Peer Assessment

After I handed in my project, we all worked on some peer assessment for our projects. I asked two people about my project and got some good feedback that reflects my own reflection.

At first, I asked about what they liked about my project (the book, website and interview). They agreed they liked certain things like the style, the cover, the layout, and the fact my project was different to others as I had aspects of moving image and publishing and creative writing. I agreed with this in my evaluation as I like the overall project itself.

I then asked for any aspects they would question or change themselves. I had said myself, before, I should've improved on the biography in the book, and tried to add more content and they agreed. They also said they would've liked to see a price on the website, a link to the interview, and some more content on the website so there was room to scroll. One thing pointed out was adding more things in the background of the interview (like plants, etc), and this was interesting to me as in the original script had my book and a plant behind me. However, I removed this because I was using a bright red sofa, and thought less colours would be more.

Finally, I asked for their overall feedback, and most was positive. For instance, they liked the fact that the entire project was branded well and linked together. The same colours were used: black, white, grey and sometimes red, throughout all aspects of the project. Apart from the little tweaks they mentioned, they were overly happy with what I produced.

My Research

To start my FMP, I had to do some primary and secondary research. Research is important as it means you can create work that is accurate and, in this case, relatable.

I started with looking at book covers online, and what were popular. I used Lee. J's article available from Buzzfeed (online), to see what covers were impressing people. I, then, created a pin-board on Pinterest of the ones that impressed me. Ones that caught my eye were the ones with 3D looking features. You can see these on this blog. I liked the creative flare the covers had, and yet they had a modern twist. I also liked the fact that the covers represented the titles and themes of the books. This made me decide to illustrate something that represented support, as the book is about support after loss, and have a nice twist. 

Next, I did some research on target audiences, as I wanted to make my book as relatable as I could but I didn't have a target audience. According to Penn. J's article (2013), available from The Creative Pen (online), it's important to 'isolate what types and/or groups of people the content of the book would interest.' The theme of 'loss' could be related to anyone, as the majority of people have to grieve and go through loss. Because of this, I decided to look at other themes and genres my book came under. For instance, it's about one of the main characters getting out of an illegal trade - so people who read adventure books and like action will enjoy it.

Finally, I wanted to know whether or not people enjoyed knowing much about the author. I found this out from making an online survey. This helped me get direct information which I was collecting myself. As you can see, people enjoying reading the biography at the start of the book, and some also enjoyed watching interviews. This helped me decide to film an author's interview, and publish a biography in my book - and on my website. 

My Project - Evaluation

At the start of my project, I aimed to create a website in InVision, have a published book chapter, design a book cover, and film an author interview. Now I'm in the last week of my project, I can say that I've done these with some adjustments due to timing. We were given just over a month to complete our projects, and this time included time for research. I made a planner to keep myself organised, but that's when I realised I didn't have the time to use some of the software I wanted to. For instance, I didn't use InVision for my website, but I used Wix. This made it a lot easier to create and make adjustments to the website I was making, and meant I could put in more details in the website, as I wasn't making every page in Photoshop. Also, as I hadn't written the book, it was only twelve pages long so I could print the book in time, rather than worrying about page numbers.

Something I did struggle with was trying to make the website in Photoshop, then InVision. It wasn't just time, but I also struggled with the design and layout of my website. I overcame this by researching other sites, like J.K Rowling's website, to see the layout. I found author's websites were usually creative, and I was coming up short with ideas. When I started to use Wix, it became easier to project my ideas onto the screen. I did also struggle a little with the printing of my book but, after a few tries and fiddling with the pages, I got better at it and created a successfully printed book.

I enjoyed writing the book most - because that's something I've always loved. However, I also loved designed and making the book cover. I drew the illustration and made the cover in Photoshop. I found it was really successful, and I really loved drawing and designing. I also enjoyed writing the script for the interview, as, again, writing.

Something that I would do differently, however, is writing more of the book I published. I do like my finished piece, however it would be nice to have more of the book I want to create. Also, if I continued it more, I'd have more of my theme of loss there to show my theme clearer.

Despite that, I'm happy with my project. Considering I didn't think I'd have time for all I set out to do, I'm really pleased that I have it all done and I'm proud of what I've produced.

My Website

I wanted to create a website all about the author and book. I was going to use the process I have before by editing it in Photoshop, with hover states, saving the images and linking them using InVision App.

However, I had a time limit and was struggling with the design of the website. So, I decided to use another website called Wix.com to create an author's website selling the book. This has worked out really well.

I chose the colours of the site to be black, grey and white, the same as my book. This is so there's a recognised theme throughout my website and book that people can recognise. Also, this is almost a portfolio website, so these colours were more professional and polished-looking.

I had different sections: home, book, bio, events, and contact.

In the home section, I included the book so it was the first thing you could see when you opened the page. I also added some reviews from 'papers', so it looked like a real book. These were real reviews from peers in college.

In the book section, I put the book, again, and a buy button. I also added a quotes from the book, and the blurb. This was to attract people to the book even more. The other sections, were less about the book and more about the author, events of release dates and author meetings, etc.

My website.

My Interview

I decided on making an author's interview about the book, and promoting both the author and book.

I filmed it in the studio, and had bright lighting and sat on a sofa so it wasn't so intense. I had two cameras so I could switch angles in the editing process. I also made two versions - one where the interviewer was offscreen and one where the interviewer was on the sofa. This all gave me loads of variety in editing.

While, editing, I decided to use the shots including the interviewer and interviewee, because it looked more natural. I didn't ass any additional audio, like music, as I didn't want it look sound corny and like a vlog. I did add, however, a banner of text of where to purchase the book so I could keep promoting it.

You can see the video here.

Laying out the Book

The next thing I wanted to do was layout the book itself, so I could add things I need to along the way, rather than just putting it all together and deigning the layout. I did this using InDesign. I have 12 pages, including the title page, contents, etc.

I printed out my cover and decided on a more popular, and smaller size of 5.5 in x 8.5 in. This looked less like a textbook and more a novel. I also finished the chapter sample itself and put in copyrights and titles, etc. I had to fiddle with the text placing as I didn't want it too close to the edge and risk someone cropping it or not being able to read it.

I had to also keep in mind where fingers would be while holding the book. In the screenshot, you can see theres a larger gap between the bind rather than on the edge. However, after printing it, I realised there was hardly any space for people to hold the book without getting their fingers over the text. This made me make more room at the bottom, top and edge of the pages.

I've decided to print it on A3 paper and trim the edges so it fits inside the cover. I printed the book itself on matte A3, and the content on usual A3 paper. I'll staple these together to make a polished looking book.