1. What are the strengths and
weaknesses of both the product and
your use of new media
technologies?

2. Prezi
As Prezi is a programme I have never used before, it was difficult to pick up
at first. I feel that I could of worked a lot quicker on my prezi presentation on
the codes and conventions of a magazine front cover. Eventually, after time
working on this, I did end up producing a good overall presentation, and
displayed all the codes and conventions of a magazine front cover along with
images to prove this.
If I were to use this website again, I would try and work quicker to be able to
produce a better, longer presentation.
This helped the production of my product as I could go back and look
through the presentation to make sure I had everything I needed on my new
school magazine front cover. It will also show that I can use different types of
programmes to display my work.

3. Adobe Photoshop
As I have used Photoshop during GCSE Media, I did not really have any
difficulties working with this software. However, some tools that are involved
in Photoshop are difficult to use, for example, the crop tool. When I had to
convert my contents page from Quark Xpress to Photoshop, to be able to
convert it into a Jpeg, it was difficult as when I was trying to resize the screen
grab, it continued to pixleate each time resulting in me not being able to
crop the photograph.
I would say that using Photoshop is a strength of mine as I can produce a fair
amount of work on it and can navigate around it.
It will help me produce the best possible front cover for my main task.

4. Quark Xpress
This software was new to me and at first I found it difficult to work with. After
we had been taken through the steps on how to create a contents page, it
was a lot clearer.
I would say that Quark Xpress was a strength of mine, as it helped me
produce my contents page, which I feel is the better part of my end product.
However, because it was a new software to us, it was difficult to use. But
once we I had developed my skills on it, it seemed quite easy.

5. Product
Overall, I believe my new school magazine could of been better. It followed most of
the codes and conventions of a magazine however it did lack some of the main
ones.
For example, it does not contain Buzzwords or Puffs. this is something that attract
the reader to the magazine, because Puffs make the reader think they are getting
more for their money and Buzzwords make it seem that they should buy this
magazine as it is the only magazine with this exclusive information. It also does not
have and issue date or price. This again does not follow the codes and conventions
of a magazine front cover and contents page, and this is something I would need to
include in my main task. Also in the contents page, I did not place the page
numbers on the images I used so the images where not anchored and the audience
would not know what picture is related to what article.
However, my magazine did also follow the codes and conventions; it had a
consistent colour scheme throughout, the titles were the biggest text on the page,
the front cover had one main image, a main coverline, and sublines. The contents
page included a structured layout, multiple images, category headings ect.
Overall, I feel that my new school magazine is good, although it could of been
better.