separate it up as much so it didn’t look as visually pleasing. Below, one of the images shows a recipe card of an existing product and the other is one of our recipe cards and it shows the difference between both the cards and everything I pointed out.

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?)

Overall, in this project I feel that the time management was used well and we defiantly made sure we completed in the time that we had. We started to design our first card and then we got the advice about the die cut which meant that we had to change our whole design, which was during production time so this took quite a while to think of a new design and some changes were made as we went along but we still managed to finish the product on time. When we had finished our final set of cards and were happy with the final outcome, we had some time left during production which meant we could go through every card and check that everything was in the right place and the cards worked as a set. At this point, we changed the font size so all the font sizes matched on every card and the banner colours on some of the cards. We also changed the size of the flag stamp on the back of the card as well and the changed the opacity of the backgrounds so they were all the same. So if feel that we used our time wisely because even though we finished a little earlier than expected, we went through the cards to improve certain things. The part of production that took the longest time were making the recipes ourselves and actually taking the images. We didn’t think it would take as long as it did so we weren’t expecting to spend that much time on making the recipes. But we did this part out of college time so then we weren’t being rushed and had the time to make them but it did take a lot longer than expected. In class time, I think the part that took the longest was probably picking out the patterns to use as the background as we had to chose one that wasn’t going to clash too much and try out different ones so that we picked the right design in the end that worked overall. I also think that cutting out the images so they didn’t have the background on them and cutting out the silhouettes to create the clipping mask on the front took a lot longer than we expected because we had to be really careful when cutting out the images so we needed to make sure we did it right. We didn’t stick to our schedule that we had made to manage our time because we didn’t go back to check what we was doing and we hadn’t taken the images when we had started our designing so we had to wait before we could add the images to them. Also, because we had to change our design, it also made us a little off schedule so then we just had to go from there and just make sure we did it all in time which we did. I think that if we didn’t change the design it would of took us a lot longer to complete as we would have to do the die cut border which would of took ages. This would of meant that we might not have finished on time or only just finished on time without going over to improve the cards. But overall we did do everything that we needed to and what we said within the schedule and completed it all and even had the time to check over it at the end which meant we could get them to a higher standard and improve some parts that we weren’t too happy with.

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

If I could do this project again, I would definitely either use stock images which would be a lot easier to use as it wouldn’t be as time consuming, or I would set up a background that would be appealing for the images and take them with a background instead of cutting just the food out. Even though I like the patterns and how they contrast with the bright banner at the bottom, I think for it to look really professional, having the recipe with a background on the front would work really well and look even more professional. I would also make sure that before we start production, that the idea we are using actually works and what elements wouldn’t work and maybe change it just before we start production if it needs to so then we can stick to our schedule and make sure that we know fully what we need to do. I would also make sure that the methods that we are using are shortened down to as much as it can be before production because we found ourselves changing the method quite a lot during production time so it fit into the space we had but we should of done it before production so we weren’t having to keep changing it during production. If we did it again, we would also do some more research into what would represent the country that we had chosen in our theme for our silhouettes for the macro images. This is because we were picking things that first popped into our heads and didn’t do enough research into it as we could of chosen a lot more creative and well-known symbols for the countries instead of rushing them and struggling on what to pick for them. We would also make sure that we chose just one image for the banner at the bottom instead of choosing a different colour for each one as it unbalances the cards and by having one colour it would work a lot more better especially if we were using stock images or images that included a background.

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Working to a brief

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

Legal: For this project, we took the images ourselves but for our macro images we took silhouette images off the internet and the image of the stamp for the back of the card and the flag images were taken off the internet too. In this situation we needed to make sure that for when we were taking our own images that we asked for the permission off the owner of our location that we were cooking in as well as asking for the permission of the photographer and ask if they can take the images for us. Also, if we got the chef or anyone in the image then we needed to ask their permission that we could use them in the photographs because we would be morally wrong not asking to take their image and use it without their permission. For the stock images that we had taken for the flags, stamps and the silhouettes we would need to ask permission for the use of these images off the owner as this would be breech of copyright and as well as having to pay for the images that we had taken off the owner, we would have had to pay for the legal fees as well as we could be sued for taking the images without the owners permission. We would also need to ask the permission for the recipes that we had taken because these are someone else's recipes and we didn’t make them up ourselves so we needed to make sure that we got their permission just in case as we would need to maybe pay the owner of the recipes and images and without doing this then again we could be sued. Throughout the cards we have not lied or anything and spoke the truth throughout to make sure that it meets the audiences expectations. As we are making our cards for vegetarians, we needed to make sure that the recipes we did chose were suitable for vegetarians and didn’t include meat or lie throughout them and this is why we needed to make sure we checked the recipes and make sure there was no lying involved.

