media coursework Q7

2. When I first did my primary task it was very basic and not very
detailed this was due to a number of factors such as my skills at
using photoshop were very limited compared to what they have
progressed towards now. The design of the front cover and
contents is not very eye catching or appealing which showed that
not much thought had gone into it which was mainly due to the
fact I id not plan the pages or used common conventions that I
studied through the research section. Moving onto the contents
page it shows again that the design is very basic due to it being a
rough dummy. The way the masthead has been copied over from
the front page looks unprofessional and shows how little thought
went into thinking about the design.

3. Looking back at my preliminary task and comparing it against
my final product I can instantly see I massive improvement on
the layout of the page. The layout is far better on my final
product because I have used common conventions in design
that I have found in other magazines through the research
section ,this is shown I paces such as the placement of the cover
lines to allow them to stand out and the use of other elements
on the page to grab the readers attention such as the plug and
the bottom strip. The layout was also help to be improved by
using dummies and mock ups to plan the final design. Another
improvement I have made through progression is the use of a
colour scheme that carries on throughout the product ,the
preliminary task didn’t really follow a set scheme whereas the
final product had a colour scheme of gold ,grey and white to
allow it to have identity and appeal to a specific audience.
Moreover another element I feel I have massively improved on
between the two sections is in photography. The preliminary
task was my first time using an DSLR camera therefor I was not
familiar with the features and functions so therefor the photo
was not of very good quality. When taking the photos for the
final piece I had had a chance to practice with the camera to get
use to how it works and its features thus enabled me to take
much higher quality photos from a range of angles.

4. Firstly through my research I had decided to follow
the minimalist of magazines that published similar
genres to my magazine such as mixmag so the
design represented the modern style of the genre
by using large amounts of blank space and minimal
amount of photos whereas this is not the case in
the preliminary task where the contents page is full
of text and images. Editing techniques have helped
the images I have used on the contents page look
far more appealing to the reader for example a dark
filter had been added over the photo of the guitar
to add a sense of darkness and mystery. Through
the research and planning stage I learnt that it is
important to spilt text up to make it look for more
appealing and for more interesting and easier to
read than the large boxes of text that is seen in the
contents plan for the preliminary task.