IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT USE, DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE FORMS AND CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS?

MY MEDIA PRODUCT USES SIMILAR CODES AND CONVENTIONS TO OTHER, REAL PRODUCTS. FOR EXAMPLE I HAVE INCLUDED WITHIN MY COVER PAGE, A BARCODE, THE DATE, AND SOME OF MY MAIN HEADLINES. I HAVE ALSO USED A MID CLOSE UP SHOT FOR MY MAIN IMAGE, LIKE MUSIC MAGAZINES DO. HAVE USED A UNIQUE FONT AND A PUFF SO DISPLAY MY MAIN OFFER. AS WELL AS THIS, I HAVE INCLUDED BUZZ WORDS, LIKE ‘WIN!’ AND A CONTINUED COLOUR SCHEME SO THAT IT ALL KEYS IN WITH EACH OTHER WELL. I ALSO FEEL MY CONTENTS PAGE USES THE FORMS AND CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS, BECAUSE I HAVE USED SIMILAR COLOUR THEMES AS MY COVER PAGE, AGAIN I'VE INCLUDED A BUZZ PUFF WITH BUZZ WORD ‘NEW’ AND ALSO MY TITLE ‘CONTENTS’ IS PROMINENT WITHOUT BEING TOO OVERPOWERING. THE ONLY THING I'VE CHALLENGED, IS THE FACT I HAVEN’T INCLUDED AN ISSUE NUMBER BECAUSE I INCLUDED IT WITHIN MY COVER PAGE. I HAVE WRITTEN MY MAIN TEXT IN WHITE, AS IT CONTRASTS WELL AGAINST THE BACKGROUND AND ALSO THE MAIN WORDS ARE WRITTEN IN COLOUR TO PROMOTE THEM. I HAVE INCLUDED THE PAGE NUMBERS WITHIN MY MAIN IMAGES SO THERE IS EASE WHEN TRYING TO FIND THEM.

FOR MY MAGAZINE TITLE, I HAVE USED THE WORD ‘SWITCH!’. I FEEL THIS WORKS WELL, BECAUSE ITS NOT TYPICALLY ASSOCIATED WITH MUSIC, LIKE THE FOLLOWING TITLES FROM REAL PRODUCTS. THESE TITLES COVER THE MAIN MUSIC MAGAZINE CONVENTIONS; THEY’RE BOLD, STRIKING AND IN CONTROVERSIAL COLOURS WHICH SUIT BOTH GENDERS. I HAVE APPLIED THIS CONVENTION TO MY TITLE, WHICH IS BLACK SUITING MALES AND FEMALES, AND ITS ALSO BOLD SO IT STANDS OUT WELL.

I HAVE ALSO CHANGED SOME OF THE THINGS MY AUDIENCE REQUIRED, SUCH AS A LIGHT HOUSE STYLE. I HAVE INCLUDED THIS IN AREAS SUCH AS THE FRONT COVER AND DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD, BUT I’VE ALSO CHALLENGED IT, BY USING A DARK BLACK FOR MY CONTENTS PAGE TO CONTRAST. I FEEL THIS LOOKS BETTER BECAUSE IT BREAKS UP THE WISHY-WASHY COLOURS.

Bold title with a simple letter to represent the magazine.

NME looks good, because it is a simple title of 3 letters, and is In a colour suited to all genders. The fact the letters are capital makes it stand out more, as it appears more bold and important.

I like my magazine title, because not only does it have a unique title, but the font itself also portrays what the title says, since there are different arrows in all directions. This in my opinion, looks bold and professional.

MY PHOTO-SHOOT AND HOW I GOT TO USING MY CURRENT MAIN IMAGES

For my cover image, I originally wanted it to look as though I am featuring a group or band, so I wanted to go for a fun vibe. After taking a few photographs, I realised my audience wanted a magazine that included mainstream artists an mainstream music, and the look to my images was as though I was making a rock or indie magazine, and I was basically achieving the wrong effect., so I decided to take a photograph of Alex, my cover model, alone and featuring product placement. I think by doing this, in a medium close-up shot, it looks more effective and professional, because you can see more expression and also the clothing choices, compared to his clothes in the group photograph, work better with the audience (teenagers) I was focusing on.

