Question 6 of my evalutation.

1. Evaluation - Question 6
What have you learnt about
technologies from the process
of constructing this product?

2. Software used
Planning
For my preliminary task, I first used Photoshop to create the
front cover of my school magazine, and Microsoft publisher
for the contents page. I had previous skills on this
programme as I had used it in the past, however my skills
Research
For the audience survey I used surveymonkey.com to gather
information on my target audience. I had never used this website,
were minimal. I knew how to insert images and resize them, as well as do minor edits like raising the brightness. I also knew how
to insert and edit text. Later on in the planning stage, I used Photoshop to create contact sheets for my photo shoots. This is
something that I didn’t know Photoshop could do, so I picked up a new skill here. I also used Microsoft Publisher to create the
flatplan of my magazine and the drafts of the pages. Microsoft PowerPoint was also majorly included in my planning, as I used it
for my pitch, stylesheets and other documents.
so this was a new experience for me. I learnt how to create my own survey, using the easy templates for putting
together question that the website gives you. I then was able to read the results of my survey through the graphs
that the website creates for you. This was an extremely useful way of gathering data, as it allowed me to easily
have everything in one place and be able to see all of my results immediately.

3. Production
For my cover and contents page, I used Photoshop. I used the skills that I
already had and gained some new ones. I learnt more about editing photos,
for example, I used the airbrush and clone tools to even out the skin tones of
my characters in order to raise the quality of my images. This is also where I
learnt about the importance of layers. Having everything be a separate layer
was very helpful, as the text needed to cover the images, and therefore the
layers needed to be adjusted so that the layer for the text was above the
layer for the image.
For my double page spread, I used InDesign. While I had used this programme before, I was unsure of how to use it
properly. It is very similar to Photoshop, in that the tools used for inserting images and text are almost the same.
However, I learnt that the images are not in fact inserted into the document, but instead act as links, as the images
must be on the computer in order for them to be on the document too. This is very different to Photoshop.
Evaluation
For my evaluation, I used PowerPoint, as I could easily move around the
text and images to include the information that I needed. This allowed me
to include graphs and screenshots of my work to fully convey what I was
saying by physically showing what the text was discussing. PowerPoint has
been an extremely useful tool during most stages of this project.

4. Hardware
While the software that I used was extremely important, the hardware was too, as I couldn’t have done anything without it. I
created all of these documents on a PC, which included a monitor, mouse, keyboard etc. I also used a USB drive to back up my
work to, ensuring that I had 2 documents in case there was any issues and I lost some work. During my planning, I drew a mind
map of possible names for my magazine, and used a scanner to get a digital copy of it.
Conclusion
Without these technologies, both hardware and software, I wouldn’t have been able to create my magazine. Technology allows
for the creating of such things to be much easier. The hardware was particularly important for this project, particularly the PC, as
I wouldn’t have been able to run any of the software without this. However, some of the software I could have managed without.
For example, I would have been able to create my double page spread on Photoshop just as successfully as I would on InDesign,
so while this technology was useful, I could have found an alternative. While technology is extremely positive, as it allows us to
experiment with new ways of creating things that we wouldn’t be able to by hand, it can also be negative, as we become more
reliant on it, and if it isn’t working properly one day, this causing issues in our work, as we can’t continue to create things without
it. However, overall, technology was extremely important in this project. I learnt new skills in the programmes, as well as just how
much technology is needed to create something like a magazine.