Factual Page Layout Evaluation Task 10
- 1. Factual Page Layout Evaluation Katie Torpey To help me understand how I could develop my work I decided to get feedback from peers who have also gone through the same process of creating factual writing and page layouts. I firstly presented all of my designs in a PowerPoint presentation and asked 3 people to evaluate my broadsheets, tabloids, and my fanzines. The questions, which the peers answered, included ‘what did you like about the design?’ ‘What do you think could be developed?’ From these questions it allowed me to get a different view of my designs and it allowed me to see things from a different perspective. I think that gaining feedback from this source was a very useful and helpful way as I did agree with some of the points which were made, using this method of gaining feedback allowed me to get positive and critical information about my designs it was also useful as the answers given were qualitative detailed answers rather thanquantitative answers. The feedback from my broadsheet page was a mixture of positive and negative information some of the positive comments included that the masthead font was suitable for the broadsheet as it was a serif font which suited my audience other positive feedback on my second broadsheet included that the image was in a good position and fits in well nicely with the article. I agree with this feedback and I found it was helpful as I could use a similar idea if I created another broadsheet. One of the negative comments of my broadsheet included that my first broadsheet has a striking advert in the middle of the page. The colour of the advert is red and stands out compared to other features on the broadsheet. I agree with this comment as I think the headline should stand out rather than the advert. There were some comments that were also made about my tabloids. The peer who evaluated my tabloid stated that “there is a solid and professional feel to it, it hits all the criteria and the font choices used through the two designs are appropriate” I think that this feedback given was helpful as I now know how to create a professional looking tabloid and I also which fonts are suitable for tabloids. The peer stated a point which I could develop on my tabloid this includes having clearer margins on my page so that the copy and the images aren’t too close together I think that this was helpful and I agree with this point as my tabloid looks abit over crowded to improve my design I would make my advertisement smaller and create a large margin so that my text isn’t overcrowding my image. A different peer also gave me feedback on my fanzine article. This feedback included positive and negative feedback the positives of my fanzine include that the colour range that I used was very appropriate I decided to use this colour because it represents the hippie sub culture and I think that it suits the audience well. A critical comment, which was made about my second fanzine, is that the copy is hard to read as it is on a green background. Although I think that it can be easily read to improve this I would make the copy a darker colour so that it is easier to read for the audience. Overall I think that my feedback was very helpful and I think that if I improved my designs I would definitely refer back to my peer feedback I have received a lot of useful advice. Throughout this project I planned and prepared myself for each task so that I had enough time to complete it. I think that I managed my time well as I made sure I spent the appropriate time completing each task. On each task I aimed for a target
- 2. time for when I should be finished and I then worked towards this target. By using this method it allowed me to make sure that I could work to the best of my abilities and made sure that I did not get behind or too far ahead. An example of a task where I set myself a timeframe within this project was task 7, which was to plan and create a front page of a broadsheet. I set the target of completing task 7 within 2-3 days. Although that this timeframe seemed quite long, I wanted to make sure that I had spare time incase anything went wrong. I completed this task within two days and as I had extra time left I decided to improve my work and make another broadsheet article I then moved onto the next task. Throughout the course there have been some times where my time management has not been very organized. An example of when I have not planned my time very well is the understanding print industries unit. During this unit I had to read through presentations, undertake research and then answer questions about different types of print. I thought that my time management throughout this project was not very organized. I kept falling behind as I didn’t complete the essay’s fast enough and I felt like I could’ve worked much harder to make sure that this was finished. As a result of not working to a schedule I found it hard to move on to the next task. An example of another unit where I didn’t manage my time was the Photography project. One of the tasks that I did was too take my images then edit and evaluate them. I struggled with this task as I found myself taking all my images at once and I felt that this was quite rushed. In the end I managed to get back on target and complete all my tasks by the deadline however I think to improve this I could’ve been more organized with my time and stuck to my time plan. I feel that throughout the second year of the course I have progressed and improved my time management from the first year. An example of when I have used my time management well in the second year include project Social Action. Through this unit I had to create a campaign for a homeless charity. Throughout the unit I carefully focused on the important details and tasks I also created a time schedule plan to make sure that I knew when to complete each task by doing this I had plenty of time and I also feel like the project went smoothly. For each project in the second year I have kept on target and schedule and I have made sure that everything has been completed by the deadline. During this project I don’t think that my on going assessment of my work was very strong. I don’t believe that my on going review of my production was useful for each stage as I don’t think that I assessed all aspects of my design as well as I could’ve. For example my broadsheet newspaper,for each stage of my production I assessed and focused on making the overall appearance improve however I feel like I could’ve explored and experimented with a variety of different designs. My ongoing assessment of my designs included me making small adjustments to the layout, font, images and text however I think that I could’ve tried new and creative ideas. By making small adjustments I felt like this did improve the overall design however I think that if I tried something different then this could bring a new and interesting look to my product. I think that the impact that this has had on my project is that I have a traditional and well-constructed broadsheet with no errors.An example of a project where I think that my reviewing work in progress was successful was the design for advertising unit. During this unit I had to create a brand new design for the Irn Bru energy drink can, an advert for the energy drink and also a website
