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

2. • As can be seen from the disparity between my first drafts/mockups at the beginning of
my blog and the final products, I have come a long way in understanding the utilisation of
computer programs such as:
• Adobe Photoshop and InDesign for my three final pages. I had little to no knowledge of
these programs when I began but I now understand how to use many different tools to
organise layouts, correctly layer different elements, how to edit the background images
and remove their imperfections and how to make sure the final product looks
professional and thought-out. Getting all of my text-based information across using
appropriate fonts, sizings and colour schemes was made possible by my learning of these
techniques.
• I have learnt how to embed different types of media into Microsoft Word, Powerpoint
and Excel in my research and evaluation stages. I already had basic knowledge of these
programs but I have had to find so many workarounds and use so many hidden features
that it has expanded my knowledge greatly for use in future projects.
• I have also learnt how to carry out successful interviews with a DSLR camera and
microphone in a proper photo studio, create a SurveyMonkey survey and how to
advertise these two research methods across social media in order to get a balanced
audience to take part in them.
• In between these programs, I have had to find out how to manage different filetypes and
work around compatibility issues between programs in order to edit all of my work using
the correct programs. This skill applies to all technological creative work, not just this
project.
• Uploading all of this work to an online blog has informed me about the possible functions
of sites such as YouTube, SlideShare and WordPress of which beforehand I was never
aware. I now know how to properly and concisely arrange data and work on appropriate
websites, so that they may be amalgamated onto one clear, simple, easily readable (and
markable!) blog.

3. Photoshop:
• I have learnt how to “touch up” images to make them appear more eyecatching or their subjects more attractive.
This has included learning how to use a multitude of tools which can be used for all sorts of photo editing in my
other work. This has helped make my magazine look more professional and inviting by altering contrast and levels,
removing imperfections with spot healing brushes, cropping and resizing, editing tone and exposure etc.
• I have leant how to overlay extra elements such as text and supporting text boxes onto these images. This was
used for all of my puffs and plugs and involved a lot of manual drawing of features, for which I used a graphics
tablet to help with certain block designs (not drawing, but prescisely editing lines etc.). The skill most useful I learnt
from this was probably a sense of colour balance. I had to keep recolouring all different elements so as not to make
the page look like a lopsided gradient.
• I have also learnt how to resize and crop images to make them fill their space in an aesthetically pleasing manner.
This is useful for all sorts of projects, but has helped my magazine to “feel” right and appear visually attractive,
whilst readable.
• I also made use of Adobe Bridge to create my contact sheets in a way that I could easily analyse and judge my
shoots so that I may pick the ones I wanted to continue working with.
InDesign:
• I have learnt how to take Photoshopped images and format them to work with InDesign. This links to my
“filetypes” discussion from earlier. This was helpful in creating my contents page, the final draft of which was an
InDesign document thanks to all the organised text I wanted to include on it.
• I have learnt how to write articles onto full page spreads in a “natural” way; the arrangement of text into three
columns on one of the pages, ordering the paragraphs correctly to follow the Western eye, using correct fonts and
colours to ensure ease of reading etc.
• I have also leant how to properly layer elements so that they may be properly edited with other tools. When a
project reaches upwards of 50 layers, this is important to ensure efficient work can continue without getting
yourself lost in misnamed elements. Merging and flattening layers was a skill I had not been aware of after
conducting several Photoshop projects in the past, and I am now massively glad to know of.
Camera Handling:
• I have learnt how to set up lights and a backdrop in a photography studio in order to best present my magazine
subjects in flattering conditions. This helped to make the magazine look very professional and drew a contrast
between the inside and outside content of the magazine.
• I have learnt how to manually set a camera in order to capture the particular tones of an image that I want to
appear in my magazine. This will be useful for ANY photographic work I want to perform in future. It helped me to
match the colours of my images to the intended tones of the magazine, so that they suited one another without
clashing or too harshly contrasting.
• I have learnt how to take these images and import them to editing software such as Photoshop efficiently and
neatly, without corrupting or losing any files in the process. I have learnt to make reliable backups on external disks
and online cloud storage to ensure that my work will not be lost at any point due to technical faults or errors.