Interviewing people and collecting opinions

A couple of days ago I had the chance to "interview" some of the people in my class about my project. I have been asking random questions such as: would you be interested in going to Milan? Why? What would you do? What would you like to do? What do you think about it?
In order to get a fair judgement and to really get an idea of what to include in my guide and how to structure I interviewed both boys and girls but mainly people who had never been in Milan before.
Here is what came out:

• People know really really little about the city
• The main thing that they were interested in was the "Duomo" which is the symbol of Milan. I found that quite disappointing. 
• However, they all knew about Milan being quite a fashion centred city. Some of them were also interested in shopping. 
• Mainly the boys were interested in Italian Football and Football clubs so they were asking about San Siro. 
• They all mentioned eating good Italian food but they did not specify if they would like something more specific to be included. 
• There was not much interest shown for the history. This helped me to decide that I need to find a way to turn the history of the city into something fun! 
• A couple of people specified that if they will ever go to Milan during summer they would definitely go to the lake. 
• Overall they were all thinking about the kind of holiday when you don't do much and just walk around and see if you are interested in something. I don't know if this will be good or bad for my travel guide. 

END OF INVESTIGATION STAGE

Before starting the planning stage here is the final timeline I created before starting the investigation and I modified throughout the process.

Sofia De Martin

Meeting with supervisor and citing sources

I didn't manage to meet with my supervisor because she was not at school but luckily I booked a meeting with Magali.
In the meeting we discussed the planning stage and I told her a bit about what I would like to do. I will do my planning weekly because then it's always good to modify it. We then discussed my criteria and she gave me some good feedback on it. The main point we looked at is the relevance of the Selling place/Cost part. The main aim of my project is not to sell it so I decided I will take away the selling places and have to modify the cost depending on how much it will cost me to print it.

I will go this weekend to find out the actual cost of printing and I will modify my criteria asap.

I also talked to Anna the librarian for the process of citing the blog that agreed on sharing the pictures with me. Here is what she answered:

Blog posts

Cite Web postings as you would a standard Web entry. Provide the author of the work, the title of the posting in quotation marks, the Web site name in italics, the publisher, and the posting date. Follow with the medium of publication and the date of access. Include screen names as author names when author name is not known. If both names are known, place the author’s name in brackets. Remember if the publisher of the site is unknown, use the abbreviation n.p.

Editor, screen name, author, or compiler name (if available). “Posting Title.” Name of Site. Version number (if available). Name of institution/organization affiliated with the site (sponsor or publisher). Medium of publication. Date of access.

Salmar1515 [Sal Hernandez]. “Re: Best Strategy: Fenced Pastures vs. Max Number of Rooms?” BoardGameGeek. BoardGameGeek, 29 Sept. 2008. Web. 5 Apr. 2009.

Pictures on a blog

If the work is cited on the web only, then provide the name of the artist, the title of the work, the medium of the work, and then follow the citation format for a website. If the work is posted via a username, use that username for the author.

Example: brandychloe. "Great Horned Owl Family." Photograph. Webshots. American Greetings, 22 May 2006. Web. 5 Nov. 2009.

Indesign tutorial

Today we had an older student from our school coming in to teach us a bit about Indesign. It was actually aimed for technology lesson but I am making use of the knowledge I got for Personal Project. One really good thing is that I found out that on Indesign it is possible to create a proper nice book so I won't have to modify anything as the layout will be already set. I also learned all the basics and how to do background etc. It was quite useful and I now know what the program looks like.

Here are some of the things I learnt:

• You have to choose the option "create book" before starting 
• Insert the number of pages and the format 
• It's important to use high quality picture that were turned in JPG format so they will turn out nicer when printing 
• You have to create a folder before starting and there you will upload everything that you need to add to the magazine and the magazine itself will be saved there 
• I learnt how to add picture, text boxes, colour the page
• Change the colour system so it is better when printing it 
• Turn the final result in PDF version before printing it 

We are lovers' answer

As I mentioned before I was going to write to the owners of the really cool blog I had been checking out. And they answered!!! They said I am definitely allowed to use there material and pictures but also ask them for feedback and advices, however I need to cite them properly and I do not know how that works so I will have to talk to Anna the librarian for that.

