Evaluation Question 7

7. Looking back at your preliminary task (the school magazine task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full

product?

Preliminary

The first thing that stands out on my magazine with what I have improved upon, is the way that I have edited my images is a lot more professional on my final design in comparison to my prelim magazine. This is because for my preliminary task I have cut off some of the image and they look quite stretched. Therefore overall it has no resemblance of a magazine cover what so ever. However, on my final task there is a better improvement in the quality of it, and when I look at it I see it looking more like a magazine rather than in comparison to my preliminary task. From this I feel as though I have learnt how to make my images look more professional and realistic, whereas at the start I didn't feel confident or comfortable in using anything on photoshop. In addition to that, I have found that learning how to use the grid has made my final magazine design to look a lot more symmetrical and the design looks vastly improved with the structure, where in comparison to the preliminary task, everything looks out of place and uneven. Linking in with the structure, I feel as though the colour scheme that I have used looks a lot more professional rather than the one that I have chosen to use for the very first task. With the use of photoshop, I also learnt how to use the magic wand to good effect by cutting my images when needed and not cutting out the image. Linking in with the that, when I used the fill effect to cover the background white, I felt more confident by doing this due to the fact that  I used the magic wand so it didn't interact with any of the main image. I feel like the first make of the magazine didn't look very neat and the colours used didn't make it very interesting or appealing to read whatsoever. Whereas after a lot of research, I have learnt how to stick with a certain colour scheme and stick with the same font colour and size throughout to make everything on the magazine link in together. 

As well as those ideas, I feel as though I have learnt how to make my magazine more appealing to a specific audience where contradictory to that, my preliminary magazine looked like it could be aimed at anyone. When looking at it, you don't have any idea who this is aimed at, and as a selling point, it wouldn't make it attractive to an audience what so ever. I also noticed that overall I learnt how effective it can be to take a range of photos rather than just the same basic ones, as it shows a range of understanding about the different types of angles, and mainly it makes your magazine look a lot more interesting to read rather than to just have the same facial expressions throughout. To link in with the camera topic, I also feel as though I have become a lot more confident with the use of the lighting set up. I came to that conclusion because the first time I had taken images I just placed the model down and took photos, where as this time round it became a lot more complex as I knew, or had to know, exactly where I needed the lights to be and how far the camera needs to be away from the models and about zooming in etc...

I also feel that due to me not having much research during the design of my preliminary magazine, I felt that this is what may have brought the quality of my magazine design down. However, when it came to creating my actual piece, I had put in a lot of research so I had a clearer vision and understanding of what my magazine was aiming to look like or in a way replicate. It allowed me to gain the understanding of how to structure the magazine correctly, as well me being able to understand how important it is to fit everything in perfectly and have it in a way, symmetrical. 

This was also shown with my redrafting, and although it still looked very unrealistic and professional, it was an improvement from my preliminary task. Looking at the preliminary and the first draft, I felt that I have improved a lot when comparing it all with my final draft magazine. I feel as though this has come from more research, and being able to have something to try and aim for, whereas at the start I had no vision of what I wanted my magazine to look like.

Overall I feel as though I have learnt a lot and improved on the different technologies first of all in how to make a good magazine, and as well as that I feel as though I have learnt that I need to be more precise in what I am doing. This is evident that I have learnt these skills in the comparison between the final magazine design and the preliminary task.

Final Design