The main image on the front cover was created from scratch using loads of different elements. This was massively time consuming and I am overall pleased with the effect it gives. This is very simple but as you would have probably noticed throughout I am very simplistic. My only slight negative feature in regards to this main image is the background (sky). I do really like the colour change and I feel the effects I added to this toned it down nicely however the top of the image was too bright. Although I did add the gradient to this I still feel the top of the background lets the image down. I feel this was down to the nature of the original image I used. I feel the colour I used for the actors dresses are perfect and this is an element which I am really proud of. I feel the actors look like they are apart of the main image and don't look as staged as I expected. This was quite a complicated element but really worth the hassle. There are some slight imperfections around the edges of these actors and I feel that these let the image down a little. The Eiffel Tower aspect would ideally have pink shining through the iron work however this was something which I used couldn't achieve based on the fact that these areas were just too small. I don't feel this lets the image down as it simply looks like it should be that way however I do feel that this image could have been improved had I have been able to achieve this.
It is worth noting that I originally had four main actors for the main image and as you can see above I only used three. This was based on the way the actors looked together. I began by having all of my actors lined up along the bottom of the inlay however this didn't look right and I hence tired to bunch them up together. This made the image look one sided as I always had two actors one side of the main character and then just one on the other side. I hence cut this down to the three. I took the actor which I felt I had edited best and brought these to the front of the group of actors. This seemed to work really well. This leads me on nicely to the next aspect to evaluate. This is the bar along the top of the screen which holds the actor names. This was made originally for all four actors and hence when one was cut I had to rearrange this section. I started buy simply cutting out the one actor and the spreading the final three however this simply didn't look right and I opted for increasing the font size of the main actor. I feel this made the actor names looks a lot better however looking at this aspect on my final design I feel this is slightly weak and an area which could have been improved. I feel this aspect I made worse by the bleed and safety lines as these are still on show in the above image. These would cut out some of the border and then positioning of these actor names would be better in a real life situation.
The final aspect on the front of my DVD inlay is the star rating. This was something I was set on from the very beginning however I didn't plan on it being such a centre piece on my inlay. The colours and Stroke I used work really well and I feel these stand out on the background. The light purple also helps it tie in with Sarah Jessica Parkers dress. The text which accompanies this is of a good size and I feel using the same font throughout the whole inlay has worked well giving consistency.
Moving on to look at the spine. This is a really simple aspect of my inlay and I feel it works really well for this reason. The white background breaks up the front and back cover nicely while it also helps to make the title stand out. The font used on the title is consistent with the title on the front cover and I really like this. The darker stroke makes the title stand out slightly however I'm not sure if I could have used a different colour to make this flow better as I have used such little black throughout. The age rating and logo are effective and of a good size. They are visible yet not over powering. The two simply bows add a girly feel to the spine without making it look too busy. Overall this is one of the simplest yet most effective aspect of my design in my opinion.
The backcover of my DVD inlay uses a lot cleaner lines than the front cover. I put my time into different aspects of the back cover where as the front cover was all about one aspect. I will start by evaluating the elements which I edited myself; Cameron Diaz and the Eiffel Tower. I am really pleased and proud of the way I was able to airbrush Cameron Diaz. I feel this is one of the most effective elements on the whole inlay. The image is of a really high quality and the size on the back cover is proportional. The border I added around this allows the image to tie in with the rest of my inlay without overpowering the image itself. As for the Eiffel Tower image, this was something which I was going to use for the front cover but changed my mind. I am pleased that I did change my mind as the front of the inlay is striking and works really well. That doesn't mean I don't like this image because I do I simply feel it is better suited on the back cover than the front. I feel the techniques I used made this image look realistic. It also brought the theme of Paris to the back cover which I was worried I wouldn't be able to achieve. Again I used a small border for this image to incorporate this element nicely.
