The author learned many things from their preliminary task to the final product. In the preliminary task, they did no research on the print media industry or learn about the software and hardware used. For the final product, the author did research which helped outline codes and conventions needed. The author also improved their design skills, experimenting with layouts and using principles like the rule of thirds. Creating multiple plans helped guide the positioning and proportions of aspects in the final products. Planning was not done for the preliminary task.

1. Looking back
at your
preliminary
task, what do
you feel you
have learnt in
the progression
from it to the
full product?

2. In my preliminary task, I did not produce any research into the print media industry and I had
no knowledge into the software and hardware I was using. I didn’t know much about the
camera’s I was using, or the programme I was using, which in this case was Adobe
Photoshop. Therefore, there was a lot of room for improvement. One main reason I learnt in
the process of making the full product is the research I have done. The research helped
greatly, outlining the codes and conventions I would need to use to achieve a realistic feel of
my magazine. Being able to outline typical aspects of a front cover and analysing such so that
I could involve similar aspects in mine helped me greatly too as even though my magazine
was unique, it also looked like existing magazines.
Improvement

3. Improvement
A main area I improved in was design. As I had a lot more time to do my final products I could
play around with it more and experiment what I thought looked better. From my preliminary
task, the contents page has no real design to it, having pictures placed on the left and a large
image as the background. As I wanted ‘Lockdown’ to be formal, I decided to eliminate the
chance of having a busy background on the contents page, and instead have a plain white
background. This showed formality and looked better too, in my opinion. Also with design, I
chose to use a different type of shot for the front cover. In the preliminary task, I used an image
of a building, with a smaller image of a model in the left corner. I carried through having a
smaller image into my products, although I used a model in the main image. One reason I chose
to do this was because I learnt about proportions of a magazine and the rule of thirds. This
outlined that the subject of the front cover should take up two thirds of the whole page, and in
my preliminary task, the subject ruled the front cover, covering the entire page.

4. Plans helped my work too. By creating multiple plans of my final products it helped me to
guide where I was going to position certain aspects and proportions of these. This was not
pre-planned in the preliminary task. Of course there was room for improvement after I
made them plans, but they helped me begin my products without any difficulty and
allowed me to establish key features of my magazine. Being able to visually see an outline
of what I wanted my magazine to look like was helpful, instead of just having an idea in the
back of my head. The amount of plans I could do were limitless, allowing me to keep
thinking of ideas and then review which layout or page looks the best.
Improvement