Question 6: What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this

product?

Throughout the process of constructing my products I have introduced myself to new software, hardware and online tools. Doing so has helped me to create a blog that is media rich in content as well as ensuring professionality in my overall product.

Not only have I learnt new technologies, I have also been able to enhance my prior knowledge and develop my basic skills into more versatile skills.

BloggerI used blogger as a way to present and organise my research and planning, final products and evaluation. Before starting the course, I had never heard of blogger therefore explored the site before posting my work to get the hang of it. I created 12 different pages and learned how to label each individual post so it would appear on a specific page. This was useful at managing and organising my work so that it was easy to locate and looked presentable. Blogger is HTML based which allows you to embed different media forms, links and images into posts. This allowed me to make my content media rich as I could embed Prezi's and slide shares for example directly onto my blog. It also meant the presentation of my work was more accessible as the reader doesn’t have to be redirected to an online resource elsewhere. Blogger also allows you to edit posts you have already created therefore I was able to review and reflect on my work. I was able to save some of my posts as drafts so that they weren’t published but I could go back to them. Using an online resource to document my work was more convenient to make changes but also meant I could access my work anywhere. I downloaded the blogger app which made it easy for me to keep up to date and review what I still needed to finish. I also learnt how to customize my blog by changing the layout, design, background and columns to make it more unique and personal. Without blogger it would have been harder to organise and present my work therefore helped with my time management and planning skills.

Photoshop I digitally created my front page, double page spread, contents and preliminary products using adobe Photoshop. I had used Photoshop before for GCSE Media however the tools I was familiar with were very basic. Before using the software I completed an introduction booklet in which I tested creating new documents, layers, individual tools, adjustment tools, filters and blending options. This saved me a lot of time when creating my products as I could reflect on my practice to navigate the resource better. I used a range of tools when creating my products such as; the ruler to ensure text and images were aligned correctly; magic wand to delete unwanted sections; Shape tools to create tables and puffs; Paint brush to create header backgrounds with graffiti effect; Colour picker to ensure I stuck with my colour scheme and didn’t use different shades and blur to blend the layers and make the products flow more smoothly. Photoshop allowed me to add effects to my images as well for example I altered the levels, brightness and saturation to enhance my dominant images. I used spot healing and shading to give my model a catalogue look that would make my magazine more professional. Blending options and opacity allowed me to control the eye line of my reader by using stroke for example to make different conventions stand out more. More complex things such as adding tattoos onto my model, I google searched how to achieve effectively by using merge tools but soon got the hang of it myself. Photoshop allowed me to make my magazine look as similar to other magazines as possible.

Dafont.com

Apple Mac

Prezi

Emaze

Powtoon

Slideshare

Befunky

Youtube

Soundcloud

Pintrest

Survey Monkey

Twitter