I have included a controversial style cover line, like original music magazines do. This works well, as its bold and suits male and females.

Original music magazines use bold and vibrant coloured titles, to attract their audiences.

This music magazine has included a house style that is suited to both males and females, hence the blue and pink colours.

I have placed a barcode into my magazine, but as you can see, the real media product is without one, so it doesn’t cover all conventions!

My title is quite faint, which challenges real products because like you see on the VIBE mag, their contents title is bold and arranged in an interesting way. I wanted my contents page to be unique and not too overpowering, therefore I chose a weaker font. My slogan from the front cover is also present, to key both pages together somewhat. I’ve included a buzz puff next to my ‘ten new artists’ storyline. It portrays the fact they're new, and also gives visual impact, drawing the eye to that area almost instantly. The one thing I would change is the fact that the buzz puff is actually bolder than the title. Its clear that in the real product, there is no buzz puff or anything to draw your eyes to, other than the contrast of the red heart against the black and white.

For my cover lines, I've used a white font to contrast against the black background. This looks striking, but also shows my magazine is also still good for all genders. I have highlighted important words in the same blue used in my house style, and my page numbers are in pink, showing my house style is still present. The real product to the right, uses a plain black font, not really very clear, to show its cover lines. I personally don’t like this, as I think the page looks quite bland.

The photographs I've chosen to add to my contents page look, in my opinion, quite professional. I think that they work well, because the main image of Alex is clear and it draws your eye instantly due to the cream background, yet the black around the other male, makes it look professional. The only think I would change here, is perhaps adding a female into my contents page, so the fact its for males and females looks more present. The real media magazine contents page (to the right) looks professional, since the main image is taking up a large proportion of the page, but I don’t think it looks interesting, they haven’t added any way of contact, such as a web address or Facebook, live I've shown, and also the black and white theme (even on the picture) looks a little too much.

In my opinion, I feel my double page spread looks slightly better than VIBE’S because I've added a quote box, which gives your audience a quick brief into what they are going to read. As well as this, I've added a title that is clear and bold, to the top of my double page spread. This looks affective since the black contrasts with my house style, and also the exclamative at the end ‘top!’ looks interesting and makes you want to read on. The real media product, in my view, looks quite plain, although I feel the long image at the top works well and gives it a focal point, I don’t like the large image taking up to much room and the black and white, for me, doesn’t look too great. I do feel, however, that my double page looks a little faint in colour, because I've used only the colours I need for my house style, no other ones are present. Although this gives an instant connection to the fact my magazine has the same house style throughout, it looks fairly wishy-washy and faint.

HOW DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT REPRESENT PARTICULAR SOCIAL GROUPS?

• MY MEDIA PRODUCT FITS INTO THE IDEA OF C.R.A.G.S :

C – CLASS

R – RACE

A – AGE

G – GENDER

C - CLASS

• MY MAGAZINE IS MOSTLY FOCUSED UPON THE MIDDLE CLASS, TEENS IN PARTICULAR. I HAVE FOCUSED MY MUSIC MAGAZINE TO THIS CLASS AND STATUS (WHICH IS B IN THE INCOME AND CLASS SCALE) BECAUSE IT MEANS IT IS FOR A MORE DIVERSE AND WIDER AUDIENCE AND SUITS MORE PEOPLE. IF MY MAGAZINE WAS FOCUSED UPON UPPER CLASS, I WOULD HAVE TO CHANGE MY COVER LINES AND PHOTOGRAPHS TO SUIT THERE STYLE AND GENRE.

