Evaluation Question Seven

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

When looking back at my Preliminary and main tasks, I can clearly see that my skills have vastly improved. Comparing my construction techniques and time management skills between each task I believe I have produced a far more professional product now, as to the preliminary task I completed at the start of the course.

Front Cover
When comparing both covers I can clearly see that my skills with Photoshop have majorly improved. I believe the main improvement has been how I chose the backgrounds for each. The preliminary cover I simply sat a friend down in the school library, and took a photo without thinking. Where as when taking photos for my main task I found it took a lot longer, I see this as a positive as it shows I thought about the overall image, and not just the person in the photo. The photo for the main task was taken in a room in my house, I thought carefully as I wanted a plainand smooth background, because I thought ahead as placing text on a plain background is far easier than having a natural background. I decided to use the plain background as on the Preliminary I had trouble placing text on it as I could not find a bold enough colour. The layouts of each cover are very different, I believe I have improved as mainly the preliminary is very bare, and actually looks unfinished. This compares to my main cover as I tried to fill as much blank space as possible, this therefore makes the cover look more professional and gives more information to the reader, which will hopefully entice them to buy it. When planning my main task I also chose a colour theme before even taking photos, this saved me a lot of time as when I was doing the preliminary I spent a large amount of time thinking of colours that would suit the background. I believe I have learnt to manage time more effectively, as well as creating a more detailed plan before starting work which helps in the long run of the project.

Contents
When comparing the contents pages I think I have improved in many areas. I believe the layout of my main task shows how I learnt to think more on the overall image of the page, this can be seen by fonts, colours and the actual layout of the text and pictures. At the time when creating the preliminary I did not have that much knowledge of Photoshop and this shows by the contents page. The colours I chose to use on the main match the front cover, which keeps a house style. Where as the preliminary contents has similar colours to the cover, but the background is totally different, I have learnt that to keep a consistent style you need to use similar colours for the text and background. The font used on the preliminary is hard to read from a distance, when starting my main task contents I wanted to use a simple font, because if the reader struggles to read it they may just ignore the content on the page. I also used the same font from the cover to the contents which was 'Jailbird Jenna', I used different fonts in the preliminary and now I can see that using the same font with another simple font looks much more effective.

When adding photos tothe preliminary I can see that I stretched the one on the right, without considering how it looks distorted. When adding photos to the main task I made sure that when re-sizing the pictures they looked original, and not overly stretched.

The main improvement I think is my layout, as the preliminary is purely three columns with text and photos. As I became more confident with Photoshop I could produce a more professional contents for my main task. I decided to use one column, and then a double column for the rest of the page, this was because I wanted to have a different contents to others, as they mainly use single columns. I also think that creating the boxes around each area on the main task is an improvement, as it helps the reader clearly see each section. I also think that I have managed the space available more effectively, looking at the preliminary I have got more text on the page, but I think it still looks bare, mainly because I did not know how to add the boxes around text. Once I added them to the main I learnt that using the boxes around text and titles of each column the page looks more filled, and therefore more like a music magazine.

Language

Another thing I learnt from doing my preliminary and main task was how to address my audience. I had to use different types of language for both as the school magazine is aimed at students, between the ages of 11 and 18. Where as my music magazine is aimed at males aged 15 to 25, therefore each magazine needs different types of language to entice the audience. For the school magazine I wanted to use language that will appeal to the younger audience, for example phrases like 'Top Revision Tips' and 'Maths Trouble?'. I used these as it is a school magazine, and has to have relevant content for the target audience. For my main task, I decided to use more relaxed language as the target audience is different to a school magazine. I decided to use words like 'Subscribe' and 'Exclusive', this is because for the music magazine you want to persuade people to buy it, by showing it has information that others do not have. I think a music magazine needs more persuasive language as it has a wider target market than a school magazine, as wellas different age groups who favour different types of language used.

Overall my knowledge and skills using Photoshop and Indesign have vastly improved. Before the course I had never used either program, but now I feel confident that if I could re-do my preliminary task it could be at a much higher standard like my main task. But I am happy with my preliminary task how it was because it taught me how to produce a much more professional product.