Recipe Cards: Existing Products

Richard & Robyn

The recipe card layout is quite simple (everything follows a simple style. The front cover starts with a dark green rectangular box & has a the title for the dish in white writing. You then see a large picture of the food the recipe will be making. Then after the image you see another dark green box which features the logo in white. The layout for the back of the recipe card is quite similar in the way it features two green boxes at the top and the bottom & the writing is also white. Instead of having a main image like the front though, it features a white background with the recipe in green lettering. You can also see an image of the food starting from the middle, right edge of the card into the middle. Although the layout is effective, you could also say it way quite bland-looking & does not take full advantage of the fact is was made to be a festive meal. Many of their other recipe cards feature the same layout.

No capital letters in title - informal

Looking at the colour scheme, you can see that the primary colours used are white & green. I like the fact that they have used two main colours as it adds sophistication & simple separation between background & writing. The colour green also linked to vegetables & nature, so its an appropriate choice for a vegetarian card. This colour scheme can be found on many of their other recipe cards, which gives this set an overall housestyle.

The writing style has no stand out or individual style but that is the same with most recipe cards. The cards recipe tells you everything that you need to do to produce the food you can see in the image. The writing uses standard English & does not break from the formality of it. As we are working for this company, I would be expected to use this kind of language.

The font used for the recipe cards is a non-serif font. The use of this kind of font adds a modern edge to the design & works well with the overall simple look of the recipe card. I would also like to point out the font used on the text that is portrait to the rest of the design is different. To me, this is used to add a flare of design to the overall look of the recipe card as it uses a serif font that includes flicks that are appealing to the eye, but is not really needed.

As stated in the layout paragraph, text (consisting of titles, ingredients, methods), two images (one large & one medium cropped of the first image) & a logo are all part of the content. You will also see a telephone number, email address, charity number & what percentage of recycled paper has been used to produce the recipe. All of the content fits onto two sides of A5. This content will have to be featured on our recipe cards.

The images used have clearly been taken with a high quality camera & the subject was made with high quality products made by a chef. The composition of the photograph allows the food to stand out, as the background is not in focus. The use lighting has made the food look very appetizing, making the viewer want to make the food for themselves.

The overall presentation is very clean & modern. I would expect a middle class vegetarian to use a recipe card like this. I would also expect this person to enjoy cooking, as there are a lot of ingredients and steps to follow to make the food. I would like to produce a recipe card like this, although I would like to switch up the images by using two different images instead of using the same one twice.

The colour scheme for the card is very simple. It focuses on a green and white scheme. The green colour featured is a boring and dull shade but might be used to represent vegetables’, also another reason that is it green as that is the most common colour of the Vegetarian Society. It is the colour that is seen to be most related to the environment and nature. The scheme is simple and doesn’t’ have much detail so makes the audience instantly attracted to the dish, which is a good thing. The actual recipe itself is lime green writing on a white background which may not be that easy to read.

The writing style for the cards is informal as the title doesn’t use capital letters. The font used is an easy to read, non-serif font in white which works remotely well. The card also features a bit of typography which says the name of the recipe. Personally, I think its clear to see that it has been used to fill what would be negative space.

The layout of the card is simple and minimalistic which is ideal are you cant get confused and lost with what's going on. It follows a simple, easy style rather than putting un-needed detail.

The images used in on the recipe cards have clearly been taken professionally with a high, quality camera as they are very good. The focus is used correctly and the light balance is fantastic and really highlights the way the food looks like and makes it look attractive, making more people want to make the food.

The house style is consistent on both sides as it features the same form of borders. The colours are the same shade all round and the logo is there as well, it is prominent and attractive.

The audience for the recipe cards are middle class women, in their late twenties, early thirties who are interested in cooking foods of a complex nature. You can tell this because of the way it is set out. The plate the food is on looks classy and expensive, meaning it wouldn’t be for student, as if it were, the way the photograph is took would be different as well as the layout of the card and the food itself.

