Evaluation Q6

By Oliver Midgley

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

During my research phase, I used PowerPoint to present my information. I was already very capable with the software and found from experience it is easier to manipulate images in than Word. I used survey monkey for the first time- a website which allows you to create and publish your own surveys. I learnt as I went, it was a fairly intuitive site for designing the survey and it was simple to share through the URL it provides. This helped to gain an understanding of my target audience’s preferences so I could incorporate them into my final product therefore making it more appealing to them. For my qualitative research, using a camera was a straight forward method of capturing spontaneous, qualitative responses. This variation of the way I presented my findings makes it more interesting for the viewers. I was inexperienced with this piece of hardware and learnt the basics regarding recording as well as positioning the camera stand. The videos then needed to be uploaded onto a computer so I used a USB cable to do so. To edit these multiple clips, I used Adobe Premier Pro (video-editing software). This was my first encounter with it so I needed help to understand a fairly complicated program- I was required to: import the clips, import an external music track (after downloading and converting it from YouTube), split up the long videos into smaller material and cut any unwanted footage, rearrange the clips, apply transitions in-between, add slides of texts containing the questions, layer music over the video and export the video to upload it onto YouTube where I would then insert a link on my blog.

For the planning stage, I again chose PowerPoint as I am more practiced in it and feel more comfortable using it. The main part of the planning is the pitch so it is important when marketing a product to make it aesthetically appealing and fun as well as informative rather than showing uninteresting, dense chunks of text that software like Word is better for. I also used it for my photography planning as it has a good range of tools which allow me to easily format/crop/position the images. This planning meant I had a better understanding and a clearer vision of the finished creation I was aiming to produce myself. For taking the photos for my final product I used the same type of camera used for filming previously. Since I used it only for filming before, I was recapped about a few features more prominent for still photography, including things like flash, focus, zoom and there was also more emphasis on the flexibility of the stand to allow me to capture more intriguing shots which better reflected the themes I aspired for (e.g. Dutch tilt for confusion). The high quality of the camera meant I took personal images which resulted in a raw, authentic effect. The planning meant I also had to create multiple drafts of the Cover, Contents and Double-Page-Spread. For the cover I intended to replicate the applications I would use for the real thing so I created the drafts for the cover page in Photoshop (despite knowing, for organisation, which was the main reason for drafts, InDesign would be more effective) and then used InDesign for the others. For the drafts, across both software, the only tools I needed to use were the line/ rectangle tool and text which are both simple. I took advantage of the columns in InDesign to layout where the text would appear on my DPS. For my style sheet I favoured Photoshop as it has more detailed options for the design. Through just experimenting I located the stroke effect which could be added to a layer but more specifically, text, to give a unique design and this is how I found a distinct masthead style for ‘Outskirts’. Another document required with my pitch was the contact sheet- this a page that displays all of your photos including the ones not used. Typically, the pictures are resized and laid out in formal rows and columns- doing this yourself could take up time and effort unnecessarily. I was introduced to an option within Photoshop which would automatically take all the selected photos (or use all from selected groups) and arrange them. I found this technique very useful as I was able to spend saved time elsewhere. Finally, I created a flat plan for my magazine- this is a layout of all the pages in my publication with a brief description of what each one contains. I did this in excel which I was already very comfortable with. I used Microsoft Excel so I could make use of the easy to manipulate cells which could be made to look like A4 pages.

The production stage required the most specialist knowledge of software. The two software I wielded were Photoshop and InDesign, both of which I had now gained experience from in my prior activities. There was still much to be learnt though, as I hadn’t worked with actual images to a complex level yet amongst other challenges. I learnt how to change the colour scale to make an image black and white. For the stage I also tweaked the contrast and brightness to make the stage lights more potent. With that, to conform to my aim of a sleek finish with minimal divisions, I then faded the edges to black via layer masks so it blended in with the black banner I planned for. I edited this imaged in a separate document to the cover page and inserted it in after. It meant the picture and all the after effects were compressed into a single layer which was easier to manage- organisation being something I was wary of. This is why I implemented groups to keep everything in order and tidy. Groups in Photoshop are very easy to use- I can put multiple layers into it and if I highlight the group label any manipulation I do will apply to everything within the group. One click and I can also hide all of the tabs so only the group name shows which prevents confusion. This saved time which could then used elsewhere. I followed a simple tutorial which I was able to find online, clearing explaining with the use of pictures as well, how to airbrush someone in Photoshop. I did this because it is conventional for magazines to remove any of the model’s blemishes. This involved a process of softening the picture and applying a certain blur which takes samples from nearby and paints over the selected points to blend it in hence removing any blemishes giving the cover a more polished and professional look. Another effect I added to this model was to give an impression of focus. To do this using the magnetic lasso tool, which detects edges within an image and follows along them, I selected the model’s head. At points where there is not much contrast of colour for the tool to pick up on (chin and neck for example) I had to manually set markers. Once selected, under the ‘select’ tab I inverted so now everything but the head was selected and I proceeded to blur slightly to achieve an effect where only his head was in focus. While Photoshop can be complicated, the complexity allowed me to control every detail of the production and achieve as close to my vision as I could have dreamed. As Photoshop and InDesign are both made by Adobe, there are crossovers so it was clear they had similar influences. Many of the features/ mechanics were practically identical therefore it was extremely simple to transfer my knowledge of Photoshop to InDesign. It meant I saved time and was able to produce a more specialist final product. Furthermore, as they shared features, my different pages made across the different software looked more coherent and themed meaning for better brand continuity and awareness. There were a few extra tools to take advantage including an option that would link two textbox’s together so once text filled the first box it would automatically continue to the next- this comes in especially handy for the DPS where it is highly likely there will be multiple bodies of text that need to be connected. The obvious advantage of linking is words automatically move between the boxes as dimensions are changed, rather than a set number being designated to each box and then having to transfer words manually to fit. Another difference regarded exporting the document to a PNG once I had finished. With Photoshop, you simply save it and change the document type when you do whereas for InDesign, a slightly longer process of exporting is required.

The evaluation basically needs me to document so Word and PowerPoint are my essentials with the choice between the two depending on the question- for those which require more visual based explanations I used PowerPoint. To add a bit of variation and keep the forms in how I present interesting I also made video explaining one of the questions. Throughout all of this coursework, I have being posting my work on WordPress which is a free web software which allows a user to create their own blog. I had never heard of this site before this course so had no knowledge on how to use it. It is a user friendly site- creating posts containing text and adding pictures was intuitive as was editing the aesthetic of the blog. Because I chose to do my work in Word/PowerPoint I needed to get that on my blog somehow. I could have left a link that the reader would have to click on and download the document to view the information but that is a convoluted and inconvenient method. Instead, I was made aware of SlideShare- this website is a slide hosting service where I can upload my documents so they can be converted into a form that allows them to be embedded in things like my blog. Now the slideshow or pages appear directly on my blog which users can scroll through with no trouble. It is a much better way of presenting and more accessible. I did experience some trouble with how my posts were appearing on the actual site but it has now being sorted. I have learnt a lot about SlideShare and WordPress and would definitely consider using them again in future endeavours.

Link for the Airbrush tutorial I followed:https://blog.udemy.com/airbrush-photoshop/