Question 7

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

Comparing my preliminary front cover to my coursework front cover.

• The colour scheme on my preliminary work is not consistent, there are many different colours on the page. Whereas on my coursework, the colours are constant.

• The fonts used on Wired are more interesting and professional looking.

• The two layouts aren’t too different, the coverlines are placed in similar places but the main sell on Wired is a lot more determinable. Also, the masthead for Urban Campus is slanted slightly, I think the reasoning behind this was simply because I had the technology to do so, so did so without much thought.

Comparing contents pages.

• I have used all of my own images in Wired, and manipulated them all, whereas in Urban Campus, I chose to collect the imaged from the internet, and I didn’t edit them at all.

• The two layouts of the pages have the same conventions, but used in different ways. I think my coursework contents page is a lot more professional looking, probably because I had a chance to experiment with the technology to make the first magazine, and was able to improve on it.

Planning

• Planning and preparation was very important in this process. This is because it helped me to decide what I was going to produce before I came to do it. If I hadn’t have planned anything, a lot of my time would have been taken up by experimenting with layouts, fonts, etc, when I could have done all of that in the planning.

• I produced a few sketches and scanned them in to the computer to show my initial designs.

• This also brings me to organisation of time; as I had quite a lot to do in little time, I had to make sure that no time spent on planning and producing had gone to waste.

Technical skills

• When taking the photographs for my magazine, I had to bear in mind things such as angles, shot types, props and clothing.

• The preliminary task helped me out a lot when it came to taking the photos, as I learnt that everything in the photograph can say something about your type of magazine and the audience it is aimed at.

• Also my knowledge of Photoshop and QuarkXPress was increased, and I found out how to make my products more professional looking.

Target Audience

• All of the decisions I made when designing the magazine included things such as font types, colours, photos, actual content, bands etc were made while thinking about my target audience. All of these factors and more are very important in portraying what genre your magazine is, and who the audience are.

What is the biggest thing I have learnt from undertaking this project?

• I think the biggest factors I have learnt is how to use the certain technology needed to make a professional looking magazine, while organising my time effectively and sticking to deadlines to create an successful outcome.