• MY MAIN IMAGE SUITS MIDDLE CLASSED PEOPLE WELL, WHICH CAN BE SEEN IN THE CLOTHES HE IS WEARING AND THE PRODUCT PLACEMENT – MIDDLE CLASSED TEENAGERS ARE LIKELY TO HAVE THIS KIND OF GEAR, AND ESPECIALLY SO IF THEY ARE PASSIONATE ABOUT MUSIC. I HAVE ALSO INCLUDED MANY WELL KNOWN ARTISTS TO THE FRONT COVER OF MY MAGAZINE, AND I THINK THAT THIS PRESENTS MIDDLE CLASSED PEOPLE WELL, BECAUSE, FROM MY RESEARCH, I FOUND OUT A LOT OF PEOPLE IN THIS CATEGORY PREFER R&B MUSIC AND CHARTS MUSIC, COMPARED TO THE LIKES OF CLASSICAL AND OPERA. MY HOUSE STYLE ALSO SUITS MY MIDDLE CLASS AIM, BECAUSE IT IS LIGHT AND AIRY, AND ALSO IS WELL SUITED TO MY DESIRED AUDIENCE, WHICH IS TEENAGERS.

R- RACE

• MY MAGAZINE DOESN’T REALLY FOCUS ON PARTICULAR RACES AS SUCH, BUT SUITS PEOPLE OF ALL ETHNIC BACKGROUNDS THAT FIT INTO MY ‘TEENAGE’ CATEGORY. I HAVE INCLUDED ALEX, WHO IS OF WHITE ETHNICITY, ONTO MY MAGAZINE COVER, BECAUSE MANY SINGER AND SONG WRITERS OF THE PRESENT DAY ARE WHITE. THIS ISN’T TO SAY THERE ARE NO SINGERS OF DIFFERENT RACIAL BACKGROUNDS, I JUST CHOSE MY MODEL TO LOOK THIS WAY BECAUSE IT SUITED MY DESIRED THEME.

• ON MY CONTENTS PAGE, I HAVE INCLUDED AN IMAGE OF SOMEONE WITH A DIFFERENT RACIAL AND ETHNIC BACKGROUND (CHINESE). I HAVE EMBEDDED THIS IMAGE INTO MY MAGAZINE, BECAUSE I THINK IT PORTRAYS THE FACT THAT MY MAGAZINE IS SUITED TO ANY ETHNICITY AND THERE IS NO PARTICULAR GROUP OF PEOPLE THAT MY MAGAZINE IS FOCUSED ON. IN REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS, YOU SEE PEOPLE OF MANY DIFFERENT ETHNIC BACKGROUNDS FEATURED ON THE FRONT COVER. I HAVE CHALLENGED THIS, FEATURING A WHITE PERSON ON MY FRONT COVER, AND A CHINESE PERSON ON THE CONTENTS PAGE. MAGAZINES SUCH AS VIBE, Q AND NME ALL USE PEOPLE WITH VERY DIVERSE BACKGROUNDS, ALTHOUGH IT IS CLEAR THAT THEIR AUDIENCE IS OF PEOPLE WHO LIKE CHARTS MUSIC, AS THE FACES FEATURED ARE GENERALLY PEOPLE FROM THIS GENRE.

A - AGE

• FROM RESEARCHING WHAT MY AUDIENCE WOULD LIKE, I FIGURED IT WOULD BE MOSTLY PRE-TEENS AND TEENAGERS WHO WOULD BE READING MY MAGAZINE, AND I HAVE THEREFORE TAILORED IT TO FIT INTO THIS AGE CATEGORY. FOR EXAMPLE, I HAVE INCLUDED STARS AND SINGERS THAT MY AUDIENCE SAID THEY LIKE, SUCH AS THE LIKES OF ‘NICKI MINAJ AND NE-YO’ AND I HAVE ALSO MADE MY HOUSE STYLE CONTROVERSIAL IN COLOUR, BUT LIGHT AND AIRY SO THAT ALL KINDS OF TEENAGERS FEEL THEY CAN APPROACH AND ENJOY MY MUSIC MAGAZINE.

