Task 6 - Evaluation

Before beginning work on the actual leaflet for my Veganuary project, I spent time developing my layout, design, and factual writing skills. I did this by creating developing a magazine design, creating a front cover as well as a double page spread, complete with an article, for the magazine. The magazine in question was a historically themed magazine, called HistoryLife, and thus I took inspiration from other magazines of this topic and genre. The magazine generally had a sleek, elegant and sophisticated style. I also did a second magazine cover, but
this time for a magazine focused on pop music culture. This magazine was aimed at a younger teenage audience, and thus had a more fun and somewhat more colourful design, mainly with a heavy use of pink (which was also because the magazine was geared somewhat more towards a female audience, and the colour is stereotypically associated with femininity).

After which, I devoted time to planning out various aspects of the Veganuary leaflet, and I used this time to develop my ideas and the specifics and mechanics of how they would work in practice. I began this by developing my initial ideas, working on a range of visual and written elements of the leaflet. I developed ideas for the visual style of my leaflet, focusing on various different aspects of the leaflet, so that it would be much easier to combine them together when it came to actually creating the leaflet. I considered what sort of fonts I would use, generally tending to lean towards fonts that fell somewhere between hard, clear lines, and a more rounded shape. This is because, while I wanted there to be an underlying serious tone to the leaflet, I also did not want it to appear to harsh or intimidating, as the leaflet was aimed towards people who were new to the concept of Veganuary, and it also aimed to persuade them towards it, not push them away. I also spent time considering the colour scheme of my leaflet, and decided to make heavy use of the colour green as the main palette of my leaflet. This was because I believed the colour green was closely related to the topic of the leaflet, as it was a colour closely associated with nature and plants and the environment, which were important components of the leaflet's topics and had associations with veganism. The colour green also seems to generally appear in vegan related designs, and even in some other official Veganuary materials.

In preparation for the written aspect of the leaflet, I underwent a deal of both primary and secondary research. This research was focused on topics I believed may be of use to me when it came to writing my multi-page article for the leaflet. For my secondary research, I made use of multiple different articles and websites that provided important information on veganism, or vegan related topics. These other articles helped to provide me with a lot of inspiration on how to lay out my article, as well as providing me with a source of additional information. For my primary research, I did a number of vox pop questions, asking them face-to-face. The questions were mainly aimed at getting general public opinion through a small sample of the public on fairly simple topics, such as favourite animals, or what animal products they'd struggle to give up on. This was so that I could better target my audience through my leaflet, as I would have a better understanding of their feelings and opinions. For example, by knowing most people's favourite animals, I was able to research and bring up the ways in which they were negatively affected by the animal produce industry, and by knowing what people would struggle most to give up on, I knew which alternative vegan products to focus on and bring to attention. Therefore, I believe this primary research helped to make my leaflet far more effective.

My front cover and back cover were the first pieces within the leaflet that I worked on, and I am quite satisfied with their end results. On the front cover, one of the dominating aspects is the rotoscoped image of a baby chick, appearing out of a cracked egg, pleading with the reader to help. I was inspired by many other materials, especially animal rights, or vegan materials, to use a front cover image that would evoke sympathy and an emotional response, and perhaps already begin to change people's opinions before they had even opened the leaflet. However, I did not want the front cover to appear to judgemental or critical of the audience, so I tried to ensure that the message of how the audience could help, or how they could benefit from veganism, as being very clear and apparent even on the front page. Therefore, the audience would ideally be enticed to learn more from the leaflet. When designing the back cover, I operated under the assumption that, while the front cover would be the first thing that an audience member saw, the back cover would most likely be the second thing they saw if they were turning the leaflet over. Therefore, while I tried to include multiple different aspects to try and catch the audience's eye on the front cover, the back cover was more devoted to providing the audience with brief, concise, but clear information regarding Veganuary. However, the information given is still brief, and the ending sentence implores the reader to read within the leaflet. Both the front cover and the back cover feature the green leaf design background that is featured in almost all of the pages of the leaflet, which helps to foster consistency throughout the leaflet, as well as using the colour green and the leaf design, as it links to themes of nature and the environment, which are closely linked to the topic of veganism within the leaflet. The colour green is featured prominently, but certain aspects of the front cover are in a different colour in order to help them stand out. The majority of aspects that are not in green are instead in white, but the text within the speech bubble that says "You can help!" is written in blue. This is because this is an important piece of text, that I wanted to be immediately noticeable and stand out from the rest of the front cover, as it would help to create a greater emotional reaction from the audience, but also immediately make them feel as though they can make a difference, which is an important message that I wish to establish throughout the leaflet.

