Q6: what have you learnt about technologies from the process of

constructing this product?

Technology used within the project- research and planning • Within the project of producing a music magazine, many different types of

technologies were used to help create the final outcome. Initially, in order to carry out my research and planning I used some software such as PowerPoint in order for me to explore the other types of magazines out there, refine my evidence (research from surveys, interviews…) and to plan my photography. This was not a problem for me as I had used this programme previously, however, in order for me to place it onto my blog, I had to go through a system of using Slide Share; a programme that enables you to place a PowerPoint presentation online, and through this system I could share it to my blog. I found this interesting as I had never used it before, but I also found it invaluable for my future posts as often this was one of the quickest ways of uploading. Furthermore, I used it upload an evaluation of a survey I did on the software surveymonkey.com. Once again, I had never created a questionnaire using this, but I found it straightforward and it gave some analysis and key information i could reference later on in my evaluation and production stage.

• Another key bit of software I used in order to get my audio survey onto my blog was YouTube. This was a completely new experience for me, and it took me a while to get to grips with it; with transferring the audio from the recorder onto some software that allowed videos and clips to be made, and accordingly I transferred this to YouTube. I'm very glad I persevered as it is a very useful bit of technology that allowed my video to be easily seen and uploaded onto the blog.

Photoshop• One key technology used during the

Production stage was Photoshop. I used this for creating two of the pages of the magazine. This was a completely new software to me, so I had to learn it all from scratch, which took up a lot of the production time. It also meant that I didn’t quite get such a polished look on the finished front cover, however towards the double page spread, you see I am getting to grips with it better. I learnt how to make a copy of parts of my coloured photo and then whilst making the new front black and white, kept this colour copy and cut and placed over this black and white cover. This created just the effect I wanted; the coloured part was in keeping with my developing house-style. In the end I actually found Photoshop very useful as it meant the magazine looked professionally done- it also helped me create a convincing Masthead and text. I feel the overall look is good but if I were to create another magazine, I would use Photoshop again but perhaps complete it to a higher standard and with perhaps more finesse.

You can see here an example of how I cut and pasted the face stripes on the model onto the black and white- this draws the eye and is visually arresting

Technologies used in production-hardware and software• Whilst I used all software for my research, I used more of a combination of hardware and

software in order to actually produce Native. For example, my own photography was needed as a source for images- this meant I used a professional camera to take these in order to get a higher quality photo. I struggled a little with operating and wielding such a big camera, especially since I stood up and took the photos outside. Previously I had been used to using a camera phone instead. However I am very glad I used a quality camera as it shows in the photographs. It meant I could adjust the focus, could use the 10x optical zoom without sacrificing a crisp picture, and when enlarged, the picture would not become pixilated.- all of which was key for my front cover and double page pictures.

• Another key feature used to produce my magazine was use of the software InDesign, as well as Photoshop. InDesign is a software mostly used by graphic designers and production artists to produce flyers, brochures, magazines, newspapers and books. I had never used this before but I found it relatively easy to learn as I felt it was similar to publisher. I used this mostly for my double page spread- I learnt I could place the image and the pre-typed out text together accordingly, speeding up the whole production process. I found that aspects such as the shortcut keys really helped me with InDesign, and because these were skills learnt in Photoshop I felt pretty comfortable with the software.

• Different pieces of technology came together within this project, and most of them I wasn’t particularly familiar or proficient in. I used several bits of software for presentation such as PowerPoint and blogs, and within the blog I have used things such as YouTube, survey monkey and slide share. Creating a blog did generate limitations in terms of uploading other forms of media: For instance, when it wouldn’t upload a PowerPoint directly, I used the software slide share to overcome this problem- this meant I became aware of programmes I might never have thought of using. I feel I have really learnt valuable skills, especially using things such as Photoshop. If I was given the task again I would feel much more adept at using the technology and perhaps I would produce better covers and pages, however, I am pretty please with the finished product given the circumstances.