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 – Front Cover

Full Product – Front Cover

I took my own images when creating my preliminary task, as did I when I created my product. However, in my preliminary task I used a long shot of two students walking in to college. With using a long shot of two pupils with there backs turned, this doesn't’t make the cover eye-catching. Therefore it doesn't’t connect with a reader. Also, I used very feminine colours when creating my preliminary task. Although I also used feminine colours when producing my product, my target audiences were both different. For my preliminary task, I should have used neutral colours to

attract both a male and female audience.I think by having a lot of background colours in my preliminary tasks causes your eye to wander. On my main task I used a simple, clean and effective image that stands out and attracts a readers attention. This is a massive improvement from my preliminary task because by having a dominant eye-catching image it will attract my audience. By having a close up image of only one person, helps my front cover look to a more professional standard. Also for my preliminary task, I did not make the text stand out. In my opinion look dull and would not catch anyone’s eye. With this, I also used a variety of different fonts. By doing this it make the cover look unprofessional and unorganised. Therefore with this in mind, for my main product I used the same font throughout and put it in bold so it was eye-catching.

I made my front cover very vibrant, colourful and fun. I catered the style of my magazine so that all the features would pull in my target audience. I also stuck to a house style colour scheme, this making it look structured and neat. The colours work very well together and put forward positive connotations. They all complement each other and work well as a whole.

This is my masthead on my preliminary task. It is in a big font however it would have looked better if I had added an outline – this is because it would stand out more.

Here I have a lot of empty space. It implies that the magazine is going to be dull and not going to hold much ‘crack’. I could have filled in this space with sell lines.

I did make a skyline when I created this task. However it was hard to read and didn’t stand out.

This is the my main sell line that I created for my preliminary task. It is dull and boring. It wouldn’t attract any readers. The fontdoesn’t stand out and isn’t very interesting. The colour also blends into the background and looks out of place.

This is my skyline that I used in my final product. This is a play on words with the police warning tape: ‘WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!’ and ‘POLICE LINE DO NOT CROSS’.

I made it so that my masthead was beneath my main image. This gives the illusion that the magazine is popular and well known.

I also included 3 sell lines – all of which are catchy and fun. Also, by adding in these sell line, it fills in some space on the front cover. Therefore making the magazine look more detailed and tells the reader that it contains a lot of good articles.

My main sell line on my final product it very eye-catching. It has the name of the artist ‘Niamh’ – this is very similar to other well known magazine brands. Also, with the word ‘EXCLUSIVE’ being in a slightly bigger size, it makes it stand out to the reader and

automatically implies that it is exclusive news. The word is also being coloured in yellow, which is part of my colour scheme and matches my skyline. The sell line stands out and appears interesting to the audience as it is in a big font and is linked to the main image.

This is my contents page that I created for my preliminary task. I took the images by myself and catered them towards my audience. This is because all of the images were taken around Usworth College, which is what the magazine is about. Also, with the images being taken of people in there break it implies that there is ‘crack’ (gossip) contained in the magazine. Along the right hand side of the page is the contents page. This does contain a lot of articles which are linked to the magazine. However I do not like how I structured the page numbers. Also, I don’t like how I changed the colour of each heading. I think it would have looked a lot neater if I would have kept the headings the same.Another thing that I don’t like is how there is text over the images that I have used. I think this ruins the images and the text looks out of place.

The images that I used in both pieces are very different. In my preliminary task the lighting on my photos is wrong – this makes it look dull and unprofessional. Also I have missed out the essential information that most magazines contain on their contents pages.

On my final product, this is my title. It is the exact same font and style as my masthead. The colours stand out and are will defiantly catch the eye. By being eye-catching it implies that the contents is defiantly a page to read.

By having top singles and albums across the left hand side gives more detail to the page. It fills in a lot of gaps and makes the page appear more interesting.

I have included the issue number and date – this is what other top brand magazines do.

I added a competition for my readers to get involved with. Again this is similar to other magazines, but it also takes up more space on the contents page and makes it look interesting.

I made it so that all of my headings were exactly the same. This making it look neat and professional. Also, I made it so that there was only one page number next to an article. I personally think this looks more organised.

Instead of writing on my images, I added small page numbers at the corner of the images. Depending on the colour of the images, I altered the colour between black and white. I the choose which one stood out better. By doing this tells the reader what to expect to see in certain articles.

The images on my contents were all taken by myself. For each image, I have found a good catchy article name. The images are structured neatly along the side of the contents page – all of which are the same size.

I had no experience in making a DPS due to the fact that I did not make one in my preliminary task. I think with this in mind, my double page spread has came out to a high, professional standard.

A large image has been used to take up one side of the page. Whilst the other side is all text. The image relates to the text and her body language tells the reader to read the article. It has correct lighting and carries off a professional look.

I have stuck to a colour scheme that all go well with each other. They are all very light, feminine colours.

The title of the DPS is in the same font as my masthead and contents. This adds to the magazines structure.

With having no experience in creating DPS’, I turned to other magazines for guidance. I was influenced by Billboard and Heat Magazine.

By featuring a caption, pull-quote and having a 3 column article. This adds to creating a professional look.

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

During this project I have learnt how to structure a magazine and how to make it look professional and catered towards a certain target audience. Also, I have learnt how to make certain colours work together. Through this I have realised that due to the colours that you choose, can give on a variety of different attitudes. By doing this project, I have learnt a variety of new skills – i.e. using Photoshop and Blogger. Creating my magazine has allowed me to experiment more with different tools on Photoshop that I wouldn’t have used before. Also, I would never have considered ever using the programme Blogger. My editing and camera skills have also improved in this task. It has shown me how to edit good image and also how to take good photos – it informed me that depending on an angle of a photo, it can portray different meanings. I also learnt that I needed to address my target audience more. When looking at my preliminary task I looked at how I could have addressed my audience – therefore when I was making my final product, I thought hard about how to attract my chosen audience.

Through learning about different target audiences and how to address them, I have learnt a lot about existing magazines and the industries that produce them. This was interesting for me to learn about as I wasn’t aware that there was so many different media brands. I have also learnt how to make my magazine stand out and look like professional. Through my use of vibrant, cheerful colour scheme and my eye-catching images; my magazine stood out and caught the eye. Finally, looking back at preliminary task it looks very dull and unprofessional. It doesn’t have a neat structure and looks untidy. Also, I left out key features that magazines have, such as: barcode, sell lines. As my preliminary task did not look realistic and looked more like a poster, therefore I had to make sure my main task looked to a professional standard. Overall I think I made my magazine to a high standard. Due to sticking to the codes and conventions of a real magazine, I think it looks like an actual magazine.