QUESTION 7

LOOKIN

G BACK A

T YO

UR PRELIM

INARY

TASK,

WHAT

DO YO

U FEEL Y

OU HAV

E LE

ARNT IN

THE

PROGRESSIO

N FROM IT

TO T

HE FULL

PRODUCT?

PRELIMINARY TASK (BEFORE AND AFTER I CREATED MY MAGAZINE):

Below is the front cover before I created my magazine:

The image on the left is the front cover, which I created when I first started this course and the one on the right is my final magazine. By having both magazines side by side, I can see that throughout the year I have learnt various new skills, techniques and I now have a better and wider understanding of the topic and subject. I can see that development has been made.

Over the course of the year, I have learnt how to add different layers by using Photoshop. My original magazine on the left has no layers, everything is on one slide and page. I believe I have also developed on my understanding of pages layers and the original conventions of magazines and how they should be presented. This can be seen from my magazine on the right.

Below is the front cover for my final magazine:

I have also learnt how magazines are structured and how they are normally presented.

Page Layout:

I have learnt that a header should be included on top of the masthead, and it should be attractive with relative connections as to what is in the magazine. The masthead should always be one of the biggest pieces of writing on the front cover as it shows the reader and the audience what the name of the magazine is. In my front cover, both the header and the masthead are the same colour, which shows and represents that the two are linked. From my old front cover, nothing appeals to the reader. The background is boring and dull and the same font has been used, this shows nothing is linked and no creativity and innovation is there.

Design:

The design on my preliminary task is very basic. It has no structure and does not meet the needs of any magazine reader. However, the design on my final front cover is completely different. I believe different magazines, helped me to do this. For example, I looked at the designs in Kerrang and Classic Rock, to see if there is any designs which I could incorporate into my magazine. I found out that to make my magazine look professional, I cannot just use one software like I did in my preliminary task, where I only used Microsoft Publisher. For example, features such as the cropping, editing the background, editing the brightness/contrast and editing my images by using tools such as the magic wand tool.

CONTENTS PAGE (BEFORE AND AFTER)Below is the contents page before I created my magazine:

Below is the contents page for my final magazine:I believe that my final contents shows

that I have learnt various new types of skills, because all the new skills which I learnt I didn’t use previously when creating my preliminary task. Having looked at professional magazines, most of them have images on them. Which is one of the reasons why I have included one. The preliminary contents page, has no date, or any subheadings which does not appeal to the reader. It may seem boring, as the house style is not complementary and is not appealing to the eye.

Half of the 1st contents page is empty, and it shows unprofessionalism and does not even look like a real magazine contents page.

Page Layout and design of contents page:

The layout of my contents page is a completely design.

I have no catchy phrases, no colour co-ordinations and I have not followed any type of house style on my preliminary task. The two contents pages are totally different. Overall I can say the both pages of the preliminary task do not bare any resemblance. No media conventions have been used in the 2 old pages, which is why they lack, detail and content. For example, there is no main image on my front cover. Every magazine which I have researched has a main front cover image, so for me to use this in my final piece of work was essential.

After learning various types of photography skills, I incorporated them into my images. Such as rule of thirds, dirty shot, high angle and low angle shots. Comparing these to my original images, I was quite surprised as it showed how much I have learnt. Using this, I could see which the images which I now had were of professional standard and were high quality, which meant that my magazine actually looked like a media product. The font choices do not relate, and sans serif has not been used to add effect. These Is no barcode on preliminary task, which shows and gives a unprofessional image.