Sofia De Martin 

Third meeting with my supervisor

Yesterday, 15th November, I had my third meeting with Helena. I had made quite an accurate plan for this meeting to make sure that we could go thorough every single thing I needed to.

• I first of all showed her my mind map for my goal, we discussed that and decided that the draft I had written was accurate and specific so here is my final goal:

Research about Milan and make use of the information that I find together with my personal experience to create a proper hardback travel guide with an appealing cover about Milan in order to promote the beauty of the city and get people to visit it and enjoy themselves there. 

• I also showed here what I have been writing so far for my criteria. I am now done with it and I will soon upload it on my Process Journal as well. 

• We then talked about my research in general. Something that came out here is that I have done quite a good research but I need to make sure that it doesn't become too long and it is still highly relevant to my project. 

• She also took a look at the plan I have done and we discussed the importance of it as it will be useful for my actual planning stage. I will upload the plan soon on my Process Journal.

• We didn't really talk about ATL skills but the list I have made is uploaded so she will be able to look at it if she needs to. 

• I discusses with Anna the librarian about the bibliography and in text citation and everything was quite goo. We also checked on the MLA official book that the citing of teh pictures I did was correct. 

• AOB: something really useful Helena suggested is to contact the owner's of the blog that I have previously used as an inspiration. The blog is "Hi we are lovers" ( http://www.wearelovers.it/ ) They are university students and will help me to reach to a wider range of people. Also they have been talking about Milan for a long time now so they have taken awesome picture during different seasons which would be amazing if I could use. I will contact them asap. 

Plan for the meeting with the supervisor

Tomorrow, 14 November, I will have a meeting with my supervisor. Because we haven't met for so long here is what I would like to go through:

1. Identify a goal (see my previous post "define a clear and highly challenging goal"
1. Go trough mind map I have made
2. Show the draft of the goal I have made
3. Decide on a final one.
2. Finalize criteria 
1. Show what I have done so far
2. Get feedback 
3. Anything to add? 
3. Research I have done so far
1. Show process journal
2. Get feedback
3. Anything to add?
4. Plan the research (I will upload the new version here soon) 
1. Is everything OK? 
5. ATL skills
1. Show the mind map
2. Have I included everything? 
6. Bibliography 
1. how did it go with citing sources? 
2. Anything to improve? 
7. AOB

Criteria

Sofia De Martin

This is just a mind map that I created in order to get ideas together for my personal project criteria that I am supposed to create due Monday 17th.

Something that I would like to add to this mind map is the concept of sustainability:

• Be printed on recycled paper
• Be printed with an ink without lead
• Include a section aimed for people who are searching for natural things.

I am currently working with the final criteria. 

Expo 2015

I probably chose the best year to create a travel guide about Milan because the city is hosting Expo 2015!!!
Expo is an international exibhition which many countries take part in. Everyone come to show how they developed as a country the aspects of technology, innovation, culture, traditions and creativity and how they relate to food and diet. The theme of this year Expo is "Feeding the planet, energy for life". Everything will be based on resources of the planet and the idea is to create a dialogue between countries and and exchange of views on the topic. 

Here is the link to Expo 2015 website: http://www.expo2015.org/en/index.html

There will definitely be a section in my travel guide regarding Expo 2015 and to get a better idea on what to include I watched a video provided by the Expo website It is actually the official spot of the event. Here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnfUFaIlZVM

Expo Milano 2015

Bibliography:

Expo. "Expo Milano 2015 - Nutrire Il Pianeta, Energia per La Vita." EXPO MILANO 2015. Expo, 2014. Web. 12 Nov. 2014.

EXPO MILANO 2015 WORLD’S FAIR. "FOOD LIFE: Expo Milano 2015 Spot - English Version." YouTube. YouTube, 30 Oct. 2014. Web. 12 Nov. 2014.

