Looking back on your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt

in the progression from it to the full product?

Planning and preparation On planning and research, I spent a lot more time researching and drafting my

material. I took the time to create drafts of my magazine on Microsoft Paint to create a more accurate draft of how I wanted my magazine to look. On my preliminary project, I only did a really quick and rough sketch for a draft which didn’t really give away too much about what I wanted the overall effect to be.

Via the use of paint, I was also able to draft a colour scheme and see how this would look rather than just a quick drawing with pencil. I think I realised that doing a well thought out draft is beneficial to you because you then have the general gist of how you want your magazine to be.

Planning and preparation

I also did a lot more research within my focus group, for example, I set up a Facebook group where I would often upload ideas for my magazine and ask for feedback on them. This was really useful because they were able to put their views across and I could discuss it with them then adapt my work according to what everyone agreed with. I think that this was the best way of developing my product as I received feedback from people who I was actually aiming my magazine at.

Organisation of time To organise my time while I worked on planning and production, I created a Timetoast which

is a form of software that is based around a timeline that you can add important dates and deadlines into. This enabled me to quickly keep looking back at my timetoast to see if I was on schedule. This contrasted with my time keeping while I was working on my preliminary project which I set no deadline guidelines for and I just went along with what I was doing without keeping on track of how long I had left. This meant I had to rush a little bit at the last minute which wasn’t ideal. However, for this project I used Timetoast which really helped me reach each small deadline and ultimately meant I reached the main deadlines in time.

Technical photography skillsIn terms of technical photography skills, there is not a huge amount that has changed between the final image of my preliminary task and my metal magazine task. Admittedly the image on the right hand side has had a lot more thought and preparation go into it therefore it does look more professional and fits in better than the other image, but the only major differences between these images is the fact that I used

a portrait lens for the image on the right and the difference in camera angle. I used the angle I did for The F Word to connote that women are rising up from under the shadow of men and the angle I did for Ahead of the Game to connote that the model is looking up and out into a bright future. The reason why the image for The F Word looks more professional than the previous one is because I edited the image for The F word a lot more than the image on the left. The main difference being on the amount of shine on each model’s face and I think this shows a significant amount of development on my part.

Conventions of magazinesThe masthead on The F

Word magazine is so much more effective then Ahead

of the Game. It is larger, bolder and is has been

positioned more suitably.

Large blank spaces have been replaced with lots of busy

articles which bulk up the page.

Splash is more visually attractive and appeals to the audience more. More care

taken over details.

Spatial awareness has developed, in Ahead of

the Game all the articles are bunched up at the

top of the page, whereas in The F Word,

everything is evenly spread out.

Cover page:

Conventions of magazines

Large gaps in Ahead of the Game contents page are filled with relevant articles and well

composed photographs in The F Word.

Composition is more advanced in The F Word, articles jump out at you

from around the page rather than repetitive styles shown

in Ahead of the Game.

More professional style techniques, the range and style of fonts are

more visually attractive.

Photographs are more professional and better

composed in The F Word, more care and attention went into the

composition of the image before taking it due to more

planning.

Contents page:

Post-production skillsI have used InDesign with a great amount more understanding than in my preliminary project. I learnt how to download and use different fonts which meant that I was able to create interesting and more appealing design conventions. I used

a vast amount of fonts which I downloaded from www.dafont.com and then installed them with font viewer, something I was unable to do during my preliminary project. Ahead of the Game only contains one font style which made it look repetitive and uninteresting in comparison to the amount of font styles I used in The F word. I also used Photoshop more effectively when editing my model’s photographs. I edited the eye colours to draw the audience in more, whereas in Ahead of the Game, I didn’t think too much about what the audience’s opinion may be. The fading blur on my images in The F Word too, draw people’s eyes to the model’s faces which automatically brings their attention to the magazine in general.

How does consideration of the target audience determine the outcome?

Fonts appeal to target audience a great deal more in The F Word, I have

used a tattoo style font for some names of articles. This appeals to the

audience as members of my focus group like tattoos and the contents

of the magazine includes information about tattoos. However, the fonts in

Ahead of the Game give away nothing that could suggest that it is a

magazine aimed at a student. The photograph in the contents page of

The F word is clearly aimed at a female metal lover as the woman is

not sexualised in any way which appeals to women as the majority aren’t reading for sexual pleasure. She is also holding onto a guitar,

portraying women’s interest in music but the model in Ahead of the Game has no props to suggest that she is a college student. All in all, the target audience is better addressed in The F Word as all aspects contain conventions of metal magazines.

Have I achieved my targets?Undertake further initial analysis of content pages. Yes, shown in analysis of detailed forms and conventions and through feedback from the Facebook group I set up for research.

Organise time management so I have set lessons for set sections of the magazine design. Yes, shown through the use of Time Toast organisers.

Make sure everything is complete the day before the deadline to ensure no last minute technical issues. Almost, everything was complete but I changed a corrected of minor errors upon realising them after printing.

Raise all research and planning to A grade material. Hopefully, I paid more care and attention to research and planning.