- 3. banner. I planned out a design and I started to create my design. After a new design was completed I then critically evaluated the design and I also planned what I was going to do to improve it. After I had fully evaluated I then moved onto the next design by using new ideas I created developed and improved original design. I think that using this method of reviewing work in progress was very successful as it allowed me to try new ideas and it also allowed me to explore different qualities. I feel like my final design reflected on my progress because if I compare my first design with my last design I can see the development and progress, which has been made. I think that by reviewing my work during production has a positive effect on my final design as it allows me to develop and improve each stage of my design. It also allows me to see how I have progressed through production. During the process of production I have used many different technical tools to create my design. I have used new tools and programmes that I haven’t used before in a project such as Indesign as I would normally use Photoshop. I used Indesign to create my product and to undertake any editing of my final design. I found that using a different programme was quite hard to understand at first however after a practice I found that it was very useful and the programme was much more suited to the product that I wanted to create. The tools which I used in Indesign include the rectangle frame tool. This tool allows me to create a frame for my font or for my images to be placed into. I also used the type tool and paragraph/character toolbox. This allowed me to change the size of the text so that it can fit into the text box, this was useful when I was creating my products as it allowed me to create a professional look. Other technical aspects that I used include setting out grids, margins and colmuns on my page. I decided to do this for my broadsheet and tabloid page so that I had the correct measurements and space between each text box and image. I also think that using grids and margins creates a much more professional, organized and clear look look on my final product. Although I did use Indesign to create my final product I used other programmes such as Photoshop to create some of my features on my product. I used Photoshop to create the advertisements, by using Photoshop I could create a design using tools and I could then place my advertisement in the Indesign document. I think that from a technical point of view I have successfully experimented with different techniques to create my designs. For example I have used specific measurements on my font and images to make sure that they fit on my page and that they are high quality. I have also created cut out images to put on my broadsheet and tabloid. I created the cut out images by using the polygonal lasso tool to cut around the image. I think that I could improve some of my technical qualities of my design for example I think that I could’ve created my advertisements in Indesign instead of photoshop as I think that this would’ve allowed me to get the correct measurements and I also would’ve been able to edit
- 4. the advertisements straight away instead of editing them in Photoshop first. I think that my broadsheet article includes a lot of technical qualities. One of the main technical qualities I have used is the font and type tool. Throughout my broadsheet production I have used text in different places such as the masthead, headline and the main copy of information. I had to make sure that all my copy fitted within the guides on my design. To do this I had to test out a range of different tools from the character and paragraph box. By using these tools it allowed me to move words so that they became closer together and I could also make the text taller or enlarge the size of my text. This tool was useful as it allowed me adjust the text to fit suitable for the story. I also think that the quality of my image is very high, I firstly measured the box where my image was going to be placed and I then resized my image in Photoshop to make sure that is was the correct measurements I then pasted it in InDesign and added a border to make the image stand out more. I think that I have produced a professional looking piece of work from across all of my designs. To get the idea of a professional newspaper I researched current newspapers which was suitable for my product. I looked at examples of the TheTimes for my broadsheet and The Sun for my tabloid and I also looked at fanzines that were based on a sub culture. I focused on the features, which made them unique and then included similar features on my designs. An example of this is the type of font which was used on the newspapers. The Times uses a serif font for the masthead and I decided to use similar font. My masthead on my tabloid is also similar to The Daily Star. I have used a sans serif font for my tabloid as this is aimed at a younger audience and this font is more suitable for that type of audience. Among all my designs I have included many other features that also appear in professional products. This includes the features such as the headline,reversecopy, date, strapline, grids, margins, drop capital, columns and borders. By combining these features onto my designs using InDesign I think I successfully produced a professional look for my products. I think that I could’ve improved some of my features to create a more professional look. This includes the advertisement that I included on my broadsheet. The advertisement which I included was for McDonalds. The colours on the advert were very bright and grabbed the attention of the audience instead of the headline. I think that I could improve this to make my design more professional by including an advert that doesn’t include a lot of colour or I think I could reposition my advertisement so it is not directly in the middle. Overall I think that my designs include some professional features however if I made a few changes I think that they would look more competent.