Lake Como

Lake Como is one of the lake in the northern part of Italy situated exactly where the country meets the Alps. Because it is only 30 minutes from Milan and it is well served with public transports, not to talk about its stunning views as well as 19th century inspired location, I decided it would be worth to include it in my travel book.  I know the area quite well as I used to live really close to it and we bought a summer house by the lake. 

Something that really inspired me to include Lake Como in my travel guide, but also about some cool places in Milan is a documentary by Rick Steves. 
Here is the link to it (I really advise to watch it, it's quite stunning): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgFInCmXrPw

ANALYSIS OF THE SOURCE: 
Origin: this is a documentary that shows many places in Milan and Como Lake. Because they are all collected in one video I guess this is a secondary source as the author did not invited any of the content but it's on the other hand based on other's people work. 
Purpose: this is a documentary that is meant to go on television on a travelling channel. The person that did this has been travelling all over Europe to film his documentary and then put the on television. 
Value: because this guy actually owns a tv series on a travel channel I find this an extremely reliable source.
Limitations: this documentary is quite short and as a consequence not many thing have been included in it. 


Here are some pictures of the beautiful view you will find on Como Lake:

Lierna Riva Nera, Como Lake (picture taken by me) 

Lierna Riva Bianca, Como Lake (picture taken by me) 

Lierna Riva Bianca, Como Lake (picture taken by me) 

Bellagio, Como Lake (Travel Cafè)

Varenna, Como Lake (Travel Cafè) 

Lenna, Como Lake (Travel Cafè)

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

TravelCafe. "Lake Como, The Garden Of The Gods." Lake Como, The Garden Of The Gods. TravelCafe, 2014. Web. 11 Nov. 2014.

Steves, Rick. "Milan and Lake Como." YouTube. YouTube, 19 Aug. 2013. Web. 12 Nov. 2014.

Learning how to use the program

The program I will be using to create my travel guide/ book is called Indesign which is basically a program that can be used to create anything that need a layout such as magazines, books and posters.
As I have no experience with this program I decided to look up at some tutorials on how to get started. I personally find more effective to watch tutorials on youtube rather than reading them on a website, it just sticks more in my mind. I watched general trailers and not anything specific as I will learn to do the rest as I use the program, as I always do.

This tutorial have me quite a good overview of the buttons, commands and so on that exist in Indesign and how to use them:  "How To Get Started With Adobe InDesign CS6 - 10 Things Beginners Want To Know" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IaY3jWktT0w

I then used this tutorial to learn how to lay out the pages of a book, this was really specific but extremely useful for my project:  "How to Lay Out a Book in InDesign : InDesign Tutorials" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2VJZ9czOoE

This design was super helpful to understand and get ideas on how to create a book cover. It's specifically talking about a task jacket but I could easily use it for a standard book cover as I think that my travel book will be paper back:  "Designing Book Covers Tutorial 2: Dust Jackets" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VZzcl69jEg

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

White, Terry. "How To Get Started With Adobe InDesign CS6 - 10 Things Beginners Want To Know." YouTube. YouTube, 3 Nov. 2012. Web. 11 Nov. 2014.

Cecilio, Alexandra. "How to Lay Out a Book in InDesign : InDesign Tutorials." YouTube. YouTube, 27 Sept. 2012. Web. 11 Nov. 2014. 

Hart, Nikcy. "Designing Book Covers Tutorial 2: Dust Jackets." YouTube. YouTube, 24 Apr. 2010. Web. 11 Nov. 2014.

ATL skills

By Sofia De Martin

I decided on a title!!

I closed the voting on the website I created the survey on. Here are the results:

As you can notice there is quite a big preference for Hidden Milan, Miles and Smiles away and Everything Everywhere.
I used the people I know as a source but I need to also consider my personal taste. So, considering my personal preferences and the people's ones (because they are basically my clients) I came up with the final title.  Here it is:

EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE: HIDDEN MILAN 

Someone might think that this is too long but the actual main title will be "Everything everywhere" and "Hidden Milan" is just to write something more than only the name of the city.
I am quite happy with this final title and I also hope that everyone else that will look at my travel guide will like it as much as I do!

