When comparing the two products produced from the preliminary task and full product, I can see how my skills have developed over the time of production, and feel

I have become more confident with the technology that I have used.

When planning the magazine that I was going to produce for my main task, I collected audience research by conducting a questionnaire so that I could produce a

product which appealed to the readers needs.

If I look back at the sketches produced for my preliminary task they are basically the same as the finished product.

If I look back at the sketches produced for my preliminary task they are basically the same as the finished product.

However the sketches produced for the main task look nothing like the actual results of the product, and this is because more research was conducted throughout the production which made me alter my ideas, in order to suit the audience of my magazine more effectively.

I feel that the majority of these improvements were due to my research and planning skills being enhanced.

During the production of the full product I collected more research into music magazines, which helped me to produce a professional looking magazine of my own.

I created a list of the codes and conventions of a music magazine so that I could follow these when creating my own product, so that my magazine attracted its audience and followed the same layout of other existing products.

Although codes and conventions have been followed during the completion of my full product, it has still allowed me to be creative with my ideas and produce a product

which appeals to its readers and suits the R’n’B genre.

The image used on the front cover seems stretched and pulled to fit the page, so it does not have much appeal to it. Shadows of light also cover the face of the model so it gives the magazine an unprofessional look. When creating my

preliminary product I was subjective to ideas, and produced my product based on what I thought would attract my audience.

The colours used appear washed out so do not attract the audiences attention.

The coverlines are not very creative so do not really attract the audience.

The magazine details are in a too large text, and the text size used on the coverlines have only been used to fill up the space on the page.

Text size of strapline is too big.

The font used for the title is not unique.

I found that from establishing the codes

and conventions of music magazines during

research for the full product, helped me

when creating a professional looking

design which was suitable for my target

audience, as it followed the look and was similar

to that of already existing magazines.

When creating my preliminary product I was

subjective to ideas and produced my product

based on what I thought would attract my audience.

When creating the full product the sketches differ so much from my completed product, as this time I was objective with ideas and used my research to fully complete the aim of the project, which was to create a music magazine which appealed to the target audience of the product. From conducting a questionnaire also gave me a better understanding of what the reader wants.

I was more creative with my images, as from conducting

audience research it was found that the majority of people said

that images were the first things that they look at and

what stand out the most on a magazine, so I had to make sure

that the images used were acceptable towards the target

audience.

My full product front cover looks more professional than that of my preliminary exercise, as I have also included a strapline on my front cover for the main task, which I have seen used on already existing music magazines, so follows the codes and conventions of a professional layout.

I think that my photography skills have also improved, as the images in my main task use more striking poses in order to appeal to my magazines target audience and capture people’s attention, whereas the images for my preliminary exercise seem to merge into the background on the page, and do not have as much appeal to them.

I wanted to be creative and use striking photography, so

by using Adobe Photoshop allowed me to edit my images,

cutting them out and placing them onto a new background

so that they were more suited to the genre of magazine.

The coverlines used on my full product are more

creative than those used in my preliminary exercise,

and also have more appeal to them.

I have used a very simple layout and the images seem

compressed into a square like layout.

I think that my Photoshop skills have developed when

producing my full product as I did not edit the images

for my preliminary exercise, except for cropping a few images to fit them in with

the design layout.

Due to it being the first time I had used QuarkXPress, I was not very confident when using the software and did not know how to use all of the tools, so I let the software control me and had to restrict my ideas by making them simpler so that I could produce these in my product.

I was just learning how to use the software, so I chose to create a basic design that was made easy by the programme because of the basic tools available.

Throughout the project I feel I have become more confident and comfortable when using

QuarkXPress, as I chose to be more creative with my design for the full product and rotate some of the images, changing

the size of objects and overlapping images.

I also created my double page spread using QuarkXPress and felt more confident when aligning text and positioning images.

I wanted to be creative and use striking photography, so by using Adobe Photoshop allowed me to edit my images, cutting them out and placing them onto a new background so that they were more suited to the genre of magazine. This also helped me to develop my skills when using Photoshop.

When creating my product using QuarkXPress, I felt more

in control of the software when compared with my preliminary task, as I had

already used the software before. So during my main task

I began to experiment with ideas, and create new ideas using the tools available on

the software.

When producing my main product I was more creative with my images, as from conducting audience research it was found that the majority of people said that images were the first things that they look at and what stand out the most on a magazine, so I had to make sure that the images used were acceptable towards the target audience.

I feel I have become more creative when producing headlines for my product, as the headline used for my double page spread is a play on words. I have used the word reign in my headline to represent the power of the artist, but it is also a metaphor for the rain falling down on the umbrellas below, representing the song ‘Umbrella’ sung by Rihanna.

From conducting research I also feel

that my writing skills have improved, as I

was able to use a more suitable language style

appropriate for my audience which was

similar to that of existing magazines.

I felt that my language style was

more professional in my main task rather than my preliminary

exercise, as I researched the

content of articles from existing

magazines to help me.

I was more knowledgeable on the type of article that my audience would want to read, and I also had an interest in the genre of magazine that I produced, so I feel that all of this helped when coming up with ideas and writing for a particular audience.