Q7) Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

The script to question 7, that I read when recording this video.

Q7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

From my preliminary task I have learnt and understood the generic conventions of a music magazine, including the contents page and double page spread. This meant that I could apply them to my final product whereas for my preliminary task I did not go into thorough research to gain an exhaustive idea on what to include therefore I based my magazine on what I knew from just looking at existing magazines. Therefore my skills have developed increasingly having researched music magazines more thoroughly, and technically having the access to Adobe Fireworks to edit my photographs. 

I now have better ‘cutting out’ and layering skills on fireworks, in addition to editing the contrast and brightness on photographs effectively. Layering the features of the magazine makes the product look more successful because the features look more incorporated and professional. Due to not researching existing magazines thoroughly for my preliminary task I did not stick to a colour limit of three main colours as well as not using few creative fonts. When making this magazine I used the same software of Microsoft Publisher, however I did not use an editing software for the photographs, therefore they appear simply as they were taken and may not be the best they could. Unlike on my music magazine whereby I thought about the appearance of a pop artist so that I could create a similar look. As you can see I did use a prop of a laptop to enhance the student look as well as a lanyard with the word student on it to make it look slightly more realistic and genuine. 

On the front cover of my music magazine I didn’t need a prop because I didn’t feel the need for one as I felt that I could represent the artist without one, and use some in other images throughout the magazine, like a microphone on this image where she is on stage, and a rubber duck for an unusual effect on the double page spread to relate to the interview. 

On my real magazine product the features are more incorporated and combined as I made the background of the main image transparent so that the text could blend with the image so it would look all as one rather than distinctly putting the text on top of the image like I did in my student magazine. This made the overall product look more like a real magazine in comparison to my preliminary task whereby it looks poorly made having a main image with text overlaying it, which does not make it look incorporated or professional.

From constructing images I have learnt that it takes time and patience to cut images how you want them as well as when layering them they need to look incorporated and combined rather than placed on top of one another.  From making my actual magazine I had to cut out a close up portrait shot and long shot which took time to get it as best as I could; zooming in to the see when the pixels changed colour helped me edit the photographs more effectively. 

I also experimented with manipulating images by placing the figure on various different backgrounds to see if it looked more interesting and engaging on a musical concert stage background. From this I learnt that it is possible to make the two different images entwine together by changing the contrast and brightness to make them fit together as well as placing the top layer image in a suitable place, such as if the body is cut, then the bottom of where the cut out is must be placed at the bottom of the image so that it is looks clean and does not finish randomly. 

From designing layouts I have learnt that it is important to be equal throughout to ensure that there is a consistent style. For instance magazines work in columns making it easier to read, therefore the distance between the columns and the width of the columns need to be the same to make the overall appearance look professional, generic and consistent. 

On my preliminary task I knew that magazines worked in columns however I did not take this into consideration when making the contents page whereas for my real product I did, using the column layout on Publisher. 

Making the layout similar to a real magazine shows that I have researched existing products to make my product look as realistic and typical as possible. I learnt that the masthead is to be placed at the top of the page filling the width from left to right or simply in the top left hand corner. The main article cover line is made more dominant by having a more artistic and larger font size, and possibly a different colour, and the rest of the cover lines should be in a bold yet simple sans serif font. On my music magazine I completed this by making the main article cover line bigger than the other cover lines as well as using a different colour font and background shape. The other cover line features are in a black and red font to correlate with my chosen colour scheme of black, white and red. Again I did not do this on my preliminary task because I had not researched existing products thoroughly enough to gain an understanding that this was essential to making the product look generic.

Another layout rule that I learnt was the left-hand third rule which is when the main or important parts are placed in the left-hand third, and the most significant part is made larger to fill more of a third to give prominence to the feature. On my music magazine front cover I placed the cover line text on the left-hand third because this is where the audience will look for content and decide whether they wish to read the magazine or not. I enlarged the main article text of ‘Ashley Rocketing to the Top’ because this is the main featuring article which relates to the image to the right of it. It is also in a different colour so that it differs from the rest of the text and cover lines to show significance of the article. Whereas on my preliminary task you can see how I did not consider this rule and place the image on the left with text either side of it, making it look messy and unprofessional.

The images included in a magazine must be edited well so that they look professional and fit the purpose and style of the magazine. For my real product I researched the theme of what my target audience was interested in so that I could refer back to this when making my product to ensure that I was meeting the target audience’s interest and expectations. From creating a survey for my target audience allowed me to gain an idea of what I needed to focus on to make a successful product that they would be interested in as well as researching existing magazines to make sure that the product I would make was generic to make it look realistic and professional. I learnt that magazines achieve their aim by basing their content on what their audience is interested in, and I could do this by asking my audience questions, and even when making my product I asked a smaller focus group which design they preferred for the masthead so that I would make a product that they preferred the appearance of and caught their attention and interest. 

From asking my target audience if they read any existing music magazines I could research these to see what the layout and features of these magazines are so that I can refer back to them when making my product and learn from them so that I created a product that my target audience is interested in.