For this assignment, we were asked to create a visual guide of how to make English muffin pizza that would be easy enough for non-English speaking seven to twelve year olds to follow. This proved to be just as difficult as it sounds as I was only able to use images, not words. This was made even more difficult by the fact that I had never actually made English muffin pizza before. Therefore, I had to find a recipe and research what it was.
I did not expect there to be so many recipes to make English muffin pizza. In fact, I was quite baffled that there were several different recipes. Some of them called for homemade tomato sauce, or called to shred the mozzarella cheese by hand. I decided that since the visual guide is intended for seven to twelve year old children, I should use the simplest possible recipe I could find. Something I thought was interesting was when I chose to use the toaster oven recipe over the oven recipe. I figured that a seven year old would not be able to figure out how to preheat an oven and it is considerably dangerous for a seven year old to operate an oven by his or her self.
I started off my visual by writing down each step and then drawing a symbol for each step. I then made a rough sketch of what I wanted my visual guide to look like. After this, I grabbed my colored pencils and began my final draft.
In my visual guide, I thought it would be helpful for me to draw all the tools and ingredients needed at the top of the page. From there I used drew each step using symbols and arrows to direct the person following the recipe. I structured my guide in a “Candyland” approach mentioned in class because I felt it was easier to follow the recipe this way as it seemed to be a more natural way to read. I chose minimal color. I chose colors that I personally associated with each item. I am not a strong artist. Therefore, I chose to keep my symbols and images as simple as possible.
I did not have any particular revelations. I was extremely excited, however, when I finally found a recipe I thought I could replicate easily. It was fun to see all the different ways people have made English muffin pizza.
I think that if I had a little more time, I would have done this assignment in Photoshop as it would have looked neater and a little more aesthetically pleasing. If I had more talent I think I would have tried to make my symbols look nicer. I also think my mozzarella cheesy symbol looks like mayonnaise, so, I probably would have spent more time making it look like cheese. I think if I were to do this project again I would attempt to use a more challenging recipe and go into more detail.
Digital Communications 