- 5. I feel like I have developed and extended my creative abilities within this project. Some of the tasks I feel like I have become more creative for example Task 6 Typography. I think that this has taught me to be more creative as I had to explain the word using only the letters included in the word. A example of the word I used was multiply. For this word I decided to duplicate the word 4 times and then move the word and create a ‘X’ shape as this represents multiplying. I think that this is quite creative as I have thought beyond the basic idea and created a shape, which shows what the word says. Another example of where I have been creative within this project is Task 9 Fanzine. To create my fanzine I researched many different types of fanzines that have been created an example on the left is a hippie fanzine which I found online this professional fanzine has a lot of creative features such as the colours used, the fonts, the layout and other graphics. I noticed that most of the fanzines created had a collage of images and text. I wanted to show my creativity through the fanzine so I decided to use a range of different features to achieve this. I wanted anattention grabbing and interesting background so I decided to use a colourful gradient background. I also decided to put a white overlay on it so that all the bright colours turned into pastel colours. By doing this it allowed my text to be readable and it made the background less distracting. I decided to use a large black and white image
- 6. of a girl. I decided to cut out the background and I then added strokes to the image. I changed the strokes to a different colour so that they stood out I think this creative technique grabs attention to the image and it also gives a edgy, collage look to the image. I decided to focus the font on my sub culture and I decided to pick a font that represents hippies and the 1960’s. The font that I used on my fanzine is the same font that is used on the professional fanzine however I have typed my text in capitals for a more attention-grabbinglook. On my title I also wanted to add a more interesting effect so I decided to add a stroke to the text and changed the colour of the stroke to match the stroke on the image. The bright colours that I have used on the image and on my title represent the hippies lifestyle and they also make my fanzine article much more exciting. I think that I have been creative throughout my fanzine however there is a few features which I would like to develop on. I think that I could develop my fanzine by experimenting and being more creative with the copy. As I have only kept the text on one page and in a formal layout I don’t think that this is very interesting to look at. I think that I could be more creative with my text by rotating it or putting it in a different size. I also don’t think that my font is very suitable I think I could change the font for a more interesting one. I think that I have managed to be quite creative through my fanzine however there have been other projects where I have also developed my creativity. One of the projects is Experimental Photography. For this project I had to decide and pick a theme which would represent discovery. I decided to pick the theme of discovering emotions through colours and patterns. I also had to decide on a technique to use in my photography, I decided to use the technique of double exposure. I planned my project and then took a set of images I then evaluated and then developed a second set of images. For my first set of images I combined two images together to create one image. For my second set of images I used my creative ability and decided to use Photoshop to experiment with different techniques to create a double exposure manually. I used my creative ability to experiment with different exposures, colours and tools to create my images. For my final set of images I decided to use a method to create a double exposure impression. I used a projector and projected patterns and colours on my model. I developed my creativity through these images as I decided which patterns were being projected I also took my images with different exposures and I also edited my final images. On Photoshop I edited my images by adjusting the brightness, contrast, saturation and exposure I think that this project allowed me to develop my creativity as I experimented with different techniques and methods. I had different intentions for each design. I planned to create a professional look for all of my products however I also had a specific plan for what I was going to create.