Define a clear and highly challenging goal

Before creating my final goal I will break up my ideas in several points.

By Sofia De Martin

GOAL DRAFT: research about Milan and make use of the information that I find together with my personal experience to create a proper hardback travel guide with an appealing cover about Milan in order to promote the beauty of the city and get people to visit it and enjoy themselves there. 

Taking pictures research

I will most definitely be taking pictures with the camera. It is a nikon d50 and it is not the the newest and best on the market but still a pretty good camera. PC's website rated as a great camera with "excellent picture quality and performance" (PC, 2014).

picture taken by me of my own Nikon d50

I am planning a new product not an ordinary one, as a consequence I would like to take pictures which are just as interesting. I then looked at website which gave advice on how to take great pictures.

1) PICTURES OF A LANDSCAPE: 

Add something interesting to the photo: it's not enough to just have some buildings in the picture, it's going to look boring, add something else such as a light, a traffic light or even a person looking somewhere else. Also weather conditions change a lot the look of the photo. (Richardson)
*inspiration photo:

National Geographic website /Photography

It does sound weird but this picture wouldn't have looked as cool if it wasn't for the person and the shadow, especially considering the white background.











Trying out this technique: 

Picture taken by me 

Picture taken by  me 

I took this picture of a normal landscape and then I followed the advise and tried to add something that would make it even more interesting. In this case it is a branch from a tree with some leaves. Even though the picture was already interesting itself the addition I made gave something more to it.














2) PICTURES AT NIGHT: 
Use special night mode (included in all the Nikon Cameras). Modify the angle so that you get in as much light as possible, possibly not artificial light. Do not use flash unless really needed because it will give the picture quite a fake look.  (Nikon ).
*inspiration picture:

Nikon USA /Night Pictures

I really like how in this picture the subjects are shadowed so you can only see black. It is still clear what the picture is but the sunset and clouds on the back give it more interest.









Trying out this technique:

picture taken by me 

for this picture I tried to shadow the island and focus on the sky. However, I think that it could be improved even more by making it darker, maybe even later in the night.










3) CHANGING THE ANGLE:
"Because the angle of the view of the wide-angle lens is much greater than the telephoto or standard's lens, it's obviously teh les to use where there's limited space of the subject is large" (Richardson)
*inspiration picture:

National Geographic /Photography 

Even though I will never be able to take a picture that is this good I just thought that the idea of taking the picture like this rather than the normal landscape was amazing.










Trying out this technique:

picture taken by me 

the second picture is better than the third one because changing the angle in order to include more vegetation gives it more colour and as a consequence makes it look more pleasant to the eye.  Also there are many elements in these pictures and in the first one because I used a wider angle half of the picture is almost empty and doesn't look nice.

picture taken by me 

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Sullivan, Terry. "Nikon D50." PCMAG. PC, 2014. Web. 04 Nov. 2014.

Richardson, Jim. "Photography Articles and Tips From Jim Richardson -- National Geographic." National Geographic. National Geographic, 2014. Web. 04 Nov. 2014.

Nikon. "Taking Pictures at Dusk and at Night." Night Pictures. Nikon USA, 2014. Web. 04 Nov. 

2014.

National Geographic. "Photo Gallery: How to Take Photos of Cities -- National Geographic." National Geographic. National Geographic Photography, 2014. Web. 04 Nov. 2014.

  

Really need a title...

What is a travel guide if it doesn't have a title? I really need one. However, I don't want to just call it "Milan" because that would be boring and people could just as well go and buy one of the thousands that already exist.

As I mentioned before I would like to create a guide that is not just like the others that already exist. I want to show to people that Milan is much more than just the Duomo. I will focus on unknown but beautiful places of Milan. As a consequence the title needs to clearly express that it's not going to be the ordinary tourist trip.

