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

Taking a look at my college magazine (preliminary task) and my music magazine (finished product) the drastic improvement is quite clear and I have developed lots of skills in designing a magazine. Creating basic conventions proved hard to me in my preliminary task as I had low knowledge in constructing a magazine and including professional features without looking like a leaflet instead.

In my college magazine the masthead “BRIGHT MAGAZINE” wasn’t aligned properly. The “MAGAZINE” wasn’t in alignment with “BRIGHT”, which makes the magazine look unprofessional and rushed. I have learnt that alignment of text in very important as it makes the magazine looks neat and professional; this was demonstrated in my music magazine. The coverlines in my college magazine was written all over the place as at that point I didn’t know how to make use of the space I have wisely. In my finished product I learnt to come up with enough coverlines in use of my space and in interest of my audience. Through the use of photoshop I was able to write my coverlines in different layers and bring them together to create some type of relationship and all about looking neat and professional.

During my preliminary task I learnt how to change the colour of a text and I established this by presenting all my coverlines in different colours, which made my magazine look like it’s targeted at kids and made it come out colourful and messy which is unattractive for a professional magazine.

The college magazine content pages expose the amount of effort being put it as well as the low level of skill being demonstrated. Taking a lot at my music magazine content page we can see that I have learnt how to draw shapes on photoshop, take suitable pictures for a content page considering my target audience, give as much information as possible, write in a suitable format and not place writing all over my image. Looking back at my preliminary task and my fully finished product and the things I have learnt I can now vouch for my skills and abilities on photoshop in making a professional magazine with suitable and carefully chosen features for the target audience.