York College - Coursework

1. What have you learnt about
technologies from the process
of constructing this product?

2. When I was producing my coursework I used many
different softwares. I had used some of them
before such as Microsoft Word, Excel and
PowerPoint. They were helpful when it came to
planning my music magazine because I was able to
structure and organise my work in a way that was
simple to understand. Together with Microsoft I
also uses micro technology such as SurveyMonley
for my audience research.
However I also used softwares that I was not that
familiar with. Previously I had used Photoshop when
editing photographs but never to ad text, and there
were many tools that I had not heard about as well.
Adobe’s InDesign was something I had actually used
before, so my skills with the software helped me
develop my final product.

3. I used technology through websites as
well. I used a website called survey
monkey in my marked/audience
research. I had not heard of this before
and had no idea how to do this. I found
in conclusion that this was an easy and
fast way of getting response from
people, and I also developed nice skills
of technology through creating it.
In my survey I also learnt how to make
questionnaires. And I represented
mine as a multiple choice answer
section.
When representing and documenting my work, I used a blog
website called blogger. I learnt there how to create a blog, upload
my work and link it to other representing tools such as SlideShare
and YouTube.
I used YouTube to upload video of audience interviews and I learnt
how to upload videos. I also learnt how to represent my work
using SlideShare and connecting it with PowerPoint.

4. Before starting this project I had little knowledge when it
came to adding text and working with text in Photoshop,
but by the end of the process I learned a lot of
techniques. For example I learned to use the lasso tool to
cut out the model from the background, then place the
text, but in my case the masthead, behind so it creates a
depth in the front page.
I also learnt to work with different layers. This is to
ensure that you can edit your work at a later date. I did
this by right clicking and creating a new layer.
I also learnt that the eye dropper tool was a good tool
to use when making sure that I follow a colour scheme.
To do this I click on the icon and then click on the
colour I want.
When creating my music magazine it showed me that
I would find it very difficult to do my project without
technology because it is essential to how structured
and planned my work is. However, if I had to do
without a Microsoft Word, for instance, I would have
to handwrite the draft for the text instead. But using
software is much more quick and approachable.
In contrast to this it would be impossible to create
my magazine without InDesign and Photoshop
because they helped create the music magazine.
They were effective because they could handle
many tasks at once and when using Photoshop I
could edit the images so they became represented
more professionally. I also used Adobe’s Premier Pro
do edit the videos I posed on YouTube. This was to
make them more interesting to watch, and I have
some previews experience with that software.

5. I learnt many things about technology. The positive is that
it allows technological convergence. That means that a lot
of things can be done on the same device. This is
beneficial because it means that the process is quick and
simple as it can be.
I also discovered that digital technology communicates
with each other. However I have also found out that
because of large file sizes the soft wares can be extremely
slow some times. Therefore can it be a positive and
negative aspect of technology.
Technology plays a huge part in marketing today. I set out
my audience research online, and I received a lot of
response. So without social media I would probably not
have been able to collect the information I needed from
my target audience as I have.