Samuel plans to create a tech magazine that provides unbiased reviews of the technology and equipment in his household, with the goal of challenging himself creatively rather than relying on past work. He will take minimalist photos to accompany the text reviews and utilize Photoshop's layer features to keep the design clean and engaging. Researching other tech magazines and unbiased user reviews will help Samuel provide valuable information to readers in a simple, visually pleasing format.

1. Initial Plans
Samuel Johnson

2. Initial Reaction
My initial thoughts leading up to this task was to create a product which didn’t take influence
from any of my previous projects and to create something completely unique, for the benefit of
boosting my creative outlook. My reasoning behind this decision is that, I strongly believe if I stick
to my roots I’m not challenging myself, which will negatively impact my potential and I’ll be
hesitant to try anything different in later projects.
My passion in the media world isn’t to create magazines or anything related to print, but more so
the filming and video editing aspect, however with my teachings on this course, I believe I’m
sufficiently adequate at managing the basic features of Photoshop and can produce something of
a decent enough quality. I’m especially fond of the ‘layer via copy’ feature using Photoshop,
which allows you to mask over a particular area of a layer using other layers, which keeps the
headlining image clear, whilst subduing lesser content and or titles which are still comprehensible
even when slightly covered; this in turn keeps the whole page looking professional and makes the
product overall more engaging/pleasing to the eye.
I’m thinking of creating a tech based magazine, which will allow me to pontificate upon at length
about the technology/equipment around my household and give a valid, unbiased review upon
each and to why I enjoy there functionality, with imagery alongside the text, of the product itself.

3. Mind Map

4. Mind Map

5. Mood Board

6. Mood Board Analysis
Is there any repetition in the images you have collected? Repeated
colours/images styles/fonts/tone/mood
The main colour scheme used in my mood board stretches to both ends of the spectrum, with a mixture of
whites and blacks splayed around the collected imagery. This basic pallet of colours share connotations of
simplicity which work towards the transparent element many manufactures try and convey through their
advertisements, which in turn keeps their products user friendly and for the most part I think they achieve
this, because there are no vibrant aspects which take away from the product itself; with apple being the
front runner in this particular style of commercialisation.
Similar to the imagery, any text used in this mood board shares the same simplistic features, keeping it user
friendly, without enveloping the user in masses of complex technical information; which relieves consumers
of headaches, from reading through such texts.
How will your mood board influence your final product?
I believe that simplicity is key when it comes to technology. Everyone wants something that just works out of
the box whilst looking professional/stylish in the process, much like apple who are the kings of making
everything look effortless. Including their clever advertising campaigns, which give consumers just the right
amount of information and imagery to draw buyers in by the droves.

7. Schedule
WEEK OVERALL PLAN SPECIFIC TASKS
1 Research, Initial Response,
Audience Research
 Look at various tech based magazines for
inspiration and how to professionally review
different products
 Look at products outside of my own
household to compare alongside products in
my own possession
2 Production Experiments,
Proposal, Planning
 Take photos of the products I’m going to
review in a minimalistic setting, which will
keep readers engaged on the item in question
rather than the surroundings
3 Production  Ask around for unbiased reviews, about
equipment they’ve never once used before,
which will in turn help readers know
whether such technology is user friendly
from first use
 Take minimalistic photos for the front cover
and inside spread
 Through the use of photoshop, make any
alterations to images which don’t exactly suit
the specifications of the magazine
4 Production  Using my collected feedback from my
unbiased reviewers, implement their wording
into the magazine
 Construct what’s left to do of the magazine,
including the appliance of any secondary
assets which couldn’t be supplied by myself
5 Evaluation  Evaluate how I could of improved my
creation and what I would have done
differently if given a second attempt
 Also evaluate what I liked about my product,
as to commend the features which would
work well towards later projects

8. Bibliography
• Name at least 7 sources that you plan to use in this project. These should include audience
research, books, videos/films/video games, magazines and newspaper articles etc.
1. Tech radar
2. apple
3. Wired
4. The Verge
5. MKBHD (professional tech YouTuber)
6. BBC
7. GAME
8. What HI-FI?