QUESTION 7

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have

learned in the progression from it to the full product?

By Megan Kavanagh

The use of effective fonts.

Unlike my prelim, I learnt to research fonts that look professional and fit the

magazine genre. I found these on ww.DaFonts.com.

On the prelim I chose ordinary fonts that were not original to my magazine, which did not help the presentation of my

magazine in anyway.

Therefore, in my actual magazine, I took time researching actual rock magazines and their

fonts, but also what the audience believed would be acceptable in portraying an

Alternative Rock genre,

It is obvious that the text on the front cover of my prelim looks

boring and unattractive.

Unlike the text on my actual magazine which grabs the readers

attention.

The colourscheme

Unlike my prelim, I researched appropriate colours that help show conventions as well as making the magazine look

professional.

I learnt how to display my colour scheme through

different conventions of the magazine other than just the

fonts.

I did this by pursuing the colour scheme through all the aspects of the magazine such as

photographs, backgrounds, text etc. The improvement is most noticeable in the double

page spread.

As you can see the main place the colour scheme was displayed was through text such as the masthead

Whereas in my double page spread in my actual production piece, the colour scheme

is apparent through ever aspect of the piece, even the artist’s costume.

Layout is important

I learnt that having a neat layout is essential when

making your magazine look as professional as possible as it

looks more aesthetically pleasing.

In my prelim, I did not understand why this was necessary and it is most

apparent in my contents page; looks messy and amateur.

Through the understanding why the layout of my pages was important, it was easier to be

creative and use the program Quark because I could use the rulers and grids for a guide line.

As you can see, there are many gaps on my prelim’s contents page which proves I did not understand how

to use Quark, and how to create an effective layout.

Compared to prelim, the layout of my contents page is much more professional and eye catching. This is

because I learnt how to give everything a place, and took time when creating it.

DSLR Cameras

Since my prelim, I learnt and understood how to use DSLR

Cameras to their full potential.

I learnt how to focus the camera and what the best setting were to use,

which in my opinion was auto. This helped me to take professional and

clear photographs.

On my prelim, my images were out of focus with the saturation being too

high, which meant I should have took more photographs.

I also learnt that taking more photos is a necessity when finding an image because

the majority of the images will not be a very high standard. Unfortunately, on my prelim I

only took a minimal amount of images.

The photograph for my front cover on my prelim was terrible quality which lead to the overview of the

magazine looking unprofessional.

Compared to prelim, this photograph is dramatically better quality because I learnt to use the camera properly ensuring

it was on the correct settings. This lead to my audience noticing, and complimenting my photography.

Plans will change

In my prelim I tried to stick to my rough plans as strictly as

possible which resulted in the pages looking too bare, or too

full and messy.

In my actual production work, I learnt that the rough plans should just be

more of a guideline, because sometimes ideas have to change or

develop in order to create an impressive page.

The page that received the most changes on my production work was the contents page. This is because my

ideas were not successful when the actual creation was taken place.

As you can see the production of the contents page is very similar to the rough copy however, things have been added or slightly changed to make it look more

professional.

Overall…From my prelim the key thing I learnt was that, the time put

into the production of the pages is key when creating professional work that is suitable for the task.

I also learnt that the key to progression is to ask for guidance when creating the pages, but also that research is essential. This research can be from the audience and their views, or

studies of other professional work.

However, I believe my production and creativity skills have improved immensely.