Brief:

The brief that I was given was to make a product for a social action media product or a community media product. I did struggle to think of media platforms as I thought about radio and print. I decided to do a leaflet after deciding between a poster and a leaflet. I felt that with a leaflet, I could get more familiar with Adobe Inside as I want to learn more about that software.

I decided to do a leaflet on donating blood, aimed at a young target audience (17-30 years old) as previously mentioned in my presentation, I’d recently started donating blood and was shocked at the lack of people my age.

Target Audience Evaluation:

I picked the age category I picked (17-30) because I know this is the age range that is desperately needed for donating blood and also because it is very close to my age. The colours that were picked were bright and very close to the NHS Blood and Transplant website, however, I didn’t realise that until I had changed the colours as the colours that were originally used were very dark, this will be explained more throughout the evaluations of each section of the leaflet.

The font I have used for the front cover and the back cover is very light-hearted but it does appear to have a heavy feeling to it. I used a different font for the content for inside the leaflet, as that is what I have seen in other leaflets. At first, I didn’t like the font I was using towards the end because it made the leaflet seem boring to me, however I do feel that the font I had originally used wouldn’t appeal to my target audience as much as it was too childish.

This leaflet isn’t aimed at a specific social class as this topic is for everyone within the age category.

Overall Effectiveness:

I think this product was very effective. It was simple yet from a glance, the target audience knew what this product was about. I wanted to make the information inside the leaflet seem important but I didn’t want to put the target audience off reading it by writing as if from a script so I decided not to do that. It worked out very well as the target audience commented on how easy it was to read and that it didn’t scare them away with fancy words, to quote “It feels like it has been written by a young person from a personal experience and you can really tell and it gives that kind of feeling off and it makes you feel, not bad, but like you’re missing out if you’re not donating.” In a way, I’m quite pleased as I know some of the

target audience who I showed the leaflet have actually signed up to start donating which I think it is an amazing achievement and I’m very happy I was able to help them sign up to start donating. A lot of the target audience loved the new twist on the contact details page; most said it represented them as they were thinking about signing up soon anyway.

Theory:

With this project, I can only apply Ferdinand de Saussure’s idea of semiology. The red colour would typically signify romance, however in this case, the red signifies blood, and I think this is stereotypical however it goes with the topic. The tree’s leaves falling down are meant to signify the fall in young people donating blood, however I’m not sure that makes sense and I know from the feedback, the target audience didn’t question the illustration. The silhouette is an obvious thing to know what it is and I definitely got that back from the feedback. The red and black together have negative connotations however these colours went well together for this colour scheme so I had to use them. The white in this leaflet signifies a new beginning as well as being encouraging, those meanings aren’t often associated with this colour but that is what that colour represents to me, however this isn’t the case with most people, especially the target audience. However, the target audience did say that the white completed the colour scheme in a way.

Front Cover Evaluation:

During this brief, I chose to create a leaflet. I feel like I achieved what I set out to do as it is very close to what I’d envisioned which was the sketches I did. I found the designing of the sketches easy after looking at a number of leaflets as it gave me a set layout for most leaflets. In terms of making the leaflet look simple, I’ve achieved that however, I do feel as if the front cover is too simple and that people may not get it unless the meaning of the tree was explained to them. It may seem easy to guess for me as I was the one who came up with the idea however to other people, it may confuse them and then lead to them not reading the leaflet or it can intrigue them and make them pick up the leaflet.

In terms of the illustration, I found this the most frustrating part of the whole front cover. This is because it was very difficult to hand draw the tree on Adobe Illustrator with the mouse and did result in me scraping at least three of the copies I had made due to me not thinking they were good enough. Putting the leaves on was completed in Adobe Photoshop. I found this process quick and easy to do; however I’m not sure many people would get the leaves falling as it doesn’t seem to be easy to guess.

In terms of the decision to put the Twitter and Facebook logo was the right decision, as the target audience are the main users for social media. I think if this were a real leaflet, it would encourage people to pick the leaflet up and to look at it, if they look at it properly, they will discover the back cover with the contact details. However, I think they could have been placed somewhere else, as these leaflets may be stacked behind other leaflets meaning no one will be able to see the logo and the social media logos. I don’t think it would affect the performance of the leaflet because the focus isn’t on the social media logos however it would help if they were seen. However, as the leaflet is to be given out at schools, colleges and sixth form centres, the target audience will see the whole leaflet and they will probably be attracted by the use of the social media logos.

In terms of the aligning, I found it very easy to align everything, however it was difficult trying to remember how to add the guides on Adobe Photoshop but I used this opportunity to refresh myself with Adobe Photoshop as I plan on using this software a great deal in my next projects.

In terms of effects, I tried not to use them, I only used the effects on the leaves to make them look more vibrant as they originally didn’t look that bright and it made the front cover look dull and boring. I think the title could have used with having an outline however I think it would make the leaflet seem too cheesy. It would make the title stand out from the other layers on the front cover.

