The student learned to use several new technologies in creating a music magazine. For research and planning, they used PowerPoint and learned to upload presentations to SlideShare and their blog. They also created an online survey using SurveyMonkey. For production, they used Photoshop to design pages, which was challenging as they had to learn it from scratch. They also used a professional camera and InDesign, which they found easier to learn than Photoshop. Through this project, the student became familiar with multiple software programs and technologies and feels they could produce an even better magazine if given the chance again.

1. Q6: what have you learnt about
technologies from the process of
constructing this product?

2. 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.

3. 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

4. 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.

5. • 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.