My skills improved from the preliminary task to the final product in several key areas: 1) I conducted more research and evaluated similar music magazines for conventions like featuring artists' appearances and genre-appropriate clothing. 2) I took better photos for the main product using professional cameras, lighting, and poses showing eye contact rather than looking away from the camera. 3) I learned to use fonts, colors, layouts, and Photoshop/InDesign features to make the main product look more polished and professional. 4) The main product had more depth with details about magazine content to appeal to readers and included a more diverse range of models.

1. Evaluation Question 7 How have my skills improved from my preliminary task to my final product

2. Research and Planning of preliminary task In my preliminary task I did very little research as we were given the task (to create a college magazine front cover) but I created this by using my own thoughts and ideas. This meant that the preliminary product was not of a very good standard, and the techniques I used to create it were also very basic.

3. Research and planning of main product For my main product, I took a lot more time to research similar products and their conventions, for example, from the two music magazines I evaluated critically, I found that artists appearance was an important factor and their clothes/costumes had to be selected according to what music genre they represented. I also tried to create my own product in line with other professional pieces as I knew this would appeal to a wider audience if they felt my magazine had a certain ‘glossy’ feel.

4. photography of preliminary product In my preliminary product, I did not take notice of how to construct engaging images such as those set out in professional magazines, for example here, my model is looking away from the camera whereas in a professional shoot, the model usually always makes eye contact with the reader, creating a close relationship and letting the audience gage emotions.

5. Photography of main product For my main product I used a variety of shots and poses in different settings, for example I used the photography studio to take images for my contents page, and my DPS and cover images were from a live music event which reflected the genre of my magazine well. By using the hardware of the professional camera and lighting studio, I had much better shots and depth

6. Construction of preliminary product In my preliminary task, I was not completely used to Photoshop and how to access all of its features, therefore I used fonts already included in the software which were not very interesting or professional looking, and I did not know how to adapt text for example the leading between lines.

7. Construction of main product During the construction process of my main product I chose a wide variety of fonts and colours which reflected the genre of my music magazine well, and learned how to change these fonts using the software Photoshop and InDesign. This meant that my magazine looked much more professional than my preliminary task, and I also knew that I had to fill in most gaps and spaces to avoid it looking bare and shabby. I also tried to keep a high image to text ratio throughout my product as from my audience feedback I discovered that young people preferred that type of magazine

8. Content of my main product My main product had much more depth than my preliminary task, as I included more detail about the content of my magazine as this was a convention set out by other professional products to try and sell more copies. I also used a wider range of models spanning different genders and races to appeal to a wider audience which is something I had noticed in professional products.

9. Conclusion Overall, I felt I have learnt a lot from my preliminary task to my final products, I have improved on my ability to use different software's and hardware's to my advantage. Although I do feel like there are more details I could learn about to make my product look as professional as possible, I am pleased overall with how my project went.