• MY MAGAZINE SUPPORTS THE STEREOTYPE THAT YOUTH OF OUR PRESENT DAY, LIKE R&B AND CHARTS MUSIC, AND SO THEREFORE I HAVE INCLUDED ALL TYPES OF ARTISTS FROM THIS DAY AND AGE THAT ARE CONSTANTLY PRODUCING NEW SONGS.

• I HAVE ALSO INCLUDED, IN A BUZZ PUFF, AN ADVERTISEMENT FOR WINNING TICKETS TO A GIG. THIS SUITS PEOPLE OF THE TEENAGE ERA, SINCE THEY STEREOTYPICALLY LIKE MUSIC FESTIVALS AND GATHERINGS, WHICH IS ALSO SUPPORTED BY MY RESEARCH INTO WHAT THEY ENJOY.

• I HAVE USED INFORMAL LEXIS WITHIN MY MUSIC MAGAZINE, WITH WORDS SUCH AS ‘DEFFO’ TO INCLUDE THE KINDS OF VOCABULARY THAT TEENS USE WITHIN MY MAGAZINE. IN MY OPINION, I THINK THAT TEENS WILL BE ABLE TO ASSOCIATE WITH MY MAGAZINE BETTER IF I USE NON STANDARD ENGLISH BECAUSE IT INCLUDED DIALECT THAT THEY WOULD OFTEN USE.

G - GENDER

• MY MUSIC MAGAZINE IS FOCUSED UPON BOTH MALE AND FEMALE AUDIENCES, SO IT IS SUITED FOR ALL AUDIENCES. I HAVE INCLUDED A HOUSE STYLE OF BOTH BLUE AND PINKS FOR MY MAGAZINE SO THAT ALL GENDERS ARE CATERED FOR IN A WAY SO MY MAGAZINE SUITS THEIR NEEDS. WHEN LOOKING INTO THE BEST COLOUR OPTIONS FOR MY MAGAZINE, MY AUDIENCE DECIDED UPON LIGHT COLOURS FOR MY HOUSE STYLE. AFTER LOOKING INTO THIS, I DECIDED TO USE THEIR RESPONSES AND ENTWINE THEIR NEEDS INTO MY MAGAZINE SO ITS SUITABLE FOR THEM ALL.

• MY FRONT IMAGE IS OF A MALE, I THINK THAT THIS SUITS MY MAGAZINE STYLE WELL AND DOESN’T AFFECT THE FACT ITS ALSO TAILORED TOWARDS WOMEN, BECAUSE BOTH MALES AND FEMALES DOMINATE TODAYS MUSIC CHARTS, THEREFORE I FEEL THE FACT THAT MY MAIN IMAGE IS OF A BOY, DOESN’T ACCUMULATE SEXIST THOUGHTS.

Typically, blue connotes males, although back in the 1800’s pink was considered a masculine colour because its strong, and is thought to portray the male strength, whereas blue was to signify purity, therefore thought to be feminine.

I however, have chosen to ignore the older sayings, and have edited my magazine to suit pink for females, and blue for the males. The colour black on my contents page suits all genders, and I have edited important words in both the blue and pink so my work is not sexist.

WHAT KIND OF MEDIA INSTITUTION MIGHT DISTRIBUTE YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT AND WHY?

‘My magazine is mainstream, and focuses specifically on R&B and artists of the moment. I am focusing the magazine on teenagers and the younger generation mostly, because the artists and style of music that will be included in the magazine, such as drake and Lana Del Rey are not necessarily to the likes of middle age and elderly people. Seeing as my magazine is focusing on an R&B style, my magazine publisher will most probably be IPC media, because they have helped to publish magazines such as NME which are similar to my style of magazine. In my opinion there is definitely a space in the market for my magazine, since most of the music magazines that are currently on the shelves are focused on country or rock music, and there's not much to cover for the people that prefer music that is in the charts, like R&B.My magazine is very unique, because there are not many magazines that focus on R&B specifically, and also the magazine is focused on teens and early 20's only, but females particularly, so it contains youthful singers and story lines, as well as bright and airy colours to attract peoples eye, and again portray the fact that my magazine is not focused on rock or heavy metal.’