In order to do this I created a survey on mentimeter.com where everyone I will be sending the link to will be able to express their opinion and choose their favourite title.

Here are the options I put:

• Hidden Milan
• How about a trip to Milan? 
• Miles and smiles away: Milan
• There and back: Milan
• Everything everywhere: Milan

I will wait for the results to decide on a title. In the survey I included the question and the title in both English and Italian so that also my Italian relatives could take part in it as they will be playing a big role in helping me with the investigation on what to include in my travel guide.

I WILL CLOSE THE VOTING ON SUNDAY 4/11/2014

Finding website for inspiration: "Lonely Planet"

As I mentioned before I am thinking of diving my travel guide in different section. Every section will be aimed for a different kind of person based on their interests. Each one of this section will cover different aspects of Milan and to get an idea of what to include I went on Lonely Planet website and searched for ideas. Here is what I found:

screenshot of Lonely Planet website

Link of Milano section on Lonely Planet website: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/italy/milan

This was definitely a great inspiration and I will think about this categories because I do know that Lonely Planet is known as a pretty good travel guide and might really help me with my project. unluckily I don't own a copy of a guide about Milan by Lonely Planet.

ANALYSIS OF THE SOURCE: 
Origin:  I am pretty sure that this website can be edited by anyone who is part of the Lonely Planet organization as a consequence this source was created by many people. It is a collection of many places to go to as a consequence it's a secondary source.
Purpose: this specific page of the website is a collection of places to go to and stay in Milan. The point is to persuade people to make a trip to Milan and get the best out of it by following teh advises that the website is giving out.
Value: I don't have any reason to believe that anything that was written on this website is not true as Lonely Planet is considered to be one of the most reliable travel guides ever. It might be a bit biased as it is a persuasive tool but I believe that all the places listed actually exist as there is a website, address and other information given as well.
Limitations: it is possible to verify the content of this web page by going on the website given as a consequence I can't really think of any important limitations.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: 

Lonely Planet. "Milan - Lonely Planet." Lonely Planet. Lonely Planet, 2014. Web. 03 Nov. 2014.

Finding website for inspiration: "Hi, we are lovers"

Something that I would like to point out is that my point is to make a travel guide aimed mainly for teenagers and for people who would be uninterested in visiting Milan. However, my point is not to make a travel guide that only lists places to visit and places to eat at on the other hand I really really want to do something interesting. I want to create an "alternative" guide which has, other than the main places, also smaller and unknown place which are even nicer to visit. For instance, I will never advise in my travel guide to go and eat in one of the restaurants on the main square in front of the cathedral; I will then find little places and "osterie" where you can go and eat REAL Italian food without spending as much.

Something that really helped me in the process of investigating places to visit, as well as restaurants and shops to go to, is my dad experience. Because he has always lived in Milan he is really good at advising some places he used to go to and other monuments which are not as famous as the ones that appear in pictures. However, I could not base my whole travel guide on my dad so I researched some websites/ blogs which I couls use as inspiration. 

The first on that I found is a blog held by three girls who I guess live in Milan. It's really nice and well structured. They have so many things on the website, some of them also in English. But the important thing is that they talk about alternatives to a normal Milanese lifestyle which is exactly what I am aiming for. 

Here is the link to their blog: http://www.wearelovers.it/en/

ANALYSIS OF THE SOURCE: 
Origin: I would say this is a primary source because it is written by three girls who live in Milan and share their own experiences with the world through a blog. I haven't read much from the blog yet but I do think that they don't specifically refer to anything which could make this website a secondary source. 
Purpose: the purpose of this blog is just sharing experiences. That goes really close to what I would like to do with my travel guide. It is created by three girls who live in Milan and attend university there, I am pretty sure they are all Italian so I would say that they know what they talk about. 
Value: the value of the website is just personal. The website was first created as a way to collect personal memories and then it became famous. 
Limitations: one of the main limitations that I can identify is that this blog is definitely biased. That doesn't really affect the outcome badly but sometimes thing are not shown as they actually are. For example, they talked about a nice clothes shop however they did not address that it is a really expensive place and that is something that should be done when advising a place to people. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

We Are Lovers. "Hi, We Are Lovers! -." Hi We Are Lovers RSS. E Are Lovers, 2013. Web. 26 Oct. 2014. 

