Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product ?

Question Seven:

In reference to the preliminary task, I had to create a college magazine for the first time. I was inexperienced and I only had some basic knowledge on how to use Adobe Photoshop. This reflected through the simplicity of the magazine that I produced and the lack of professionalism in the overall appearance of the magazine.

This is the college magazine I created for the preliminary task.

Comparisons

CLICK ON THE ABOVE IMAGE

CLICK ON THE ABOVE IMAGE

College Magazine • As seen on the front cover of my college magazine I placed my cover lines in black rectangular boxes which were all different sizes. Looking back on this decision I realised that this was one of the factors which contributed to making the appearance of my magazine look amateur. • The use of rectangular black boxes also played a part in disturbing the image of my cover star. This is because the boxes blended in with her clothing and generally did not compliment the overall appearance of the magazine.

• I identified that the use of boxes to place my cover lines in for my college magazine should not be repeated when creating my own magazine in the main task because it made the magazine look unprofessional. I disregarded the use of boxes on the front cover of my music magazine.

•In terms of the placement of particular features on the cover of my college magazine I did not have extensive knowledge about the conventions of magazines and this resulted in me placing features such as the barcode and issue number randomly on the front cover where at the time I thought it was suited to be placed.

• However since carrying out my case studies and research into music magazines. I am more familiar with the conventions and aware of where these features should be placed on a magazine . I made sure that these were correctly placed on the front cover of my music magazine.

• The issue number is randomly placed at the top of the magazine. The barcode is too large and too close to the edge of the magazine it is also in the wrong place.

Music Magazine • Masthead is much clearer, brighter and visible to the audience as opposed to the masthead of my college magazine.

•The layout of my music magazine is also much better in comparison to the layout of my college magazine which was let down by the use of boxes amongst other things .

•On the front cover of my music magazine I have placed my barcode in the bottom left corner of the magazine and included information such as the issue no., date, price and web address of the magazine in small print. This makes the appearance of my magazine look more official again in comparison to my college magazine.

•In my music magazine I have just placed my cover lines on the front cover without the use of boxes which I think makes the magazine look professional.

• I have also improved on my photography skills because the image of my cover star looks more professional and appealing as opposed to my college magazine in which the photography was let down by problems with the lighting which resulted in shadows being visible in the image.

The screenshot above displays the targets that I set for myself in my evaluation for my college magazine on areas that I wished to improve on in the main task. I feel that I have been able to achieve all three targets that I have set for myself. This is evident in the appearance of my music magazine in comparison to my college magazine and also in the progression that I have made over the period of carrying out my coursework. Overall looking back at my preliminary task I feel that I have progressed hugely over this period of time and this is evident in the magazine that I created for the main task. I have also been able to learn about, use and extend my knowledge on a range different technologies which have also been very useful to me and helped me to improve my skills further .