The document summarizes how the author has improved from their preliminary magazine design project to their final products. For their preliminary work, the author's designs lacked professionalism due to limited time and experience. However, through additional research, planning, and practice with design software, the author was able to improve key areas for their final products, including layout and composition, fonts, image quality, use of color, and inclusion of important conventions. Their final magazine designs demonstrated a greater understanding of the genre and how to create an appealing product for the target audience.

1. Question 1:How have you
learnt from your preliminary task
in the progression to your final
products?

2. Preliminary Front
Cover

3. Preliminary Front
Cover

4. Looking back at my preliminary group task, I feel I have progressed massively
and created products that are both professional looking and unique. Conventions
I have used in my preliminary product I have been able to adapt and improve
with more skill and knowledge on the Photoshop software. On my preliminary
front cover, I liked how my subhead was really straight to the point and summed
up the purpose of the magazine. “The Best Of Sunderland College” The word
“Best” was used to persuade and encourage the reader to purchase the
magazine, suggesting it must contain the most exclusive, Important and impact
information to beat all of it’s competition and be the “best.”. The dominant image
was effect because although it didn’t use direct mode of address which would of
personally linked to the audience by connecting to them first hand. Our image
was still very focused and professional. Also it connoted that the college has a
happy student and teacher friendship and that everybody is dedicated to their
learning as they wish to succeed in the near future. The carefree and smiling
facial express symbolises that the college is friendly, down to earth and a relaxing
place to study.
Preliminary Front Cover Task

5. Preliminary Task
Basic conventions of a front cover are seen through my groups preliminary product
such as masthead, puff, subhead, sellines and sub images. Also There are basic
conventions used on my contents product which includes a masthead, contents list,
sub images and editor notes. Throughout both of my groups preliminary tasks, I
have kept a constant colour scheme of dark colours. Such as black, dark red, dark
blue and light blue. This is an effective feature as it gives our magazine a unique
identity that is our own and will be noticed and memorable because if the colour
scheme which will feature on every issue published. Also the colours are very
simplistic, professional and unisex. These colours are usually used to imply authority
and high class. Another reason why I decided to use these colours is because I
thought they would add a natural/simplistic effect which I believe is important for
the audience who are students as they only intend to have facts about college.

6. In addition to this once I had carried out more research into the music
industry and music magazine, I gained more experience and interest when
to come to working with Photoshop. I reali8sed I didn’t use the software
to it’s full potential when designing my preliminary task as I didn’t have
the knowledge nor skills added to do so. Although I included many
conventions, they way they were presented on my product lacked
proffesionality and looked too simple and basic, like no effort was used to
create my products. My preliminary products needed a lot of
improvement, for example: our fonts were all too similar, whether the
audience weren’t aware which ones were of key significance. Some of the
text couldn’t seen properly- making it harder for the audience to read. The
layout didn’t have any structure- which meant there was a lot of extra
space not being used and I didn’t have much knowledge or
understanding on how to edit phots therefore they didn’t stand out
effectively like professional magazines.
Preliminary Task

7. Comparison
My preliminary task looked very basic, unprofessional
and undeveloped when compared to my final products.

8. Comparison

9. Improvement
I was able to improve my preliminary skills by gaining
more experience whilst using new technology and
software programmes. Also I was able to do further
research and planning to get even more inspiration from
existing music magazines which helped me massively
when coming to improve on my conventions and layouts. I
improved in the following areas:

10. When creating my preliminary products I had a very limited time period to complete my
work under, therefore I didn't get the opportunity to get any audience feedback or make
further improvements. In addition to this I had to plan until the lad up of taking the photos
and hadn’t have time to research many existing magazines and their conventions therefore
it lacked a lot of proffesionaltity. In the case up to my final products I carried out a lot of
additional research that helped me to develop my own and more advanced ideas,
widening my imagination. I deconstructed existing magazines, looked at similar products,
organised my photoshoot and researched inspirations into my genre and conventions. All
of this contributed equally to the success of my final products as I learnt a lot more about
how to create a good magazine and how to improve my skills.
My blogger

11. Layout and Composition
I definitely lacked knowledge of magazine codes and conventions when designing my preliminary
products and I was very unware that there had to be a structure to how magazine front covers and
content pages were laid out. Unfortunately I lead me to position my conventions all across the
pages in a messy and unstructured from which wouldn’t be appealing to any audience as they
wouldn’t know where to direct their eye line. Also it meant I had a lot of extra empty space on my
pages which made the mazagine look very dull, bare and basic which the audience wouldn’t buy if
it lacked content. Also I didn’t know how big or small certain features had to be. Throughout my
research I learnt a few stereotypical techniques within music mazagine and how the layout should
be. For example the masthead normally overlaps the dominant image and how the masthead
should be the biggest and boldest text on the page. Also how the content page should be
structured into categorises. Also I learnt about a technique called Framing which helped me to
make my dominant image on my front cover stand out more and make the content page easier to
navigate. My final product is a lot more appropriate for my genre and audience as I learnt that the
pages should be full with no space to show that it has a lot of content and learnt how different
conventions should be positioned to appeal to my target audience.