The only issue I discovered was the logo. I found that it clashed too much with the background and other red layers on the leaflet so to counter this issue, I tried to make it 3-d however, I felt as though it made everything else look strange and the rest of the leaflet looks 2-d. I then decided to put a stroke around the logo to make it stand out more, much like I think should have happened to the title. This countered the problem with the logo clashing with the other red layers and made it stand out more than most layers.

The main colour scheme wasn’t always just red, white and black. It was red, beige and black. However, when designing the inside of the leaflet, it was suggested that I got rid of the beige as it didn’t go with the colour scheme and it did make the leaflet look unprofessional as well as not being suited to the target audience as beige is quite an old and very neutral colour. Having the colour scheme I have now, risks negative connotations however I do feel that this colour scheme reflects my target audience as well as the topic that is being promoted in this leaflet. I feel it is reaching my target audience because it is brightly coloured and most young people, my target audience, are often attracted to bright colours. Originally, the red was darker than the red I later used; this was to

match the beige colour, however, it was suggested I changed it, as it didn’t reflect the target audience.

I don’t think there is much I’d change, I’m very happy with how the front cover has turned out. I’m always confident with Adobe Photoshop to know how to use it. I could have used more images but I wanted to keep it simple. I would possibly add a shadow by the tree to make it stand out against the white background though as I feel that the leaflet is very 2-d.

Overall I’m very happy with how the front cover turned out, the colours don’t clash as much and I feel the text will draw the target audience in as it’s different to the usual font my target audience is used to seeing on leaflets which is usually a commonly used font.

Back Cover Evaluation:

The back cover was very easy to create as I had already planned my sketches, this was actually one of my original ideas to be a stand alone leaflet, however I decided to merge the idea together as I didn’t have an idea for the contact us page which I had planned to put into the leaflet. I looked at other leaflets and noticed that their contact details page were quite boring in terms of layout so I decided to do something out of the ordinary, this may prove to be unpopular as it isn’t the usual layout and may put people off

however it is something different and people aren’t going to be seeing the back cover first.

Again, I had issues using Adobe Illustrator; it was very difficult to get both sides symmetrical but that was soon fixed when I decided to duplicate the one side and then rotate it to fit the other side. However, before changing the colour scheme, I had already completed this part of the leaflet so I did have to go back and change the colour of the thought bubbles and the main illustration, this caused me to lose time, however I quickly got back on track.

I decided to add the social media logos and logo at the bottom of the cover because it shows that the leaflet is all linked and that it looks of a professional standard.

The font is the same font that is used on the front cover, this is because with them being covers, I wanted them to look connected and in return that should make the inside of the leaflet stand out if it is opened. However it isn’t the same colour as the text on the front cover, this is because I believe that the target audience aren’t going to see the contact details first so they’d be in the black.

I didn’t use any effects apart from adding the stroke onto the logo, which again helps make the logo stand out against all the red layers on this cover, however I think it works better on this cover than the front cover because there is more red on this cover. I tried to avoid using effects because I felt like this leaflet didn’t need effects, as there isn’t a lot I could have done with them.

Aligning was a big problem with this cover, I think this was primarily because the main illustration didn’t exactly fit the page and I think that may be down to how I had completed it on Adobe Illustrator. That is one thing I’d need to improve for next time is getting the exact measurements as I feel that would have made the process of making the back cover easier.

The smaller bubbles were very hard to get right, even now looking at the back cover, I don’t think they are quite right, it was very hard aligning them, again I think this was because of the main illustration being off in terms of measurements, I’d definitely improve the alignment of the smaller bubbles if I was to do this project again. I feel the strokes on the thought bubbles and the smaller bubbles could be larger and make more of an impact, as they aren’t really standing out and the silhouette stands out more than what the actual contact details do which could make the target audience just look completely over the back cover if they picked it up.

I don’t think I’d change anything about this cover, I’m very pleased with how it has turned out as I didn’t expect it to look as good as this does.

Inside Evaluation:

During this task, I decided to make a leaflet, which included the inside of the leaflet complete with information. Upon looking at health related leaflets, I noticed that there was barely any images as well as not a lot of information which I thought was odd because if it was meant to be informational, I expected a lot more information than what there was.

In terms of what I had before I improved it, the inside of the leaflet has come a long way. In terms of other leaflets, this leaflet is similar to the Meningitis leaflet I analysed in terms of having no images and being filled with information.

The text stands out a lot, regardless of what size you print this off as I’ve experimented with printing it in a4 and a3, I discovered for the bleedlines that it was better to print it off in a3 but it could be printed in a4 with the risk that the bleedlines may ruin the inside.

In terms of the colour, it was originally all beige, however that was quickly changed as it looked horrible, I feel that the text does clash with the red background on some sections, however I did try to resolve that problem by changing the type of font I used, in my opinion, it did help but only slightly.

The decision to put the droplets on the leaflet really made an improvement and made the inside of the leaflet stand out more, I’m quite pleased with how the droplets help make this leaflet look professional. The logos at the bottom of the pages were a good decision, I feel that it links everything together and if the target audience sees that logo, they will remember what they’re reading.

