Finishing the fixed ebook

Looking back at countless hours squinting at a screen

My final few hours spent on my fixed ebook were spent meticulously looking through each recipe to make sure they all had the same styles, the leading all worked, nothing overlapped or bled, the videos all worked, the buttons worked and generally the book was at the level I wanted it at. I can finally say I am happy with it, it helped asking a few friends for their opinion as often I had been staring at it for too long so couldn’t see the obvious mistakes.

My book introduction

Now having created both a reflowable and fixed ebook I would say that the fixed ebook is my preferred layout. The fixed layout allows for more flair, creativity and interactivity, with more space to utilise. Although the reflowable book is better for adapting to different screen sizes and devices it is a more basic design. Although, perhaps this is all that is needed for a recipe book, as most users would simply need the recipe and photos and not appreciate animations. However, the videos are a very useful addition for difficult recipes, if reflowable ebooks had this feature it would be very beneficial.

The main things I’ve learnt from this module are:

1. Coding seems to pop up everywhere! I now feel like I have more of an understanding about it and would be happy to say this in interviews!
2. Design isn’t my best talent, even though I really enjoy it I still think I’m more of an ideas person rather than the person to execute it.
3. I’m more comfortable with Indesign and Photoshop now than I have been in the past 3 years, I feel like I’ve learnt a lot more this year and have enjoyed playing around with the different aspects of it. I haven’t mastered them at all but I have enjoyed using them more this year than on previous modules.
4. Creativity is key! I’ve really loved how creative I could be on this module, I’ve also realised I really love using colours and having colour schemes. This project was incredibly broad, which I liked, and the fact that it was based on food really helped. Food, and baking and cooking, are massive hobbies and loves of mine so I really liked being able to be creative with these topics.

In conclusion, although this module has been really time consuming and has led to me constantly staring at the screen making sure lines match up and don’t bleed, I’ve really enjoyed it and how it has pushed me! It’s made me realise exactly how many hours must go in to the design and making of actual cookbooks, if it took me this long to do 10 recipes I can’t quite begin to imagine a book of over 50 recipes! I hope my book has at least made you crave something, personally the chocolate fondant is the one that gets me each time!