Regulatory: For this project, we were given a set brief that we needed to stick to and we needed to make sure that everything we did was suitable for vegetarians and they also wanted the recipes to be suitable for vegans. The recipes that we chose to create weren’t all suitable for vegans which is something they were looking for but they are defiantly suitable for vegetarians without any meat in any parts of the recipes which is the most important. Looking at the ASA which is a company that specialises in advertising and for the section of food and drink we needed to make sure that we met their standards. One of their rules in the Food, food supplements and associated health or nutritional claims category mentions about not undermining towards a national dietary improvement (e.g. explaining that a recipe could help the audience lose weight and help become thinner). We didn’t mention any comments like this throughout or recipe cards and made sure that we weren’t promoting the fact that the audience could lose weight from any of the recipes. They also have a section called Compliance and in this section it is explaining that the communication within the recipe cards are legal, decent, honest and truthful. This means that we haven’t lied within the cards and said that this recipe card doesn’t have any traces of meat in them when in fact they do and this would show dishonesty in the card. They have very specific rules and rule 1.1 is that marketing customers should be legal, decent, honest and truthful and throughout our cards we have kept honest and truthful and made sure that all the recipes have not got traces of meat in them and are suitable for vegetarians.

Financial: This project contains a wide range of financial elements as there is a lot that needs to be paid for. If we had got our photography off the internet and used stock images and for the stock images that we had taken for the clipping masks, they would need to be paid for because the owner may want the money for us using their images. If we didn’t pay them this would mean that we would still have to pay them as well as paying for legal fees as we could get sued for using images without permission (for commercial use). So in the future if we ever took stock images we would ask the permission off the owner and payments may need to be made. We would also need to ask permission off the owner of the recipes as they may want paying for us using the recipes so this may be another financial issue. As we took our own images, we would need to pay for all the equipment that we needed as we might need to hire some of the equipment. For example, we might need to pay for the cameras if we didn’t have one and for the extra camera equipment that we need but for this project we had all the equipment which meant we didn’t need to hire anything extra. We did our own cooking for this project which meant that we had to buy all the food for this project to make the recipes with. This can be very costly as we used ingredients in the recipes that were quite expensive as they aren’t used in everyday cooking which meant we had to be careful what we bought and tried to buy the cheapest of everything so that we saved on money as we had a specific budget to stick to. We would also need to ask permission from the owner of our location for the cooking as this will need paying for so we can use the location to cook the recipes or take images of the recipes and use it as a background. If we needed a chef to cook the recipes then we would need to pay for them as well to hire them and this will be costly as well.Also, we would need to pay for everyone involved in making the actual recipe cards (e.g. graphic designer, photographer, copywriter) and we would also need to pay for the location that we will be making the recipe cards in as we would need to hire the place. During this project we only needed to pay for the food that we were cooking as we had all the photography equipment to take the images with. We also had the location to make the food in and this didn’t cost anything and we also had college facilities to make the recipe cards with, including college computers. But if we ever had to make the project on our own then these would be the costs that we would have to think about as they would all need totalling up so we can make a profit from the project.

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?)

In this project, I feel that as a group we worked really well and we didn’t really have a leader for the project as we both did everything equally. There were some parts where one of us had to speak up and lead a little if we had an idea to either improve the recipe card or about the designs of the recipe cards. I specifically took the role of being the photographer in this project as it’s something I want to do when I’m older so having the experience to do food photography added some knowledge and skills to my photography skills that I already have. I also took the role of editing the images as well so they looked perfect without little imperfections and made them so they could be used and improve some of the images. But apart from that in our group we did everything equally and we both did the designing of the cards and did so many cards each and no one had specific roles throughout the project as we made everything fair and equal. Working in the group I was in was enjoyable and I did enjoy working in a group. This was because we had good communication skills throughout the project so we knew what we was doing so our group knew what I was doing especially if it was changing something. There was no arguing within the group and we got on and did the cards and didn’t get distracted by working in a group. If one of us was struggling within the group then we had the other person in the group there to help out and explain something if they were struggling and this then made it more of a relaxed atmosphere. If there was a technical skill that needed to be done and the other person didn’t know what they were doing then having the other person to either take over or help out made the process a lot quicker. For example, when I was struggling with sorting the text out on the page, I got help on how to shorten down the methods and fit it on the page as this was really hard to do for me. It was really nice to work in a relaxed environment where there wasn’t an controlling or someone doing more than the other and then arguing happening it was nice to have the support in the group as well. We had each other in the group to help get the project done as overall it was a really big project and having someone else to help along with it made it so much easier and then we had more time to go over and check what can be improved when we were done. We could easily communicate as well as be individual and get our own work done as well as we both had tasks to do within the group that needed doing and so we had to make sure that we stuck to our plan and get on with the tasks we had and still have the communication within the group. It was also good to get advice off the other member of the group as well. So if we had done something that maybe they didn’t like as much we could go over together and look to change it. For example, when we were picking backgrounds and I had chosen one, the other member of the group didn’t like it as much and so we sat down together and decided to chose one together that we both liked and so none of us were being selfish within the group.