- 7. On my broadsheet newspaper I did achieve what I was set out to do, I wanted to create a modern, broadsheet newspaper. On my broadsheet article I wanted to create a similar layout and look to an existing broadsheet newspaper as I felt that looking at present broadsheets would allow me to pick up some of the main features of the broadsheet such as the font style and language and it would allow me to create a near professional design. After researching existing products I created a plan of what I wanted to make this included the what fonts I was going to use, the layout of my broadsheet and what images I would use. By having this planned this allowed me to stick to an organised schedule of how I was going to create my design. For my tabloid design I think that I achieved my intentions however there was a few slight differences to my objectives. I wanted to create a suitable design that was straight away recognized by the audience. To do this I researched current tabloids such as The Sun and The Daily Mirror. I noticed that the main feature on the tabloids was the images used, the amount of colour and also how less text there was. I included this on my plan so I knew what I intended to design. Although that I did consider all these options during production I found that the layout of my design didn’t work well so I had to adjust some aspects to my design to make sure that I could get the right amount of images in comparison to the amount of text. I also had to edit the way the copy was written on my tabloid. As broadsheet newspapers are more suitable for a middle to high class audience, a tabloid is aimed at a middle to low class audience and also a younger audience. As the audience is different I had to change the language of the copy and the headline to make it more suitable. I think that I achieved my intention of this as I think each design is now more appropriate for the audience. My intentions for my fanzine were different to the outcome which I achieved. I was going to create a front page and an inside page for my fanzine however I found that when creating this design I was unable to fit all my text and images. To fix this issue I had to create a double page spread and combine my images and the text onto two A4 pages. For all of my products I wanted to create a design which would be known and instantly recognised the type of print product it is. I think I achieved my intentions in many places as I included things that would also appear on existing products. For example I used a headline, grid, columns, strapline, dateline, masthead, reverse colour copy, cut out and drop capital on my broadsheet and my tabloid and this is what I intended to design. To the right is an example ofa existing newspaper headline and also one of my headlines from my tabloid. For my products there is 3 distinct audiences that I have designed my products for. The 3 distinct audiences are for each different product, by having 3 diverse audiences to aim for it was important that I captured the correct personality of the audiences to make sure that my designs were perfectly suited towards their
- 8. interests. The audience for a broadsheet newspaper is the type of audience who is interested in reading the latest news in detail and is also interested in politics. The audience also has a high level of knowledge of English language and grammar, they are interested in quality and detailed information. The audience for a broadsheet newspaper is often middle to older aged and an educated audience who prefer reading factual informative stories with statistics and only 1 or 2 images. To create my product for my aimed audience I firstly researched existing products to see how they presented information to their audience. Examples of broadsheets which I researched include The guardian, the daily telegraph and also the independent. From researching these 3 broadsheets I found that across them they all had similar features. This included formal and sophisticated tones in the copy and also quite long stories. I noticed that there was a lot more text in comparison to images and that there was only a few images on the page. The copy written was very factual information and didn’t include any biased opinions. I also found that the font used for the headline and the main copy was a serif font and was quite a small size so that all the information could fit on. After researching this information I created my design to make sure that it was appropriate for my audience by using these qualities on my broadsheet cover I created a design which included features that would interest my specific audience. For example I only included 1 image on my broadsheet, I set out my text in columns so that the audience would also find it easier to read. I think that I could improve a couple of things on my broadsheet to make it more appropriate for the audience this includes changing the advert. I don’t think that my advertisement is really suited towards my audience as it is a McDonalds advertisement I think it would be more appropriate for my
- 9. tabloid design. I would also develop my broadsheet article and include politic stories, as that is what the audience has an interest in. The second audience is the audience for my tabloid design. This a completely different audience to a broadsheet article as they have different interests. The audience for a tabloid newspaper is working class citizens who are interested in more informal subjects such as celebrity gossip. The way in which a tabloid article is written in is much more common and uses emotive tones. The layout is much more informal and the page features much more images rather than text. To help me gain an idea of what audience I was aiming my tabloid at I looked at professional tabloid productions this include examples such as The Sun and Daily Mirror. From researching these examples I found similar qualities that I could use in my tabloid. Qualities such as slang words, graphic images, cut out images, short sentences and informal language was used throughout these products. To make sure that my tabloid met the criteria for my audience I used these qualities and some others, these include having the headline covering most of the page. I also included other stories such as celebrity news, a competition and another news story. I also adjusted the language of my main story to a more informal context so that it suited my audience. I think that I did make my tabloid design appropriate for my audience as I carefully identified my audience and then made sure that I included the main qualities and features of existing tabloids to my design. The audience for my fanzine is a different audience to the broadsheet and newspaper this is because it is a much more specific type of print product. Fanzines are aimed at people who have an interest in a specific subject. As the topic of my fanzine was hippies I had to create a suitable product and include features that would interest my audience. To make my fanzine appropriate for my audience I focused on what represents the hippie sub culture. I used qualities such as bright colours, suitable fonts, hippie pictures. I also adjusted my copy so that it was clear and understood by my audience. Throughout making my products I combined different content together to create a professional looking piece for each design. My copy for the broadsheet article was information which I produced. I wanted to create a story line and a story that would interest my audience. It was quite hard to decide on a story to do with hippies and I also found it quite hard to write in way that was suitable for my audience. I decided to use the story of Woodstock returning for a tour because I found
