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

full product?

• When I first made my cover for the school magazine I had no idea how to use any of the software's, like Photoshop and Indesign. I think this evident in my final cover. There is not much going on and the font is incredibly boring. Also the text being at the bottom of the page makes it look even more bare. It is also unconventional, I should have put it on the sides.

• However, what I do like is the image. In this image they are not looking at the camera, like the chosen image on my music magazine cover. They are also smiling and laughing which leaves a positive impact on the magazine and the readers. They would believe that people in sixth form have fun. Also it is clear to see that they are in sixth form, which fits in with the theme of my school magazine.

• By the time I had completed this magazine, I did feel that I had a clearer understanding of photoshop and indesign so that I could proceed into making my music magazine.

• The images are alike as they are both not facing the camera. However, the image for my music magazine works. With the school magazine image you can not see their faces that clearly, and one girl is covering the boys face, which is very distracting. With the music magazine I wanted to make the images a lot more clearer, and even though they are not facing the camera you can still see their facial expressions. Also the image is zoomed in, so this makes it a lot more clear. After making my school magazine cover, and in progression to my music magazine I decided that I would make my image a lot brighter, and I changed the brightness levels. I feel that this makes the image stand out extremely well, compared to my school magazine image. It also fits into the feel of my magazine, as I think that the brighter it is, the more positive it feels. When making my school magazine I learnt that having a busy background in the image makes it more distracting, I decided that for my music magazine I wanted a clear background, I think that this makes the music magazine look a lot more professional.

• In my school magazine the text is very basic and mundane. None of it stands out and grabs the readers attention. I haven’t made any of the text larger than the rest, which I think is a big downfall, as when making a magazine I think this is a conventional technique. In the progression to my music magazine I knew I had to make the text much more exciting.

• The main stories in the middle are in a different font, this makes it stand out against the rest. I decided to change the colour to a red for some of the main features of my magazine. The use of different colours works effectively and they don’t clash, it makes the magazine more aesthetically appealing. I find that there is a lot of writing on the front cover and the subtitles are too long, so I learnt that I would have to shorten them, I also made the subtitles quite snappy.

The titles of the two magazines are very different. Although I do actually think that the ‘Chosen’ title works effectively, it just isn’t exciting. The music magazine title ‘M’ works a lot better because it’s short and would stick in people’s heads. Also the fact that it is in a square works effectively because it separates it from the other features on the cover, and people’s eyes may divert to the box square.

• I really dislike my school contents page, and I knew after making it that my music magazine one would have to be a lot better.

• Text – When constructing my music magazine I learnt how to take the hyphens out of the text, this makes it look more professional, with the school magazine contents page I did not know how to do it, I think that problem effected my work because it looks incredibly messy. I also prefer the font in my music magazine contents page because it isn’t bold and makes it look a lot more of age of the reader and the target audience. The font in the school contents page looks incredibly childish. When constructing my music magazine I learnt how to work around my target audience effectively.

• Images – I learnt that using more images looks a lot more effective and that the readers get a clearer understanding on what is going to be inside the magazine.

• The colours in the music magazine contents page work really well together, which in the school magazine one they do not, the red looks out of place against the black. Therefore, in progression to my music magazine I learnt that the colours are incredibly important when attracting the readers and target audience. When making the school contents page I didn’t take much notice of the colours I used and how they would look together, and consequently this is why the magazines quality is not that high at all.