I have learnt a lot from the technology I have used when creating my product. I have used:

Internet: I have used the internet for the research section of this project. I used the internet to get images of the front covers, contents pages and double page spread of existing music magazines. I refined my search for these images so that I would get more precise results. I changed the size of the image that I wanted to retrieve as I wanted to make sure that I would see the features on the images so that I would write about it. I also used the internet to research magazine institutes is also advanced the search to get precise results so that I could get as much information about it as possible.

Microsoft Office: I used Microsoft PowerPoint and Word to write up all of the information in the project such as the research and planning. It allowed me to create my drafts using auto shapes, which gave me a good insight to what my final designs would look like. It also allowed me to write up text in whatever font I wanted and whatever size I wanted. By doing this it could make my work look presentable. PowerPoint and Word helped me to insert images which I would crop so that it would fit on the page and I could select the part of the image that I wanted. This also helped make my work look neater. I used Microsoft Excel to create the graphs from my audience questionnaire results. This helped me to see the results in a visual way so that I could decide what my target audience would like to see in my magazine. Using the Microsoft range meant that I could copy the graphs from excel and display them in Word or PowerPoint.

Digital Cameras: I used a SLR Camera in my photo shoot for the images that I would insert in my magazine. The photo shoot developed my skills of photography and made me understand the importance of shot types and how it can portray the model in certain ways. During the photo shoot I learnt that the lighting was important and that the camera had to be at the right shutter speed and aperture to get the right image.

Adobe Photoshop: I used Photoshop to manipulate the images from my photo shoot. I used techniques such as correcting the exposure and changing the contrast to ensure that my image looks good at a professional standard. I also used tools such as the magic want and magnetic lasso. These tools enabled me to cut out the background in some images so that I can place them on my magazine background so that my model and the prop have more attention than the background. I also used the smudge tool to smudge some areas in the images that may make the image look better. Some of the tools I used were my first time in using them so I think that I have learnt a lot.

Adobe InDesign: I used InDesign to put all my resources together such as the manipulated images and the text. InDesign was the best programme to do this with as it is the programme that specialises in magazines and leaflets. It had the “place” options which allowed me to important text and put it into columns. This made my double page spread very neat and organised and should hopefully target my audience. InDesign also allowed me to organise my layout better so that I could chose the best layout for each page and so it would attract the audience.

Slideshare: Slideshare allowed me to upload my work into a PowerPoint that can be used online. I used my Gmail account to create an account where I would upload all my work. This then made it easier for me to upload it onto Blogger as there is a link that will upload the document straight to my blog.

Blogger: I used Blogger to present my work as it is a way to show work in today’s world. It shows that I can keep up to date with technology and shows that I have used Blogger. I also used Blogger as documents can be easily uploaded from Slideshare. Blogger allows images and text to be inserted to a blog making it easy to present all of my work. I personalised my own blog so that it look presentable and shows that it reflects my style.

Dafont: Dafont really helped me when creating my magazine as it allowed me to choose a unique font for my masthead. I chose a font then print screened it and pasted it into paint. I then changed the colour of it and inserted it into InDesign where it would be a unique masthead for my magazine. This helped me to create a masthead that would stand out to my audience and make my magazine very popular.