- 10. that the Woodstock festival is well known topic known by everyone. Following this idea I used the same story for my tabloid newspaper however I edited the way in which it was presented, I also changed the headline to a more informal phrase. I think that the content of my copy was informative and interesting for my audience to read. The copy content of my fanzine was slightly different as afanzine is read by an audience who know about a topic I decided to think of a subject that would interest them about Hippies. I decided to pick fashion and how fashion has changed through time because I think it would be a good topic to educate the audience on. It also allowed me to be creative with my overall style of my fanzine by using a cutout image and adding strokes to the image. I used many images through my different designs. All of my images were stock images and came from the Internet. I decided to use the images that I did because they were all of high quality and they all represent the story I have included. On my tabloid I have used a very bright and colourful image. The image is a group of hippies at a festival dancing and singing. I think that this image was a perfect image to use on my tabloid as it shows happiness, music and the colours, which is the subject of my article. I think to improve my tabloid I could’ve used a range of different images like showing an image of Woodstock festival or a band from Woodstock performing. I think this would have more relevance. A problem which occurred with some of the images that I chose was that they wasn’t high enough quality. As I downloaded the images from the internet the quality of the image was decreased and it gave a grainy and blury look to some of the images. To resolve this problem I tried to resize the images in Photoshop however it was not possible. I decided to pick a range of different images from the internet that I could try out and use and I also made sure that I only picked images with the correct measurements, overall all of my images on my products were better and improved quality which gave a more professional style. I think that the overall style of my products are very professional, I have tried to keep within the same guidelines of existing products by using the same measurements, similar fonts and also the same colour schemes. I think that I could improve the overall style of my fanzine article by making it more experimental. I think that I could add more images to my fanzine and also reduce the amount of text as it is quite a lot of information included. I tried to add a stroke effect on my image however I think that I could’ve improved my image by just including more images on to the page. Including a timeline of fashion images and the dates is also an improvement, which I could’ve made. I think that throughout this project my skills have developed largely as I have tried out new skills and learnt how to use new tools. Before this project I had learn skills using programs such as Photoshop. A project where I have used Photoshop before is the vegetarian recipe card project. I had to create a set of recipe cards aiming them at a specific audience and designing and creating them through Photoshop. I found that this project developed my skills in Photoshop as I learnt how to use the polygonal lasso tool, I also learnt how to scale, crop, and transform a image or a piece of text. From learning all these techniques I used them
- 11. during this project to adjust my images fonts and advertisements on my designs. As well as using Photoshop for this project I also used another program called InDesign. InDesign is a program that is specifically made for creating newspaper and magazine layouts so I found this quite useful. There is a lot of tools on InDesign that are not accessible on Photoshop. As it was a new program that I hadn’t used before I found it quite hard to start however after practicing a few times and learning the basic tools I though that this software was easy to understand. An example of a useful tool that I learnt when using InDesign was the character toolbox. The tool allows text to be changed in any way to fit into a text box. The spaces between the characters can enlarged or made smaller and there is also an option where the space between lines can be made bigger or smaller. I found that this was very useful as it allowed me to make sure all my text fitted in the text box, which also made it looked more organised. Another skill, which I developed through this project, is how to use margins and columns this is a useful skill which I learnt as It let me arrange the copy on my design in a professional way. By setting up grids and margins on my design meant that my work look much more tidy, organised and easier to read. I think that on my products there is some areas for improvement. As I have already highlighted some improvements, which I think I could make in the evaluation, I also think that there could be some more developments across my products. I think that I could improve my broadsheet newspaper as there is quite a lot of negative space on the headline and also where the text is. I think the image takes up most of the page and to improve negative space I think I could add another story and reduce the size of my image. If I added another story I would add a politic article, as the audience of a broadsheet would be interested in reading this. I think that the margins are too large between the text and I think that I could move the text next to each other to reduce the negative space. There is also quite a lot of negative space at the top of my broadsheet, above the masthead. I think that this could be improved by adding a bar of information such as the contents of the broadsheet. Referring back to my feedback from peers I think that I could improve my tabloid by reducing the amount of information on the page. I think that my tabloid looks very busy and to improve this I would make the Coca Cola advertisement smaller and make a margin between the text box and the advertisement I think that this would make my tabloid look much tidy and organised. My tabloid headline isn’t that big compared to the image and I think that I could make my tabloid headline bigger by cropping down the image and enlarging the headline to a bigger size. I think that I could improve my fanzine by changing different qualities. I think firstly that there is too much text. I also don’t think that the format of the text set out in an organised way as it looks too overcrowded and very busy. To improve this I think that I could cut out some of the text and make bigger. On my fanzine I also think that I could improve the use of images. I have only used one large image on my fanzine however I think that it would look much better if I created a collage of a range of hippies and clothes. I think that
- 12. my fanzine looks creative however I think that these small adjustments would make it much more suitable for my audience and the fanzine article.