This recipe card is a card alongside a magazine which features ‘fun cooking for families’. Looking at the colour scheme of the recipe card you can see how they wanted to link the colours of the vegetables to the colour of the text. Using the colour green connotes freshness and nature, links with the ideas of vegetarianism

The layout of this recipe card is quite simple. It fits into a 2 by 3 grid. I know this because there are roughly 3 equal parts on the cover. The first third is the title, second the photograph of the food & the last third is the sponsors. This is similar on the back of the recipe card. The first third features the title and the introduction to the recipe. The second third is split into two sections. The first features the kitchen gear you will need and the ingredients. The second features the instructions. The last third features a blue box with writing in, telling you to subscribe to the magazine

The font is very childlike, which links with who the recipe is targeted at (children). The title is in that font, whereas the writing we assume that will be for the adults is in a normal non-serif font.

As for the content, you can see that the writing is meant for the parents, whilst the fonts & pictures a meant to entice the child to try something with vegetables in it. This is important when producing material for children.

The one image used is just of the product the recipe should make. It is meant to make vegetables look enticing to eat to a child. If a kid found this or saw this, they may give it to their parent to make if they think it looks interesting to them.

The overall presentation allows kids & adults alike to be drawn into what the recipe card is about. The producers of this recipe card clearly knew who their audience would be when producing the recipe card

The recipe is going to be read by the adults, therefore the writing style will be catered for them. Whereas the title language ‘crazy bobs’ ‘chop chop’ caters to the young audience.

The colours chosen are simple, yet effective. It focuses on shades of white and purple, which works well. The reason for this chosen colour scheme could be due to the fact that it is a Christmas/Winter themed recipe and because white is a chilly colour and could symbolize ice and snow. The white could be also used because it is a plain and simple colour which automatically turns all the attention towards the food and make it seem more attractive. There is also use of a gold colour which could be trying to represent the colour of baubles hanging on a tree, to give it again, a Christmassy feel.

The images have been taken by a professional as they look really good and make the food look really attractive and tasty. The colours look really balanced and suit well with the plain colour scheme. Although, the theme of the card is meant to be Wintery, the colours aren’t cold so the warmth of the colours could be there to portray adding add heat to a cold season. The angle the photograph has been taken really gives the food a casual but classy look.

I would say the audience of this product are middle aged, middle class women as the image gives off a really sophisticated feel by the angle the photograph took. The recipe is also seen to be quite complex and possibly feature expensive ingredients which people such as students or low-class people wouldn’t necessarily be able to afford often or at all.

The style of writing used is non-serif writing so is easy to read. The title of the recipe really stands out and the darker, non focused colours in the background really compliment the white writing. The purple and white on gold/bronze on the recipe side really works well as again, they compliment each other. The purple writing on the white background is to easy read and looks pleasing on the eye.

The colour scheme for this recipe card is a red on white theme. The borders on the surrounding of the card are red which works really well with the main photograph of the food as it features a lot of different shades of red. The side on which the recipe instructions are on has a white background with light ready writing. This looks nice as it doesn’t include much detail so looks very minimalistic. Although, it doesn’t state whether the recipe is winter themed, the colours suggest it is. The deep red is a warm colour which could imply warmth and fire around Christmas time.

I think the audience for this recipe recipe is middle aged, middle class, stay at home parents who enjoy experimenting and dealing with complex dishes. The ingredients could be quite expensive if you specially have to go out and purchase them which is why it would not be aimed at students or young families.

The colour of the images contrast and compliment each other really well and the angle the photograph has been taken is good. The way the imaged has focused on the main dish rather than everything gives a quality and professional finish. The opposing photograph shows the detailing in the dish which again, has a nice finish to it.

The writing used is non-serif, simple writing. The title of the page and the word ‘ingredients’ are both informal as they do not feature capital letters where as the rest of the text do. The sub-heading above the ingredients are in a light, italic font which help people separate the ingredients for the relish and the ingredients for the main purses.

The layout of the card is simple and doesn’t feature much detail which gives it a laid back, casual appearance.

The overall appearance of the card is very simple but still includes to society’s logo twice as well as the contact details. On the first impression, the card looks easy and the ingredients are remotely simple to follow. The recipe only takes 50 minutes to complete which means for people who are rushing or have larger families, it is easy to do.