As I have said before, I would like an institution such as IPC media, to distribute my magazine. I have decided upon this company, because they focus on publishing NME and other magazines styles with similar context to mine. Magazines tend to be distributed in terms of how many people require a certain type of magazine. Institutions that send magazines to the shelf are all very different and they all publish different styles of music magazine, for example the institution I am focusing on is IPC media. >>

IPC media are one of the UK’s leading publishers, and tend to sell over 350 million copies of magazines, each year. They divide their magazine publishing's into these following headings:- Connect- Inspire- Ignite- South bank- TX- These are the

different sections that they publish magazines in, for example Ignite is focused on men's entertainment, whereas connect is based on weekly issues like women's gossip mags.

WHO WOULD BE THE AUDIENCE FOR YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT?

I’VE DECIDED TO FOCUS MY MAGAZINE UPON TEENS, ALTHOUGH I HAVEN’T GOT ANY AGE CATEGORY IN PARTICULAR, IN MIND, STUDENTS AND YOUNGER TEENS ARE MORE SUITED TO IT, THOUGH. I HAVE MADE MY MAGAZINE SUITABLE FOR A MIXTURE OF BOTH MALE AND FEMALE, SO THAT MY MAGAZINE ISN’T STEREOTYPICAL OR SEXIST, LEANING TOWARDS ONE GROUP OF PEOPLE MORE THAN THE OTHER. MY MAGAZINE FOCUSES ON MAINSTREAM MUSIC (WHICH IS ALREADY WIDELY SPREAD THROUGH TODAYS SOCIETY, SINCE YOU HEAR THIS STYLE OF MUSIC IN STORES, ON TV, ENTWINED WITHIN ADVERTISEMENTS, AND IN MOVIES. THIS MUSIC GENRE IS WIDELY POPULAR AND ALSO SUITS ALL PEOPLE AND THEIR MUSIC TASTES, BECAUSE IN MY OPINION, ALTHOUGH PEOPLE DON’T ALWAYS LIKE THE IDEA OF BEING PART OF THE MAINSTREAM MUSIC FANS, THE MUSIC PRODUCED IN THIS DAY AND AGE IS A MIXTURE OF BOTH INDIE, FOLK AND R&B.SWITCH! ISN'T FOCUSED ON ANY PARTICULAR RACE OR ETHNICITY, MEANING MY MAGAZINE WILL GAIN A WIDER AUDIENCE AND THERFORE GAINING MORE PUBLICITY.

MY MAGAZINE IS FOCUSED UPON WORKING CLASS PEOPLE, SUCH AS CATEGORY D’S. I HAVE CHOSEN THIS CATEGORY OF PEOPLE, BECAUSE THEY ARE USUALLY INFLUENCED BY THE MUSIC THAT IS CURRENTLY AROUND BY HEARING SONGS WHILST SHOPPING, ON TV ETC.

‘Karen is 17 years old, and currently studying a further degree of photography in Oxford university, making her a category D…’

HOW DID YOU ATTRACT/ADDRESS YOUR AUDIENCE? (INCLUDE EVIDENCE OF AUDIENCE FEEDBACK)

