By Keiran Mortimer

7) LOOKING BACK AT YOUR PRELIMINARY

TASK, WHAT DO YOU FEEL YOU HAVE LEARNT IN THE

PROGRESSION FROM IT TO THE FULL

PRODUCT?

THE PRODUCTS

CONVENTIONS CHECKLIST

While it may seem as if my college magazine front cover was largely conventional in comparison to my music magazine front cover, the biggest difference between the two products is how I use and integrate these conventions for my own advantage. 

Through developing my music magazine front cover, I learnt how to better integrate text and imagery into one coherent product. The biggest fault of my preliminary task I how I integrated the text. For example, in my opinion the main feature story is too small to stand out to the reader. Another, arguably more egregious design flaw in my preliminary task is the colour scheme, or lack thereof. I failed to successfully utilise a conventional three point colour scheme, and my product suffers as a result.

If I were to do the preliminary task again, I would definitely implement a more coherent three point colour scheme, and try to ensure I stick to it. 

I would argue the biggest skill I have developed while developing my products is my proficiency with Photoshop. When it came to developing my music magazine, I would often use Google and YouTube to look up how to do something, and as such improve my skills with the software. As a result, I believe I have better integrated text and illustration on my music magazine, than my college magazine.

I believe the music magazine was useful to carry out as it helped me gain a greater understanding of the conventions of a magazine - what makes a magazine a magazine. Without developing the preliminary task, my product would have suffered as a result as my understanding of conventions would be flawed. 

Furthermore, the preliminary task allowed me to get feel for photography - a skill I have had only limited experience with in the past. Taking the main feature image allowed me to understand the conventions of that particular trope, for example use of direct mode of address convention.