These are two different covers for a vegetarianism book. One is for Teens & the other is for the parents of the teens. There are subtle differences between the two different covers & the contents that features inside the book. This is due to the fact that they are targeted at different people.

One of the first differences you can see is that the teen guide features an image of a teen with an orange (vegetarians would eat this as it is not an animal). On the parent cover, you can see a plate of spaghetti Bolognese.

The colour scheme is generally green on both covers, which links to nature and vegetables (suitable for a vegetarian). Although the use of red on the ‘veggie guide’ on the teen guide is a contrast between the green.

Just like the recipe card above, the food on the parents cover is in focus, whereas the background is out of focus.

The writing in both of them is different as they are targeted at different people. In the teen guide, the writing is more relaxed and less formal. Compared to the parent guide where the writing is a lot more formal which is suited to the audience.

The layout for both covers is very similar. The title, image & logo are all in the same place. The only difference to layout is the boxes that both of the covers feature (the teen guide features this at the left bottom, whereas the parent guide features this at the left top). This layout allows the image and the title to both be separate, but the use of slightly opaque boxes allows the image to be seen slightly.

The font used is the same on both covers. The use of capital letters for the words ‘veggie guide’ ‘veggie nutrition mini-poster inside!’ (teen cover) & ‘includes quick meal ideas’ allows that text to be drawn to your eyes first. The font used also has a slight scribble effect, which adds to the natural connotations of the colors used & what vegetarianism is about. Also, the font used isn’t a strict font, which gives the impression of it being informal (this is also strengthened by the fact it doesn’t follow strict English rules by being in all capitals. ‘for teens’ & ‘for parents’ are in all lower case, contrast between the all capitals of all the other text.

Due to the different audience, there are slight changes that are featured in the guides. One of these examples would be the purpose of the guide. The guide for teens features interesting facts & things that try to make vegetarianism look cool, which will persuade them to become vegetarian. Whereas the parent guide will try and tell the parents that it is easy for their family to change their diet to a vegetarian one.

Evaluation• Overall I have found that the layouts of recipe cards similar overall, as they are all quite simple. This should

be taken on board when producing our own recipe cards. We also looked at two recipe cards from the company we are going to be working for & found that they all have a very simple house style, we have to follow a similar style to their house style (this is also stated in the brief).

• Colours used, whatever (we found) the audience to be, have always included different shades of green which is understandable as the colour connotes what being a vegetarian is all about. Other colours used include the colours featured on the food e.g. in the third recipe card I looked at, the colours for the title writing feature those of the food. The recipe cards that were produced by the company we are working for use green shades mostly, which would be ideal to follow when producing our recipe cards for them.

• Fonts used generally follows a non-serif style when looking at the main body of text. This was also followed by the first recipe cards title. There were some differences when it came to titles though. Using fonts that replicate hand drawn features adds to the natural feel of being a vegetarian and adds to the colours used. In the third recipe card, you can see that a child -like font has been used for the titles to draw in a child's attention.

• Content includes mainly images, titles, instructions, methods & ingredients. You can also find text on some of the recipe cards that are promoting websites & other resources linked to the recipe cards e.g. sponsors. We will have to follow the ones found on the first recipe card as that is the company we are working for. We will also have to follow the typical codes and conventions we have found featured.

• Images are definitely very stylised as we know that it is difficult to photograph food well. If we were to take our own photographs, we would have to follow a similar style to the first recipe cards photograph. We would either take the photographs or find stock images of the recipes.

• The overall presentation, like mentioned in the layout paragraph, is pretty simple. This allows the recipe card to be classy & easy to follow. This can be seen on most of the recipe cards we looked at.

• The writing style is very simple as you do not want to confuse the reader of the recipe. You want them to understand what they are doing. But you want to do this without dumbing down what you are saying. It also depends on who the audience is, whether or not you use lesser known words for some of the techniques mentioned in the recipes.

• The audience whether its an older or younger, will feature a method. If the method is for a younger audience, the adult will usually be using it anyway. The language rarely changes. What is featured in the recipe does change depending on the audience though. You wouldn't see an adult needing a recipe for fruit kebabs.

• I find that this research has allowed us to know what we need to include in our recipe cards & the things we could possibly play around with.