Analysing existing products: Osterie Milanesi

Product #5: “Osterie Milanesi”, Milanese osterie

picture taken by me of my own travel guide

I should, first of all, define what an "osteria" is. In Italian osteria is defined as a restaurant which cooks what you would also cook at home (in an Italian house) for a really decent price. It was born originally to feed the workers who didn't have time to go home for lunch. Nowadays, it became more like a restaurant in most of the cases because the prices increased and the concept of osteria became really popular and cool. 
This might look like a really bad old travel guide but it actually isn't. I found it pretty surprising when, looking through it with my dad, I found out that many of the restaurants included in this are really good ones which I have actually been to. 
It is not big sized and in the inside is quite well organized but because it's so old some people might not like it. This travel guide kind of cleared up my mind on the layout I would like to give to my own travel guide. 


DIFFERENT ASPECTS: 

Aesthetics: The general aesthetics of this book is not the best. It looks kind of old and the graphic could be better. However, I need to point out that “Osteria” in Italy is not a proper restaurant but something less elegant and usually cheaper. Definitely not for standard tourists unless they are interested in in. As a consequence I could assume that this kind of layout was chosen by the editor to reflect the concept of “cheap but good”. The inside on the other end is much better. There are pictures for every osteria which is listed and again they are in balck and white because the editor wanted to reflect the same image as I say before. The name of each restaurant is written really big at the top of the page and underneath there is a text box with everything that you need to know about it which is really good in order to get information without reading through the entire description which is included just under the text box. 
Cost: This travel guide is so old that the price is still in Italian lira. So I can’t really judge whether the price of this book is appropriate or not.
User/Audience: Because this travel guide is so old and includes restaurants which families would probably go to it is aimed for people who want to eat well but don’t spend too much money on their meal. There is not a specific target audience because anyone would be interested in eating good Italian food and not spending much. When I say anyone I mean both tourists and Italian people.
However, when you are from another country and you take a trip to Milan, especially if it is the first time it is really hard to find good places which are not aimed for tourists and as a consequence really expensive. So the aim of my guide is to suggest places which Milanese people would go to but are still good for foreign people as well. Function: The purpose of this books is to share with people a bunch of great osterie which they could go to. The message is that you don’t need to spend much in order to eat good food and you can do that in places such as the ones listed in this guide. It’s really easy to use because lot of information about each restaurant is included and well organized so that it is easy to find. 
Size/Content: This book is really small. It has around 160 pages but because there is more or less a restaurant every two or three pages it definitely has a lot of content.  It has also a good size that could easily be put in a hand bag and also hold. However I do not think that being put in a bag is the aim of this book as the point is to just scroll through it and find a cool place to eat at. 

ANALYSIS OF THE SOURCE: 
Origin:  this is a secondary source because it is basically a collection of restaurants and osterie. It also provided basic information about the places and it is not based on anyone's personal experiences. It's a really old guide printed in 1995 and as a sequence some restaurants might not even exist any more.
Purpose: the guide was created with the purpose of sharing the pleasure of eating well and healthy  and discover traditional Italian restaurants ( as said in the travel guide itself). I guess that also promotion plays quite a big role in the purpose of which this guide was created.
Value: I have no reason to believe that any of this restaurant has been invented or is not real because basic information about each one of them is provided and also sometimes pictures.
Limitations: the problem with this guide is that it is so old that some of the restaurants in it might not even exist any more. Also the layout reflects the age of this book and I don't think that anyone would by this travel guide any more (expect my parents obviously).

