2. What did you not know then that you don't now?
•When producing my college magazine I didn't know much about the layout of a magazine.
For example I didn't know about the rule of thirds and how they can help when planning a
front cover. I also didn't know much about style of magazines for example how a music
magazine can have a completely different layout and it would work for one type of magazine
but not the other. I improved on my knowledge by researching the genre of my magazine
and other magazine covers such as ‘vibe’.
What could you not do then that you can now?
•I used In Design to produce my college magazine. As it was the first time I used this software
I don't think I was able to use it to its full potential. However when producing my music
magazine I was more familiar with the software and I feel that I was able to use it in the right
way.
3. What skills have you picked up?
• The main skills that I have picked up is how the general layout of a magazine works. For
example what should go where and how text and image can be used together to compliment
each other to effective. I have also learnt how to catch the readers attention be doing simple
things such as changing the font size and colour. Bolder, brighter and larger texts are going to
be seen first by the reader. I have also picked up a lot of photography skills. How some shots
can work better than others depending on certain things such as lighting and effects.
What have you learnt about all other areas here such as audience, forms and
conventions, representation, design styles, technologies and magazines as a
whole?
• I have learnt that the presentation of a magazine depends on the audience and the genre of
magazine. Audiences of a magazine will look for certain things in a magazine and will generally
go for what stands out. Certain magazines have different styles depending on the type of
magazine it is. For example a ladies fashion/gossip magazine cover is more packed than a R&B
music magazine. The layout for a music magazine is much more simplified than a ladies gossip
magazine which is jam packed with info. On the whole magazine companies do a great deal of
research on what type of people will buy their magazine and what will attract them in to being
a regular customer.