The focus of my infographic was on vegan alternative foods, and I implemented a lot of my primary and secondary research into this aspect of the leaflet. The infographic featured images of rotoscoped foods in the centre, namely, chocolate, milkshakes, and chicken nuggets. I am quite happy with how these rotoscoped images turned out in completion, as I believe they are aesthetically pleasing, and close to the subjects they were meant to represent. Beside these images are arrows, leading to one of two columns on either side of the double page spread. These arrows, as well as the titles above either column, are the same colour; with the title and arrows on the right, which is where the information on the meat products are, in red, and the title and arrows on the left, which is where the information on the vegan alternatives are, in green. This is both because green is related to nature, plants, and veganism, and because red is associated with meat, but also secondarily because red has more negative connotations of danger or blood, while green generally has more positive connotations. The infographic points out that vegan alternatives exist for the foods chosen for the rotoscoped images, and goes on to explain the benefits of the vegan alternatives, while pointing out the health detriments of the animal product versions of these foods. The aim of the infographic is both to inform people that vegan alternative foods are available for almost all foods containing animal products, as many people are concerned that they would have to give up their favourite foods if they became vegan, and also to show that these alternatives are much healthier choices. I believe this is quite effective, as it targets two of the main concerns regarding veganism. The infographic is inspired by many other vegan materials that point out vegan alternatives, often putting a focus on their health benefits. While this infographic follows a similar pattern, I have attempted to ensure that it was relatively unique in it's layout and design. This double-page spread also stands out from many of the other pages of the leaflet, as it uses a blue and white gradient background rather than the consistent green leaf-pattern background. This is because I wanted the infographic to stand out from the rest of the leaflet, and also because the gradient used quite calming and relaxing colours, in order to underpin the information being provided, and to prevent the infographic from appearing too critical or judgemental.



My four page article was the product of a great deal of secondary and primary research, which was extremely useful to me when creating the finished product. The main point of the article was to point out the various negative effects of the meat industry, as well as emphasising the ethical considerations surrounding the meat and animal produce industry, and trying to make the audience consider the moral implications of the animal produce industry. The article was, therefore, intended to evoke sympathy and an emotional, empathetic response, a technique used often in articles of this style, especially those related to animal welfare or veganism/vegetarianism. At some points throughout the article, I have made use of pull quotes in order to highlight important sentences and information, as well as emphasising them. I chose sentences like "The vast majority of species share something particular in common; we all feel pain." and "... the animal produce industry is a detriment to all animals on earth, even humans." because I believe they succinctly sum up a few of the crucial points I intended to make with my article, in clear but quite startling and memorable terms. Therefore, they may encourage people to read the rest of the article to learn more. This technique is used in many different forms of writing.

I have also made use of imagery throughout the article at certain points, for a number of reasons. The use of imagery within the article helps to break up the wall of text, and therefore it lessens the chances that readers will become bored from the lack of visual appeal. However, these images also serve additional purposes. For example, the image of the tree within a section of the article around deforestation helps to underpin the points being made about the negative effects of deforestation, as well as helping to create an interesting visual effect in combination with the text. In the second page of the article, an image of a Korean Nureongi dog accompanies a section of the article that discusses how they are raised for meat. This is intended to help evoke an emotional, sympathetic response, potentially a stronger one than if there was no image for the reader to understand what the dog looked like. At the beginning of the article, I created a title banner, using the text font used throughout the magazine for more important sections of text, such as titles. Alongside using this bolder text, I also made different sections of the text different colours for emphasis and symbolism. In the case of the title of the article, "Not A Piece Of Meat", the word "Meat" is written in red, as the colour is generally related to meat, but also because it has negative connotations of blood and death. This emphasises that the title prefaces quite a few serious and somewhat negative pieces of information. However, at the end of the article, after the information has turned to how the reader can help by taking up a vegan lifestyle, a second banner reads "Make A Change. Make This January A Veganuary.", the words "Change" and "Veganuary" are both in green. Alongside this colour being linked to veganism and nature, it also generally has more positive connotations. This shows that this banner is a somewhat more positive one, to drive home the fact that the members of the audience can make a difference.

