Evaluation 6/7

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Below is a list of of various programmes/devices which I have used throughout the completion of my music magazine. Next to the logo or image is an explanation about what I have learnt about the programme whilst using it. I think that through the process of constructing my music magazine I have improved my understanding of different programmes/technologies compared to when I first started on my preliminary task.

Whilst taking the photos for my music magazine I had to consider many other aspects that I had never thought about before when generally taking photos. I had to think about the lighting of the image which meant that I had to take some shots inside and also some outside to experiment with the different lighting. I also had to consider the background of the image and whether it was best to take my images landscape or portrait. I learnt about when I needed to use the cameras flash to get the best effect for my photographs. by playing around with the camera I found how to get the best images possible for my magazine and also how to take much better photographs in the future.

Blogger was one of the main programmes I used throughout my music magazine. This is because this is where I uploaded all of my finished work onto to be viewed and given feedback on. As this was the basis of my whole project I needed to become familiar with it quite quickly in order to get the best possible result I could. At the beginning I found it quite difficult to use as I had never used anything like it in the past however, after a couple of days I got to grips with designing a new layout, creating new pages etc and found it to be quite straightforward from that point. I have learnt that blogger is quite a quick and easy way to set up a blog and a good way to display all of my work.

Photoshop 7.0 was used a lot throughout this task as I created my magazines front page, contents page and double page spread using this programme. As this programme was quite new to me I found it quite hard to work at first however, after a while of using it I found that it was relatively easy to use. I found that I could experiment a lot with Photsoshop on my magazine pages but also on the photographs themselves. I learnt how to edit my photos to make them look more professional and like they could be used on a real music magazine. I also learnt new techniques such as using a drop shadow on text to make it stand out and grab the readers attention. I found that using Photoshop gave me the best possible end result as it is a professional and well established programme. I enjoyed using Photoshop as it is something I had never really used before and I have learnt a variety of new techniques which I could apply to my work in the future.



Slideshare is something I used to mostly display my research of existing magazine front covers, contents pages and double page spreads on. I found this really easy to use as I created my slides on Microsoft Powerpoint, uploaded them to Slideshare and then put the links onto my blog. Prezi was also a programme I had never used before. It took quite a while to get the hang of but once I had figured it out I found that it was a much more interesting and unique way to present my information compared to the other programmes. I learnt how to customise my Prezi to make it look the way I wanted by using different coloured fonts, different shapes etc. When I have to create a Prezi again I will have a much clearer understanding of how it works. I also used Flickr to add annotations to my finished magazine pages. I found it easy to set up an account and began to use it straight away. I found that I could easily annotate my work by adding notes to specific parts of my magazine to explain why I had done certain things. I preferred using Flickr rather than other previous programmes as you did not have to cram the information onto one page you simply have to hover over the image to reveal the text. Overall, by completing this project I have gained a much clearer understanding of different technologies and the techniques I learnt I will be able to apply to my work in the future.

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

Below is a link to a Prezi I have created to show my progression from my school magazine prelim task to my final music magazine. You can clearly see my progression from each magazine as I learnt a variety of new techniques to make my final magazine of a much higher standard and something which I am very pleased with.

http://prezi.com/zeiky_lmxayu/looking-back-at-your-preliminary-task-what-do-you-feel-you-have-learnt-in-the-progression-from-it-to-full-product/