• FOR MY COVER IMAGE, I HAVE USED ALEX, A TEENAGE BOY. HIS CLOTHING IS DESIGNER WEAR, WHICH TEENAGERS CAN RELATE TO, SINCE ITS WIDELY POPULAR, AND THE HEADPHONES ARE NOT ONLY BEATS – A POPULAR MUSIC BRAND, BUT THEY ALSO PROVIDE PRODUCT PLACEMENT, THE SIGHT OF THEM PROVIDES THE PROOF THAT MY MAGAZINE IS OF MUSICAL CONTEXT, BUT ALSO WILL ATTRACT TEENAGERS, SINCE THEY ARE FASHIONABLE TO HAVE. AS WELL AS THIS, THE COVER IMAGE WILL HELP TO ATTRACT THE RIGHT KIND OF PEOPLE TO MY MAGAZINE, SINCE IT IS CLEARLY SHOWING THAT MY MAGAZINES PURPOSE IS TO PROVIDE MUSIC NEWS, BUT ALSO THE STYLE OF CLOTHING THAT ALEX IS WEARING IS QUITE MAINSTREAM (BECAUSE IT CONTAINS BRANDING LABELS) SO YOU GET THE FEELING THAT THE MAGAZINE WILL ALSO BE FOCUSED ON MAINSTREAM MUSIC. I THINK I HAVE PORTRAYED TEENAGERS IN A GOOD LIGHT ON MY MAGAZINE, SINCE THEY'RE USUALLY SEEN AS VANDALS AND TROUBLE MAKERS, YET MY MAGAZINE INCLUDES A COVER PHOTO OF A TEENAGE BOY WITH BEATS HEADPHONES ON, AVOIDING THE CAMERA WHICH SUGGESTS HE'S BUSY OR PRE OCCUPIED WITH MUSIC, GIVING AN IMPRESSION THAT TO HIM, MUSIC IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN THE ‘TYPICAL’ ACTIVITIES OF A USUAL TEENAGE BOY (PARTYING, DRINKING, BIKING, VANDALISING) THAT IS PORTRAYED IN THE MEDIA OR PRESS. MY FOCUS GROUP COMMENTED ON THE COLOUR SCHEME, STATING THAT ‘IT SUITS BOTH MALES AND FEMALES AND HAS A REFRESHING FEEL TO IT…’ I THINK THAT THESE COLORS WORK WELL, BECAUSE THEY HAVE REFRESHING AND FUN CONNOTATIONS, BUT ALSO THEY ARE TYPICALLY MALE AND FEMALE COLORS, SHOWING MY MAGAZINE CATERS FOR BOTH GENDERS. I FIGURED TO ATTRACT MY AUDIENCE, I’D NEED CATCHY COVER LINES AND DETAILED STORIES TO GRAB ATTENTION, THEREFORE I INCLUDED A COVER LINE THAT HELD MANY POPULAR ARTIST’S NAMES WITHIN IT TO GRAB ATTENTION, SINCE THESE ARTISTS ARE WELL KNOWN AND MAINSTREAM SINGERS. I HAVE ALSO USED BOLDER TEXT IN MY ‘BUZZ’ ON THE FRONT PAGE, AS I FEEL THE EYE WILL BE DRAWN TO IS QUICKLY, AND THE USE OF THE PULL WORD ‘WIN’ AND THE EXCLAMITIVE AT THE END, SHOWS EXCITEMENT AND POSSIBILITY, AND THE THOUGHT OF WINNING COULD BE ALL IT TAKES TO ATTRACT MY AUDIENCE INTO READING MY MAGAZINE. WHILST COLLECTING MY AUDIENCE RESEARCH, I FOUND OUT THAT MOST OF MY AUDIENCES GO TO MUSIC FESTIVALS AT LEAST ONCE A FORTNIGHT, THEREFORE ADDING A BUZZ RELATING TO GIGS, FOR ME, WAS A BONUS TO ATTRACT MORE PEOPLE TO MY MAGAZINE.

On this front cover, the main image ( Dizzee Rascal ) is wearing designer clothing (Adidas) which portrays a youthful feel. His jewelry makes a ‘loud’ statement, suggesting he is a rapper, or some kind of R&B singer, since they tend to make more of a statement in what they wear and how they’re seen. The background of graffiti also portrays youthfulness, since graffiti is usually seen as a teenage art form.

This magazine has a quite strong folk / country music feel to it, since there is use of browns, blacks and yellows, which are all earthy colors, showing that the magazine is most probably aimed at people with a passion for country music. The main image doesn’t make so much of a statement, since its peaceful, the model is looking away from the camera, suggesting she's in a state of thought, and her small smile shows tranquility and a content feeling.

