I have enjoyed the course and feel like I have gained and developed a variety of skills, to navigate my blog there is a "labels" section on the right hand side, and also an archive if you scroll down, from which you can access any of my work.
Thanks.
Friday 17 April 2015
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product? (draft)
Since making my preliminary magazine, I have learnt about page harmony rules, and different page models. Looking at my preliminary magazine, it doesn't really follow any rules to the layout and so doesn't look professional. In general also, my ability to use different technologies has greatly increased over the duration of the course, I had minimal experience editing pictures and using photoshop before making my magazine. So throughout the process of making my magazine, I learnt the necessary skills required to effectively edit images and compile them along with my article into a magazine. My product was also improved from teacher guidance and peer comments, which helped finding flaws in my product that I didn't spot myself.
On my preliminary magazine, my lack of knowledge of the technologies and page design is evident, the page follows no real model, and the images are poorly taken and lit, with little/no editing. I had also carried out no research into what made a good magazine, so that also shows in my preliminary. During my research and planning I discovered colour schemes and different fonts, which make a far more professional looking magazine when integrated. I think my preliminary magazine is also a bit too cluttered as well, as the groups I am targeting appreciate a simplistic and clean aesthetic as opposed to the more "busy" look of more mainstream magazines.
I was also inspired to go from a typical gloss magazine to a print publication by the magazine "Loud and Quiet" which is printed like a newspaper. My improved understanding of photoshop helped me make a much more aesthetically pleasing magazine, through the use of tools like layers and editing the flaws out of pictures and adjusting the colour levels. My understanding of how to take a professional looking picture, has also greatly improved, with knowledge of things like where to place a fill light to remove shadows, and how best to position the main lights to get a fully lit picture.
Overall I think the main things I learned were the skills to effectively use the technology available, and the conventions of page design, as these were the things that allowed me to create a realistic looking magazine.
On my preliminary magazine, my lack of knowledge of the technologies and page design is evident, the page follows no real model, and the images are poorly taken and lit, with little/no editing. I had also carried out no research into what made a good magazine, so that also shows in my preliminary. During my research and planning I discovered colour schemes and different fonts, which make a far more professional looking magazine when integrated. I think my preliminary magazine is also a bit too cluttered as well, as the groups I am targeting appreciate a simplistic and clean aesthetic as opposed to the more "busy" look of more mainstream magazines.
I was also inspired to go from a typical gloss magazine to a print publication by the magazine "Loud and Quiet" which is printed like a newspaper. My improved understanding of photoshop helped me make a much more aesthetically pleasing magazine, through the use of tools like layers and editing the flaws out of pictures and adjusting the colour levels. My understanding of how to take a professional looking picture, has also greatly improved, with knowledge of things like where to place a fill light to remove shadows, and how best to position the main lights to get a fully lit picture.
Overall I think the main things I learned were the skills to effectively use the technology available, and the conventions of page design, as these were the things that allowed me to create a realistic looking magazine.
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product? (draft)
Photoshop
Photoshop was the editing software used in the making of my magazine, I had used it briefly before the course but since making my magazine I had to learn many more skills, such as editing a picture to remove flaws, how to change the lighting levels, aligning images and cutting images out using the different built in tools. It allowed me to create a professional, realistic looking final magazine.
Computer
I used a combination of the school computers and computers at home to complete my magazine, it was absolutely vital to making my magazine, as it was the hardware which allowed me to access the software and websites I used when making and researching my magazine.
Camera
I used a Nikon D3200, which is the digital-slr camera I used at school, during making my magazine I had to learn how to set up the camera to take my desired pictures, by adjusting exposure, white-balance and shutter speed. The use of the camera let me take high-quality, professional looking pictures, which helped contribute to the overall high quality of my end product. In conjunction with the camera I also learnt how to use a tripod, which let me take stable, blur free pictures, whilst also letting me take multiple pictures from exactly the same location/perspective.
SD Cards and USB memory sticks
I used a variety of different SD cards and memory sticks in the process of making my magazine, they were very useful in transferring pictures and photoshop files between computers as they were too large to send via email or conveniently upload to cloud services. Because they easily let me take work between home and school it allowed me to complete work much easier as I wasn't limited to only working at school.
Google Chrome
Google chrome was the internet browser I used whilst carrying out research or finding images, without it, researching magazines and target audiences would have been much more difficult.
UK Tribes & YouGov Profiler
These two websites were very useful in the process of making my magazine, as they provided invaluable information on different youth cultures and their interests, and they permitted me to effectively market my magazine.
Blogger
This was the website I used to post all my work relating to my magazine, it was incredibly convenient as it automatically saves work, and can be accessed from any internet browser, so it made working across multiple computers very easy.
Flickr
Flickr is an image hosting site I used to upload the high definition photos I took, it allowed me to easily display and backup work online, whilst also accessing them from any internet browser.
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