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

the full product?

Evaluation Question 7

Preliminary Task Here is the brief for my college magazine; using DTP and an image manipulation programme, produce the front page of a new/college magazine, featuring a photograph of a student in medium close ups plus some appropriately laid out text and a mast head. Additionally you must produce a mock up layout of the contents page to demonstrate their grasp of DTP

Music Magazine

The brief for my music magazine; To design a front cover, contents and double page spread of a new music magazine. All images and text used must be original, a minimum of four images must be used.

Preliminary Task Outcome

Usefulness of the preliminary task;

I found the preliminary important in terms of the tasks itself, it set me up for producing a better, higher quality and over all good piece of work when it came to my music magazine. I didn’t like my college magazine as I rushed it and didn’t use the tools I felt I could of to make it better. In my music magazine I tried to do everything to the best of my ability and to make sure I used tools that I could use comfortably but also to step out of the comfort zone and try something new. I ensured the music magazine was timed properly and I produced it at the pace I wanted but it wasn’t rushed or overdue.

Photoshop/Word (Preliminary Task);

Before creating my college magazine I never had any prior experience with Photoshop, I think this is evident by the basic techniques used on my college magazine. I used YouTube to help me grasp Photoshop as well as a prior task to help understand Photoshop. I didn’t use Photoshop initially on my college magazine which is noticeable to see, I used word and publisher as I felt most comfortable with this software at the time. To create my mast head I used a logo design tool which after editing still had a white background as I didn’t remove it properly which made my work look poor in terms of development. Consequently my front cover wasn’t the correct dimensions nor did the image fit the brief of a medium Shot.

Music Magazine Outcome;

Photoshop (Music Magazine); While creating my music magazine I had to engage in many more

tools on Photoshop to get the desired look for example removing a background from an image, add layer lasso tool or magic wound tool delete. Also adding text and creating edited images I found at first difficult and frustrating to not fully understand but as I created and edited my images I print screened to ensure I had evidence of my Photoshop work while creating my magazine. I learnt how to merge layers and how to create a new background as seen in my front cover. Adding my existing images into a polaroid frame was used also on Photoshop by opening a separate file new layer magic wand tool delete background add new image save. I blended my images together to ensure they looked like they belong by the tool on Photoshop. I created all of my magazine with the use of Photoshop.

Word/ Publisher;For my music magazine I had to use word and publisher in some circumstances. I used word for writing up my articles as Photoshop doesn’t have a spell checker on the software I used word for this to ensure my spelling and grammar was completely correct. Publisher helped my create my digital layouts of my magazine for both my college magazine and my music one. I used word to write my interview for my double page spread and then transferred it onto Publisher for me to use. Publisher has a word text wrapping feature as well as a columns and drop cap option to make my magazine look like a magazine as Photoshop doesn’t have these features it would have been time consuming for me to use Photoshop for this method.

PicMonkey;

I used this website to create my Google mock ups for research before my music magazine and I used it for creating my plug and my mast head. I used the font text option to create the mast head of ‘Phoenix’ of my magazine, I used this website as the font looked like flicked paint of certain letters and looked different. I used this website and saved the image and transferred it onto Photoshop. I used the circle tool on this website to create my plug, I liked the colour variation on the website so I chose it to help me create my music magazine, I then used the text tool to add the competition onto the circle. The website is really easier to use and quick which saved me time in terms of creating things and transferring them onto Photoshop.

Prezi/SlideShare/Fotor/ Blogger;

Not only have I have learnt how to use technology creating my magazine I have learnt new aspects in terms of coursework and how to present my work. Before starting this coursework I would only type things in block text and now I have developed skills with using websites such as Prezi, SlideShare and Fotor for collages. These devices help me keep me engaged in my work to keep motivated to carry on as it was a fun way to present my work. Even in the construction of my blog I learnt how to embed codes onto my blog by clicking the ‘HTML’ section on Blogger to add my Prezi’s and SlideShares. Consequently some of my coursework was not in order and I had to change the date on the side of the options to make the post come in order. Using Blogger itself was a new experience, I had used it before this course but never to the extent of learning to post photos and videos. Even editing my own blog to a theme I liked was a new experience finding a theme compatible with the videos and other devices on my blog. I used Fotor to collage my images together to make them look pleasing on my blog rather than posting one after the other.

What have I learnt?

I learnt the ins and outs of Photoshop and new device software to produce my work. Photoshop has helped me understand

how to create all sorts of images and what you can do with an image in terms of adding new backgrounds.

i would change the artist on my magazine to a male to fit my target audience better and to make sure my music genre is understood 100% rather than having a female as it can be

indecisive what genre or audience my magazine is.

What would I change?

Comparison to my college magazine development of new skills are evident;

Comparison to my college magazine development of new skills are evident;