The blurb which I added on the backcover was adapted and changed from my week 6 feedback. Originally I had this text in the same font as my title. I liked this font and I thought that it made my document consistent however Jamie expressed his concern in a sense that it was quite hard to read and that it should be more clear based on the fact that it is the first thing a customer would go for. It was changed for this reason. I was concerned that changing this aspect would lower the quality of my overall inlay however I was pleasantly surprised. This type actually is really effective and I feel it is a lot clearer now than it was. I feel this is a really strong aspect of my design.
The table at the bottom of the DVD inlay was an aspect I was set on from the very beginning. My initial plan was to split this into more sections however I opted for the three sections as these fit my text better. I feel this aspect is probably the weakest aspect of my design. It is very simple and holds minimal information. I feel the strongest aspects of this section are the font I used and the quality of the logos and barcode. I feel I should have made this a bigger aspect of my design and looked into current layouts deeper.
I added the legal information as requested by Jamie in my week 6 feedback. This was added just above the table of DVD information. This is small type however this was consistent with all of the other DVD cases which I looked into. I tired positioning this aspect vertically up the side of my inlay however this clashed with the image of Cameron Diaz and hence I placed it in its current position.
The hearts on the back cover of my inlay were added simply for aesthic purposes. These helped to fill in the gaps on the back cover as I wanted to stay away from blank spaces. The colours of these work well as they bring in the aspects of purple which I wanted to incorporate.
Looking at my DVD inlay overall I feel it is professional and looks effective. As I mentioned above it has weak aspects but I feel these are pulled through by the stronger elements. I feel the simple shapes and details make this DVD inlay stand out and add the finish required. The Spine really helps to break up the DVD inlay and I feel this has worked perfectly. I overall feel that the front cover is stronger than the back cover, this could be because it has more going on but then again I feel if both the front and back cover were this busy it would be over powering.
So with all of this in mind I am going to think about what I would change if I was to undertake this task again. As mentioned above my weakest element in my opinion was the information on the back of the inlay about the DVD. For this reason I would definitely look into different ways of displaying this information if I was to undertake this project again. I also think I would add another image to the back cover. Although the two images I do have are high quality and took a lot of time to perfect I do feel that looking at the DVD inlay as a whole the back cover looks weaker than the front. I feel another image would make the backcover busier and stand out. I feel the eye is focused on the front cover which is great but I feel this should be spread more evenly across both the front and back cover. The final element which I would look at changing in the future is the way the actor names sit on the front cover. I don't feel this is the weakest element but I do feel that it could be improved. I would like to experiment with putting this bar at the bottom of the inlay rather than the top or even remove the bar altogether and simply use the type on the main image. Overall I feel that I would change small elements if I was to undertake this task in the future.
This leads me on to my next aspect to evaluate. The time I spent on each element varied and I will now look at how much time I spent on each aspect and whether this time was spent wisely. The most time consuming element in this whole project was the main image on the front cover by far. This is one of my favourite aspects and hence I don't feel that this was time wasted. I would arguably spend more time on this element in the future as I would like to improve the top of the image. The two images on the back took roughly the same amount of time. I don't prefer one image to the other and hence I would stick to this length of time if I was to undertake this project again. I feel that I spent a lot of time with the planning aspect of this element of the assignment but I don't feel like I spent enough time trialling different ideas. I only really created two different ideas when in reality I feel I could have created a better final product if I had trialled more ideas. This would have been time consuming however I feel it would have been worth my time. As I mentioned above I feel the weakest part of this inlay was the table at the bottom on the back. I would spend more time looking at different ways to portray this information as well as look at adding more information. Overall I feel I spread my time wisely with this DVD inlay. This includes the elements I blogged. I tired to keep my blog and my workspace up to date. This has helped me keep track of where I am at in both cases.
Bringing all of these elements together I feel that this aspect of the assignment has gone really well and I am happy with the final result. I feel there are aspects which could be improved like anything in life but in general I feel this inlay has a professional finish. I feel I have spent the most of my time wisely with a few small adjustments I could make if I was to undertake this task again in the future.
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