EVALUATION // QUESTION 7

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

When considering my preliminary task, i feel that i have progressed when regarding, the final outcomes. There is a clear contrast between my School magazine and my music magazine.

FRONT COVER

In my opinion I feel that I have improved, since my preliminary task of making my school magazine front cover to making my magazine front cover. My front cover of my school magazine does not follow the regular conventions of a magazine, as much as my music magazine. My school magazine front cover is simplistic and follows a plain colour scheme which may not appeal to the audience. Most of the main cover lines of my school magazine are placed at the bottom of the front cover, leaving blank spaces in the center of the magazine. When managing the layout and structure of my school magazine I did not use rulers, on photo shop, and he text of my school magazine was out of line and the structure fairly messy. 

The lack of a sell line and a puff, means that my school magazine, appears fairly simplistic and monotonous, meaning that the front cover would not appeal to the audience, and demand attention. Considering what I am able to do now, I feel that my school magazine front cover does not meet the conventions as well as my music magazine front cover. I feel that I have more knowledge on how a magazine front cover should be structured, and what successful conventions need to be used, to ensure that a front cover appeals to the audience, as a front cover sells a magazine and a company. I have also more knowledge and skill when using specific programs like In-design and Photo shop, as when I started editing my school magazine I had very little knowledge on how to use these programs, and was unable to edit my school magazine to my full potential. As i am now very familiar with Photoshop after creating my school magazine, I was able to use tools that would make my magazine appear more professional and appealing. As it is clear. by observing my school magazine that I did not use professional tools to perfect my school magazine. 

When creating and planning my music magazine front cover, I did lot of research into real music magazine front covers such as NME, and Rolling Stones, magazine. From this research I was able to become inspired by other magazines, and their styles that they used. From the outcome of my music magazine front cover, there are clear relations from my front cover to other front cover from companies like NME. I was also able to identify the regular conventions used by NME magazine, and adopted these conventions and used them when regarding my music magazine. I have used conventions such as the Z theory and the rule of thirds, in order to achieve an appropriate layout of my music magazine front cover. I have also included more details on my music magazine front cover including, date, issue number and website, this promotes my magazine, and the company 'Reflektor', how ever when creating my school magazine, I feel that the masthead, i feel that i did not sell the company and magazine very well. 

Here is the visual contrast of my two different front covers;

CONTENTS PAGE 

In addition to my front cover, I also created a contents page for my school magazine. Again when comparing my contents page from my preliminary task to my final music magazine, there are clear improvements. In my opinion I feel that creating a contents page for a music magazine was much easier than creating a contents page for a school magazine, this is due to the amount of research I had made on music magazine contents page, and the little research made on contents pages regarding school magazines. 

I can see that my contents page of the preliminary task lacks individuality and style, were as my music magazine is iconic and appealing to the audience. My preliminary contents page lacks a fluent colour scheme, and the all blue background appears to boring and plain. I feel that my contents page lacks clear labels, and is poor at navigating the audience through out the magazine, in contrast to this fault, my music magazine, represents clear labels, and text to help the audience navigate their way through the magazine. I have used a clear, constant colour scheme on my music magazine contents page, and I have shown clear thought of what colours contrast well together. In my school magazine contents page I have shown little knowledge of colour connotation, due to the poor use of colour. 

On the other hand, the contents page includes relevant pictures to do with the magazine, showing that I followed the typical conventions of a school magazine, I have also included a large main image, and thought about the masthead distribution in relation to this. The pictures are in high quality and this is something which I see as very important when regarding making my music magazine. In both magazines i have used a high quality camera, to achieve high quality pictures, this is to ensure that my magazine appears professional and legitimate. In my opinion I believe that my skills have improve and matured after creating my preliminary task, which enabled e to create a professional looking music magazine contents page. During my preliminary task I used Indesign to create my contents page, however for my music magazine I used Photoshop, as after my preliminary task i felt that i worked the best with photo shop. Also photo shop enabled me to create a contents page to the best of my ability. I also believe that my typography skills have improved when observing the contrast of fonts between my school and music magazine. When creating my music magazine i had a keen eye of the type of fonts i was using, and that size and spacing is crucial when designing a font. The improvement of my contents pages shows that planning and research is very important when creating/producing a magazine. As you can see in my music magazine i have including an advert on the bottom of the page, where as in my school magazine there is a lack of features and promotion adverts. This is due to the lack of planning and research before I made my magazine. 

Here is the visual contrast of both my contents pages;

PLANNING AND TIME MANAGEMENT 

During the process of my music magazine, I started planning, since the start of the project, so that my plans are organised. With my music magazine, I organised specific time and dates at least a month prior to my photo shoots. I also gave my models early notice, that I wanted to use them for my magazine. I also created a planning sheet for the day of my photo shoot, on the sheet I included location details and services surrounding the location that i may use, including restaurants public toilets and medical service. I also planned my route to my location before hand, by researching train arrivals and departures. I also planned my magazine theme before hand, knowing that i wanted to take my pictures at a specific location, in which case Shoreditch. I did some research, including famous street art work, that I can use for the background of my double page spread. By visiting my location before the real photo shoot this enabled me to be organised on the official day of my photo shoot was efficient and successful. However when planning for my school magazine, I mostly improvised, and found that I had no clear or structured plan for my location and overall production of my magazine.
During the process of my music magazine, I made a structured planning table showing what I hoped to complete by each week. This plan meant that I was on top of my work and I was able to complete my magazine by the official deadline. However when creating my music magazine, I found that I did panic, and questioned whether I was able to finish the project in time.