Evaluation Question 7.

7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Preliminary Task Product

Music Magazine Product

I feel that between the creations of the two products my capabilities with technology have become better as my music magazine came out looking more professional and real than my college magazine at the start of the year.

During the preliminary task a lot of the technology was new to me so I was learning how to use it which meant that by the time it came to the main task my skills had developed and I was better able to use it to produce better quality products.

LayeringThe layering on my main product (the music magazine) is much more extensive than that on my prelim product (the college magazine) this created a more professional look and gave the magazine more interest and appeal for the target audience. Between creating the two products my skills had developed as I gained better knowledge with the typical conventions of a magazine and applied these better to the music magazine. This meant that I created a magazine with more of a familiar feel and tone with seemingly plenty of content that is advertised well, creating a more visually pleasing product.

BrandingDoing in depth analysis of the conventions and ideas of a music magazine meant that the branding for my music magazine was much more developed and professional. The incorporation of the masthead throughout the music magazine looked much more real than in the prelim task as the masthead was in a smaller font on the contents page which didn’t distract from the title for the page. I continued with the branding in the music magazine by incorporating the masthead in a smaller font and shorter version (just the letter ‘p’) on the double page spread near to the page number.

Advertised ContentThere is much more content being advertised on the front cover of the music magazine than that on the college magazine. This creates a more visually exciting magazine that would attract more interest in real life because of the amount of relevant content that is being advertised for the magazine.

The way the content is arranged on the front cover is also much more appealing with the layering and the colours and highlighting that I used. The content on the prelim front cover doesn’t look very exciting, the fonts are all too similar and there is no variation in colour and little variation in size. A lack of layering makes the magazine look much less appealing as there is less content advertised.

Audience AppealI think by using surveys and doing more in-depth research into the wants and needs of the target audience meant that my main product came out much more appealing to the target the audience than my prelim task. Through research of existing magazines it was evident that lots of content was to be advertised through layering and a range of fonts and font sizes to give more interest to certain parts of the contents. By following certain conventions such as these it made the music magazine more appealing and eye catching to the target audience.

Through research it was seen that a 3 colour, colour scheme was important to make the magazine look professional as it gives enough colour for certain parts to stand out but not enough for it to look too messy and unclear.

Editing SkillsWithout a doubt my editing skills have improved between the creation of the two products, I feel like this is aided by the fact I got to practice during my A level photography lessons also.

The music magazine figure is cut out much more neatly and clearly than that of the college magazine even though both used the same tools. Through skill development I have managed to create more professional looking photos that work much more aesthetically with the magazine to attract the audience better.

ImagesI think that the use of my images has improved vastly as well between the creation of the two products. The use of more than one image on the front cover creates a more interesting layout and makes the advertised content more appealing because of the visual links. The main image was kept large and any other images were made smaller so as to not distract the attention from the main content and source of advertisement for the music magazine.

I think that overall my skills have developed from my preliminary task to my main task and I have been better able to consider my target audience and been able to create a much more appealing product for them.

It is evident that my target audience was considered more in the creation of the music magazine as it has a much more real look to it. It also follows all the ideas and conventions typically shown from looking at real life products and it uses research about my target audience to create something that has their wants and needs incorporated in the product.

I would say that I have become more confident within my work as my skills developed as I managed to create something I was much happier with because of its professional look.