Evaluation 7 - Looking back at your preliminary

task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to

the full product?

Looking back at my preliminary task, I can see a huge improvement from then to now. The preliminary task helped me develop some skills I could use in my music magazine; so I was familiar with the technologies I could use and I’ve done some research which I was able to refer to while constructing my music magazine. I can also see a difference in the depth of research that I conducted for the real task. Furthermore, I got experience from the preliminary task which made it easier for me when I had to apply it in the final task.

Masthead As you can probably see that there is a big improvement between the preliminary magazine and my final music magazine. Regarding the masthead, you can see that I just used a random font and colour which doesn’t fit with the theme of the magazine; as while I was conducting it I didn’t think about the details like typography and colour scheme. It also looks basic and doesn’t have an effect on it; and doesn’t have any meaning. I decided to put the masthead across the width of the page; whereas for my music magazine I located it on the top left of the page as I thought it looks effective and has a meaning. The masthead for a magazine is the most important aspect while creating a magazine as it is the main thing the readers will look at as it will represent the magazine and make it recognisable and has a professional look.

Front Cover

Looking back the front cover of my preliminary task; you can see that the preliminary task lacks professionalism. Starting from the image, you can see that the image is not cropped properly and the edges are sharp; which something you would never see in a real magazine. Compared to my music magazine image you can see that I cropped the image as the edges are very smooth and doesn’t stand out and show that the image is actually. This is what makes it professional as real magazines manipulate the image very well which I tried doing in my music magazine and if I wasn’t sure of how to do something professionally I would watch Youtube tutorials. Moving on to the cover story which is ‘Exclusive Interview with Amel’ doesn’t stand out from the rest of the features on the front cover and it looks like the other subheads. Moreover, it is hard to read from a distance as there is a distraction in the background. In addition to the subheads, you can see that the use of colours don’t go well together and it was as if I used any colour. Compared to my music magazine you can see that I matched the colours and kept a colour scheme throughout the magazine. The subheads don’t stand out to the reader and they are randomly placed around the image. However, it was the first time using InDesign and I wasn’t familiar with it. It is also over crowded which is confusing for the reader to know what each subhead refers to. The photograph wasn’t planned so I took any shot that I thought was good and I used a normal phone camera unlike what I have used for the final task (DSLR Camera) which makes it more professional.

Contents Page

Moving on to the contents page; you can see that the layout are quite similar to some extent as the text is on one side and the images on the other side. For the contents title on the preliminary task you can see that there is a massive improvement as the title for my music magazine looks professional. I also placed the logo for my magazine on the contents page as it is a common convention; whereas for the preliminary I didn’t any sort of logo that refers back to my school magazine. Furthermore, I noticed that I didn’t use subheadings such as features and regulars column which is a vital element to include in a magazine contents page. Moreover, you can also see that on my music magazine contents page the text are neatly aligned; which is important to make it look professional. In addition to that, it is hard to read the sub headings under the images placed as I didn’t use a good choice of colours that contrast. I also didn’t include a cover story or a promotion on the contents page.

To conclude…

From further research into magazines that I conducted before creating my music magazine you can see that there is improvement. I found out that the more research is done into conventions and different magazines the better the product will be. For the preliminary task I only researched a few magazines compared to my music magazines; so I wasn’t familiar as much with school magazines and didn’t look at the conventions. I feel that I was able to pick up important aspects through the creation of the preliminary task which allowed me to develop my ideas to make my magazine a stronger piece of work as it will be successful. Overall, I am very proud of the progress that I have made over the past few months.