HOT-DESKING

‘The main image is brilliant, it really catches your attention, being light in color with the sudden contrast of black on the headphones, cover line and t-shirt. I like the way you have outlined the top, it looks professional and eye catching, I really like this cover page, but the cutting out of some of the text boxes around your models head doesn’t look as neat, as it perhaps could do.’

‘I like your cover page, since the house style looks refreshing, fun and airy, but also suits both males and females, making it applicable for all, I would imagine this will bring you more of an audience, sine at first glance, it’s clear that it suits all people. If I was to change something, it would be the amount of storylines you have. It looks abitMuch.’

I am fairly pleased with my hot desking results, since I feel that the people I asked genuinely enjoyed looking at my work, and my cover page. I have taken on board some of my comments, although I don’t think the story line comment is applicable, you need a lot of storylines to grab attention – the more you have the better the chance of publicity.

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

To create my music magazine, I used Photoshop for my front cover, and InDesign for the contents and double page spread.Whilst using these programs, I was able to edit photographs, creating a better overall effect, plus I could type and move text into any area I wanted. InDesign, for me, proved the harder program for me to use, since it was slightly more complex, and therefore took me longer to suss out and use. After finishing my products, and looking back, I feel that Photoshop provided me with the most skills, since I was able to do a lot of editing to my magazine so that is suited my audience criteria and therefore making it look more professional in the long run, whereas InDesign proved harder and I don’t feel I've learned many skills in which I can carry forward, I feel I didn't’t quite grasp all of its concepts so well, but looking back to the start of using InDesign, I feel my skills have considerably changed for the better, I’ve picked up basic skills, such as drop shadows, and outer glows, although not all of those things have been put into my magazine.Overall I feel my understanding for different software's has really thoroughly improved, since before making my music magazine I had no idea on how to use programs such a Photoshop and ID but now I feel I've put them to good use whilst making my magazine, and they have assisted me greatly in making a professional looking magazine, in my opinion.

LOOKING BACK AT YOUR PRELIMINARY TASK, WHAT DO YOU FEEL YOU HAVE LEARNT IN THE PROGRESSION FROM IT TO THE FULL PRODUCT?

• I FEEL I’VE LEARNED MANY SKILLS WITHIN THE PHOTOSHOP PROGRAM THAT WILL ENABLE ME TO CREATE DETAILED WORK WITHIN MEDIA IN THE FUTURE, SINCE I'VE LEARNED HOW TO EDIT PROPERLY, CUT OTHER IMAGES INTO EXISTING ONES, TYPE AND JUST GENERALLY MAKE MY WORK LOOK MORE PROFESSIONAL.

• BEFORE I HAD FULLY BEGUN MY MUSIC MAGAZINE, I FOUND INDESIGN QUITE SCARY, BECAUSE IT IS QUITE A BIT DIFFERENT FROM PHOTOSHOP AND WHAT I WAS USED TO, BUT I FEEL I DID PRETTY WELL CONSIDERING I DIDN'T’T REALLY KNOW HOW TO USE IT, AND AS A RESULT MY WORK LOOKS FAIRLY PROFESSIONAL, ALTHOUGH IF I WAS TO CHANGE ANYTHING, I WOULD HAVE LIKED TO HAVE A LITTLE MORE TIME IN LEARNING ABOUT THE PROGRAM BEFORE GOING INTO MY WORK.

• I HAVE LEARNED A LOT MORE TECHNIQUES FROM THE PROGRAMS I USED, SUCH AS HOW TO ERASE UNWANTED MISTAKES, BLUR EDGES, USING THE MAGNETIC LASSO TOOL IN PHOTOSHOP, AND I'VE ALSO FIGURED OUT BETTER WAYS WHEN LAYING OUT WORK, TO MAKE IT LOOK A LOT MORE PROFESSIONAL LIKE REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS, AND ALSO MAKE IT LOOK LESS BUSY AND CRAMPED.