RELEVANCE TO MY PROJECT: 
As I mentioned before I am interested in creating a guide which aims for different categories of people. Creating a section for people who are interested in food and wine would be quite good and as a consequence I will have to include traditional places such as osterie. This kind of restaurant also provides a wide choice when it comes to money because they are definitely cheaper than proper restaurants, more traditional and sometimes you even eat better there, 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: 

Redaelli, Enzo. Osterie Milanesi. 1996 ed. Milano: Il Torchio, 1995. Print.

Analysing existing products: Milano low cost

Product #4: “Milano low cost"

picture taken by me of my own travel guide

Out of the travel guides I analysed so far this is definitely my favourite. The structure and the general layout are well organized, there are a few pictures and a lot of "interactive content" which makes the overall impression of the guide much much better. However, the thing I liked the most about this product is how it is focused on a special topic: enjoying the city without spending too much (low cost). This is something that might be useful for my guide as well. It covers a wide range of topics, from restaurants to shops and museums. The size is a great one. It is big enough to be clear but small enough to be kept in an handbag. A bad thing is that it is aimed for mainly people who live in Milan it's not something for tourist; but it could be one, that's the thing I like. 
I find that also the cover is very appealing because it reflects a really cool image of Milan that tourists wouldn't think of. I would like to try something like that for my own travel guide when it will come to create it. 

DIFFERENT ASPECTS: 

Aesthetics: This book has such a pretty cover. There is a tram on it which really reflects an awesome image of the city. There is a big title which everyone would like: “Milano Low Cost”. It really persuade the client to buy it. Again, no pictures in this travel guide either. I think that this is because these travel guides are aimed for people who live in Milan or at least have been there before. As a consequence there is no need of showing them what the city look like. I need to admit though that this guide works without pictures, not like the others. It is well organized and it has little colorful things at the top of each age explaining what the page is about. There are big clear maps and the font is pretty amazing. 
Cost: This guide costs around 90 kr. That is a good cost for such a book. Considering that this books sends the message of “low cost” there is now way this could have been an expensive book.
User/Audience: I guess that this book is aimed for families who feel like enjoying themselves in Milan without spending too much. However, considering the places that it talks about it is referring to someone who lives in Milan. As a consequence it is not the best piece of inspiration for me.
Function: The purpose of this travel guide is to promote the image of a low cost city. There is quite a bit of text however I have been reading a bit so I can say that it is not that bad. It’s clear and focused and I would say that almost everything that has been written down is needed.
Size/Content: The pages are quite thick however there are 300 pages so the book is not that thick. It is light and easy to carry, well-shaped and it’s easy to find things in there because of the good structure.
Overall, I would say this is a really good product which is worth buying. The only bad thing is that it is only aimed for people who live in Milan.  

ANALYSIS OF THE SOURCE: 
Origin:  just like all the other guides I have analysed before this is based on two people's experiences but the information about each one of the places included in the guide makes it a secondary source. 
Purpose: the point is to persuade people not to stop enjoying the city they live in just because everything is really expensive. It then lists a bunch of places worth to go to in order to keep enjoying yourself in the city you love. I guess that the intent of this guide could also be considered promotion. Unluckily the audience is, again, Milanese people  not really tourist as they are to really likely to use such a tool. 
Value: because the travel guide lists places and provides specific information I do believe it is based on real facts and experiences and as consequence real places. I can prove this by saying that for every place there is a website or a Facebook page provided. 
Limitations: material-wise this travel guide is kind of poor. The cover is paperback and we have had this for a couple of years and the corners are already completely ruined. 

RELEVANCE TO MY PROJECT: 
I do think that it is important to enjoy the place you are visiting as much as possible when you are on a trip. Not spending much, as a matter of fact, could be a way to do more things and as a consequence have more fun. I don't usually go to super expensive place myself when I am in Milan and I think that it is important to provide alternatives to the classical "tourist trap" in my travel guide. I might make a low cost section in my guide as well. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: 

Gherner, Bruna, and Luca Giorcelli. Milano Low Cost:. Milano: Rizzoli, 2012. Print. Survivemilano.