I created two advertisements for use within the leaflet, both for two different Vegan-friendly brands; Nana Nice Cream and Fry's Family Foods. For the Nana Nice Cream advertisement, I tried to highlight the available flavours, strawberry, chocolate, and banana and vanilla. The main image that dominates the advertisement is that of a banana, strawberry, two chocolate buttons, and a vanilla flower, all combining together on a plate to create a smiley face. This plate is set against a background of a wooden table and a red, plaid tablecloth. This background is intended to create a homely, rustic feeling, and the image create by the various foods is intended to be positive and fun, and create a memorable image that also helps to advertise the available flavours for the brand. Beneath this image is a section of text in a handwritten-style font, mostly in white, except for the section that lists the various flavours (which are coloured using colours associated with their flavours), which goes on to state that the brand is sure to "put a smile on your face", relating back to the smiling image. The image was created from a combination of images, but in order to make them appear more realistic as one, singular image, I used the brush tool in order to create shadow effects around the fruits and plate, in order to give a sense of depth. I used a black brush tool to create shadows, while using a white brush tool on certain sections in order to give the effect of them being hit by light. I believe these changes helped to make the image appear more realistic as well as more aesthetically pleasing. In the advertisement for Fry's Family Foods, the main image consists of a series of cartoon animal characters; a pig, a cow, and a chicken, that I created myself using the lasso and brush tools in Photoshop. I maintained a relatively simplistic style for these animals and the table, both because of time management considerations, but also because I believe that this style is somewhat more appealing, especially to a younger audience, and helped to create more anthropomorphic characters that would make sense within the context of the advertisement, as well as also creating more sympathy for the animals, in order to encourage the audience more to consider purchasing vegan products. The scene depicts the animals being delighted to be presented with food products that are typically made from animals like them, but instead they are labelled as being "100% Vegan". I made sure to use products that are actually available from Fry's Family Foods, in order to better advertise their products. I also made use of my primary research, by generally choosing foods that people said they would struggle to give up had they become vegan, and continuing to drive home the fact that these alternatives exist and are available. On the bottom of the advertisement, near the clearly visible Fry's Family logo, is the slogan "Great food that anyone can enjoy!", which relates to the scene above, showing that even animals can safely enjoy these totally vegan products, but more realistically trying to suggest that this food is enjoyable as well as vegan friendly.

The main components of my fact file pages were the products of secondary research, which I used to find the facts displayed within the pages, and rotoscoped images related to these facts, in order to make the pages more visually interesting for the audience. I tried to find a variety of facts, and cover a wide range of different vegan topics, both because a variety of facts would provide a more interesting reading experience, and also because it would allow a greater variety of images, and therefore be a more interesting visual experience for the audience as well. I am quite satisfied with my rotoscoped images, as I believe they are quite realistic, and clearly recognizable as the subjects they are supposed to represent, while also being quite eye catching and aesthetically pleasing. I have attempted to include humour in some of them, such as in the fact about famous people who had lived on a plant-based diet, which included Leonardo da Vinci, and I therefore created a rotoscoped image of the Mona Lisa surrounded by vegan and Veganuary products. On others, I tried to create an emotional response, such as by rotoscoping the image of a cow with a 5th birthday hat and confetti to accompany the fact that most farm cows do not live to see their 5th birthday. In order to present the text, I used a similar technique that I used on the back cover, in which I have written the text on plain white boxes, but then used a clipping mask on the text in order to match it to the green-leaf background behind, in order to create the effect that the text has been cut out of the white box. I think this creates a visually interesting effect and prevents the text from appearing too dull, while still being clear and coherent to understand. The titles for the fact file use a similar technique to the cover, as well as using the same font generally used throughout titles. The colour for these sections of text is generally white, but the word "Vegan" is always written in the same shade of green. This creates a sense of consistency throughout the magazine as well as creating an interesting visual effect, such as in the word "Veganuary", where the section saying "Vegan" is in green, and the section saying "uary" is in white.

When I first set out to create the leaflet, my goals were to create a leaflet that would appeal to a broad, varied audience, but especially an audience that were somewhat new or uncertain towards the concept of veganism or Veganuary. I wanted to strike a fine balance, both in my written language and my design aspects, between evoking sympathetic emotional responses and promoting the positives of veganism, with avoiding alienating an audience that was on the fence or appearing to judgemental or critical. Throughout the leaflet I tried to continually maintain the message that the audience was able to make a difference, especially as a way to punctuate a point made about the detriments of the meat industry. I believe that the design aspects of my leaflet are able to appeal to a fairly broad audience, while potentially not suitable for an especially young audience, I believe it is well suited to a younger teenage audience, well through towards an elderly audience, and all ages in between. However, I do believe that through it's use of patterns and imagery, it would especially appeal to the younger teenage audience. In terms of other demographic background elements, I do not believe that the leaflet is too bias towards one or the other, although it is arguably that the lack of pricing information on the advertisements would not appeal to audience members of a lower socio economic status, who would most likely be concerned with saving money, and consider this an indicator that the products were quite expensive. In terms of gender, I believe the leaflet is fairly gender neutral. The use of colour throughout has mainly consisted of a green palette, connected to the themes of veganism within, and does not heavily lean towards a masculine or feminine appearance. I believe that by making my leaflet have a larger, mass appeal, it will be more effective in bringing in a larger audience, and therefore informing more people about veganism and Veganuary. I believe that, throughout the preparation for, and the creation of, the leaflet, I was able to develop many new skills in layout and design, especially in learning to effectively organize text and image to create more effective appearances and evoke a better audience response. In future projects, I would definitely try to improve my time management skills, as I believe time constraints caused me a certain degree of difficult within the project, and as a result I could not spend as much time on certain sections of the leaflet that I may have liked to. I could improve upon this by more clearly planning out the tasks and elements I will work on at certain times, and try better to stick to these personally-set deadlines. However, despite this, I believe that the leaflet I created closely met the aims that I set for myself when first planning my leaflet, as well as being quite effective.