The information is very informative as I used my own knowledge and some extra research to find out some of the information, especially with the most common questions, I noticed that the questions that were asked weren’t really specific to a target audience so I used my own research with the questionnaires that I had my target audience complete, I tried to reflect the answers I got from that questionnaire in the questions section on this leaflet as I feel that would link it all together.

The issue I had was the colours, they were originally very dark and I have to admit, they didn’t go well together. This showed when I had come to complete the inside of the leaflet, I was put back because the beige didn’t go and it did look bad. I didn’t want the colour scheme to be too predictable as I thought by adding the beige, it would be unexpected but it just made the product look bad and the white, black and red does look a lot better. I didn’t want it to look like a stereotypical blood leaflet in terms of the colours, however it does look a lot better.

I’m really pleased with the first section of the leaflet, especially the red text, I think it looks effective and would really draw the target audience’s eye as it’s different from the other text in the leaflet so it makes that section stand out a lot more than the other sections, however, that does risk the target audience not reading the other sections.

Comparison of Front Cover to where it is now:

With this comparison, there was a lot changed. This included the layout of the leaflet as well as the text and the colour scheme. The colour scheme was changed as a result of what happened with the inside of the leaflet. The text at the bottom of the tree was also changed because the first image was too aggressive and by asking

for help, not many people are going to refuse helping. Also, the colour was changed on text, again this was because the red clashed a lot with the beige and it was very red. The colour also clashed with the red leaves on the tree. The social media logos and the logo haven’t even been planned to go onto the cover, as there was to be a red bar at the bottom of the page, however I am pleased that I changed it to fit in the social media logos and the logo as it makes the leaflet look professional. Also, the change in the tree’s leaves falling down helps the title make sense as it didn’t make sense on the first image but on the second image, it makes sense as it links them both together.

Comparison of Back Cover to where it is now:

With this comparison, it is very easy to see what has been changed. The background has been changed due to the change in the colour scheme. From here, you can see that if I had continued with the original colour scheme, the leaflet would have looked terrible. In the first image, I hadn’t even added the thought bubbles with the contact details in and I hadn’t even added the logo and the social media logos, this was because I hadn’t thought it would make my leaflet look professional however most leaflets do have social media links on them and with the target audience being the age they are, it is a perfect opportunity to include the social media logos. The decision to add the logo came after I’d added it onto the front cover, this is because it made the front cover and back cover look linked and completed as most leaflets have logos for whether it is the place thing are promoting or the company who have supplied the leaflet. The back cover definitely looks better now than if I’d continued with the colour scheme I had originally planned to use.

Comparison of Inside to where it is now:

With this comparison, I felt like I needed to explain my process, as there are some very dramatic changes. The most noticeable change was the background colour of each section. This was changed because the colour made the whole leaflet look unprofessional. It wasn’t the best colour to pick however I picked the colour because I was doing a nature themed leaflet with the main illustration being the tree, however this didn’t go to plan and I had to scrap it and create a new idea. As the image above shows, I didn’t get far in terms of actually creating my inside of the leaflet with this colour, however I had finished the front cover and back cover. To go back and change all the background and colours used on both covers was very time consuming. It did make me lose time with changing everything, as it took longer than I thought it would however I did

manage to get back on time. The second thing changed was the colour of the text that is red. On the beige background, it is a very dark red and it doesn’t really stand out on that background and it doesn’t look a part of anything.

The image of what the inside looks like now makes the inside look dramatically better than what it did look like. The red used is brighter and links to each section of the leaflet together. The droplet adds effect and helps the leaflet look professional. The only thing that hasn’t changed is the position of the logo at the bottom of the pages.

Comparison of Logo to where it is now:

Feedback:

I asked 20 people to complete a questionnaire after looking at my leaflet for feedback.

How old are you?

17-2021-2526-30

This was the age range my leaflet was aimed at so it was only fitting I asked people of these ages to complete the feedback questionnaire.

Did you find this leaflet helpful?

YesNo

This answer didn’t surprise me, there is always going to people who might not be interested in the leaflet and when asked why they didn’t find it useful, the answer was because they weren’t interested in the topic that was being discussed.

Should this leaflet be made available in a different format?

YesNo

This answer surprised me as this meant people would want to see this leaflet somewhere else like on a website or even social media. When asked about this, most of the target audience I had asked said because it would have been easier to view and then they are more likely to read it.

For the question ‘Are there any sections you don’t understand’, everyone answered that they understood all the leaflets which means that the leaflet fulfilled part of its purpose and it was to make the target audience understand the importance of donating blood and to make the leaflet seem simple but effective.

There was a couple of improvements that were put when asking for any improvements, the target audience noticed that while I had put most of the important information, I had missed out the most important piece which was how much blood was taken when donating, if I was to make this leaflet again, I’d definitely make sure to add that into the information. Another improvement that I didn’t really agree with was that the first column could do with more information.