ManagementHow important is communication when working in a group? (Use specific examples from working in a group on this project)Communication overall is a very vital skill to have and it is even more important when working in a group and this was proved in this project. We gave ourselves a certain amount of cards to do in this project so within the group we were also working individually on the cards. Every time we had done a card, we would show the other member in the group so they can see if they would improve anything or if they don’t like something and then come up with something else. For example, when I had done a card, I had chosen a pattern that the other member in the group didn’t like and this meant that we would go through and find another pattern that we both like and think would work for that particular card. Without this communication then we would of done the card and carried on and even if it looked okay to me then it might actually not work as well to other people so having someone's second opinion on that really helps so we get every aspect of the card right. Without communication in the group then it would be very hard to know what the other person in the group is doing and what they’re plans are on what they are going to and this can make it very individual. We had very good communication skills in our group and we kept communicating with each other so we made it clear to each other what we were doing. At the start we had to change our design on the cards and this meant that we had to communicate with each other so we can get a design that we would both like. For example, when we were deciding what we should do for the banner at the bottom we were going to use patterns at the bottom but then we changed the banner to using block colours instead of patterns. This was the other members idea so I had to then communicate with the member so we could decide what we was going to do for the banner and how to change it to adapt to the design we had already chosen. Without communicating in this situation then we wouldn’t have known what we was doing and if someone had changed the design the other person in the group wouldn't have known and this would have made the cards a lot more individual work than group work. When we were cooking the recipes and taking images of the photographs, we had to have a lot of communication between us both. This was because the other member in the group was cooking and then I would either take the images of the food or I would go cook another recipe. So we had to communicate a lot so we knew what we were cooking and what ingredients we were using so the other person knew in the group and didn’t start using the ingredients or making the recipe that the other person was already making. We also needed to communicate as a lot of sharp objects and hot appliances were being used so without communicating this could put one of us in danger and this would be a sign of really bad communication. I also needed to communicate with the other member in the group because when I was taking the images I needed to tell her what the presentation for that certain recipe needed to look like so then I can take the images and have the presentation look really good for them but if I didn’t communicate then this would of showed lack of communication as the presentation wouldn’t be what I wanted it to be. But having good communication within a group is really important so everything goes the way it planned and nothing goes wrong.

ManagementWhat have you learnt about working in a group and how will you apply this to future practice?I have learnt that when working in a group if someone is struggling in the group then having someone in the group that can help you gets the task that is set quicker and it also makes the group a lot more relaxed and also makes everyone in the group seem like they have the support of others. In the future if I ever saw someone in the group struggling then I would go and help them so they know they have my support in the group and then this makes a more relaxed and friendly environment in the group. Having tension in the group isn’t very good and making sure that everyone in the group agrees on an idea that has been said so then everyone can discuss the idea. This shows good communication skills within the group and this is something that is vital in a group and I have learnt that in this project. This will help for future practise as I will be able to communicate well within a group and if there is an idea that I have thought of I will be able to bring it up and then get some feedback on the idea and take either the criticism of the idea or the positives of the idea and then either combine different peoples ideas and create an idea that is okay with everyone. I have also learned in this project that within the group we have to manage time so everyone in the group gets an equal amount of work to do to make it fair and to make sure that we all have the same concentration to stick to the time limit. This will be good for in the future as I will always have deadlines for tasks and this will then help me stick to the time deadlines given. I have also learnt to help motivate within a group as well because when people in the group start to lose motivation, helping them keep the motivation helps get the tasks done quicker in the time given and this will be useful in the future when people are become less motivated and the task needs to be done then it’s very easy to keep them motivated so they are still on track and not slacking on the job. I have also learnt how to speak out and say my opinion on something and give ideas and work with them to see how they look and to use this in the future will work really well as people like to hear different ideas and if I can speak out and say ideas then this will make me more confident as a person. Throughout the project we have taken risks with the recipe cards (e.g. when we had to change the design from the original one) and this is something that you have to do in groups sometimes and this is something that brings the groups closer together. I have also learnt to take on a role/responsibility in the group (e.g. when taking the photographs) and this is something that will make me a lot more confident in the future as having a certain role also brings a lot of pressure for the group as it needs to be done to everyone else's standards too.