12. Colour Scheme
Although the colours used in my preliminary linked back to the colours in the sub
images and college logo, they were very plain and dull. In addition to this after
researching colour schemes of existing magazines and learning of the connotation
behind each other, I have chosen 4 colours that represent my genre and will also
stand out to my audience. These 4 more colours are a lot more pigmented and
vibrant therefore my text ad features will stand out much more. This was a problem
in my preliminary products as the colours were that dull they clashed with the
background making the text harder to red. Advancing my skills father, I learned how
to direct the audiences eye line suing colour and how to make important
information more dominant and outgoing. For example I layered contrasting colours
as a border around each other like in masthead in pink with a black outline which
stands out a lot more than a normal pink text would. I used my colour scheme on
both pages and incorporated it into a lot more of my features, As I wanted to make
sure I had an even balance of each colour as I learnt it is important to give the
magazine an identity through the use of colour.

13. Fonts
In my preliminary task I was unware of the process of downloading fronts from websites
such as Dafont.com therefore from my previous font range was very basic. To create both
my front cover and content page I used the default Photoshop font listings which also had a
limited selection of fonts to choose from which were quite plain also, This made the product
look dull and boring which is why the font was hard to see against my background. When I
learnt that certain text such as the masthead has to stand out the most compared to other
features. I decided that I anted a better front for my final products. For my Front page and
contents I downloading the majority of my font from Dafont.com in which I was able to
search fro fonts that stand out better and represent my genre clearly, For example I used
words such as from “handwritten” ”curled” and “smooth” to narrow down the search of the
fonts to produce my best suited one. Also that represented the attitudes and feelings of my
genre. This advancement in font has allowed my magazine to be much more appealing to
my audience and look more professional.

14. Image Quality
Throughout this course I was able to develop my software skills to improve the
quality and professionalism on my images. I was able to use more advanced
Photoshop tools such as blur, smudge and healing brush which allows me to hide
imperfections on my models face to give them a flawless finish. Also I was able to
use warping tools to layer tattoos over my model which was an effective addition
that represented my audience. I used sites such as “Photo Editor” and “Facetube”
to add effects to my images for example selective focus. On my front dover this
created I made my image much sharper so that stood out more and was clearer
which allowed me to direct my audience to the image. These changes allowed me
to make my photos look much more professionally and more appealing to my
target audience. Although I used the same camera technology for my preliminary
and final products I gained a greater understanding of camera settings such as the
flash, angles and shots therefore the outcome was much greater and shows more
diverse range of skills.

15. Mise En Scene
When creating my preliminary products, I had limited time to plan and organise the
photoshoot. This meant that no thought went into the clothing, hair and make up
choices as We had to make do with wat we had. Also I was limited in my location as I
could only stay within the college grounds meaning it was hard for my group to think
about the meaning and effects behind my choices. However for my final products I gave
my models instructions of what to wear, what make up to have on and how to have their
hair. Also I choose 3 locations which gave my images more variation and reflected my
genre. These decisions were based on my research into stereotypical clothing and
attitudes of my audience. The background stands out a lot more than my preliminary
which looks very dull and basic. Also I had a lot more time to think about sub images
therefore my images from concerts and of my model otherwise looked much more
appealing and effective.

16. Conventions
Since my preliminary tasks I have developed my codes and conventions to make them look
more advanced and professional as throughout my research I have learnt certain conventions
and techniques were vital and need to stand out against others.
Masthead stands out
much more with a
unique font and
layered underneath
with a outline.
I learnt how to emboss and
edit on Photoshop to make
my puff stand out more.
Bigger font for “Win” to
draw more attention.
Research showed magazines separated
their contents into groups. Used
different fonts for titles and articles.
Added subheads and different
colouring for categorises to make it
more appealing.
I learnt that editor’s
notes are vital to put
more though into.
Added images,
signature and more
detailed and direct
text. Audience feel
more involved.

17. Conclusion
In conclusion looking back through my preliminary work I feel that I have
progressed and advanced my skills to create a product that is much more
professional and established. My research and planning has allowed me to so
this as I now have a better understating on what maker a magazine successful
and how I can apply this through different software.