James Eddisford Extended Project Evaluation

At the beginning of the project one of my main concerns was how I was going to manage my project as a whole, I had to separate the various areas of planning and production, I decided to create a gannt chart and a checklist (Gannt Chart, Right) I felt that by doing this it would allow me to spend a certain amount of time on each task I had set to ensure that I would reach the end deadline of the project. The gannt chart I produced I felt helped me be much more organised throughout the planning and production stages of the project. The gannt chart consisted of columns of each week named by date and then the assessment objectives were designated a colour so I could recognise what task I should be doing that week. I found that using the gannt chart for the first time in a project helped assist me towards producing my final outcome to its high quality and success. James Eddisford Evaluation

The checklist was created to keep track of my tasks that I had completed, by doing so it allowed me to keep on top of work that needed to be completed. I feel that this helped me however it was time consuming as I was uploading it onto my blog every time I had updated it, this had an effect on the production process and slowed it down as I was also updating the gannt chart on a weekly basis. If I were to use it in another project I would upload the final completed check list instead of every time it has been updated. Other time management process were set at the beginning of the project such as a weekly updated voice recorded journal of my progress but due to the lack of time because of the actual tasks set I decided not to go through with this idea. James Eddisford Evaluation

Before the project had started fully I decided that I was going to use a blog, this I feel was one of the main areas that helped me to keep my work easily accessible and an area where I could keep all my work uploaded. At the start of the project the first stage was to understand what I was going to be making . To do this I created a brief of the project including the aims of what I was going to be doing and what I wanted to achieve. The brief also included a short overview of the outcome I was going to be creating. By doing this it gave me a greater knowledge of what I needed to accomplish at the end of the project, I felt I was ready to begin the first stages of the project.James Eddisford Evaluation

Evaluation The first stage of the project was to begin to research into the chosen genre of magazine which was graffiti; I used the internet as the base of my research findings as this is the easiest way to generate mass amounts of research, because I wanted to broaden my research I began to use books that were related to the chosen topic.Abook that I found most useful was “Subway Art” by Martha Cooper and Henry Chalfant. The research that I collected was then translated into a short presentation and then posted onto my blog. One of the main areas I needed to take into consideration was who I was going to target for my magazine, from conducting an online survey I received feedback that was mainly connected to males, the reason being that graffiti Is a majorly male dominated activity and culture. The research I had produced also helped me to understand that the people who perform graffiti were usually middle class males which again allowed me tobelieve that young males was going to be my targeted audience. James Eddisford

Planning was the next stage after research so I began by looking into the production processes of how to create a magazine that would meet the industry standards. I found various documents and helpful tutorials which allowed me to plan my outcome to my highest ability. My planning consisted of designing various house styles that would be incorporated into the magazine but would be relevant to the topic of graffiti. My chosen house style colours were red, black and grey the reasons for choosing these specific colours were that graffiti is a very underground culture so I wanted to use colours that were neutral but also portrayed the darkness of the culture. I also began to design drafts of the mastheads and layouts of the magazine to give me an idea of what the final outcome would look like. After doing this for a set period the next stage was to begin, the production of the magazine. I felt extremely confident that I was going to meet all of my aims set for the project. When the final outcome was successfully created I was feeling proud in my product and felt that I had achieved this with the use of my own skills, time management and in-depth planning. James Eddisford Evaluation

James Eddisford Evaluation Throughout the project I met various barriers that stopped me from completing certain tasks on time. One of the barriers was attendance as this made me lag behind certain tasks this could have been easily avoided by rearranging appointments. Other barriers that I had met were equipment hire, the colleges equipment hire system at the beginning of the project was very unorganised which resulted in equipment being unavailable due to the amount they had also batteries not being charged resulting in cameras not able to be used. Although a range of barriers were met I managed to pass by them by using my own problem solving skills such as using a friends professional camera which enhanced the quality of the images captured, which helped me in achieving the high standard outcome.

James Eddisford Evaluation At the beginning of the project I produced various aims whichI set myself to meet at the end of the assignment. One of the main aims for me was to develop new skills and improve existing skills. I believe I am successful in meeting this aim as I have notice personally that my skills in using such software as Adobe Photoshop CS3 have improved. From looking at projects in the past and comparing it with this unit I can see a drastic improvement in various skills used within the software ranging from applications used and general imagination, I also feel that I have become more confident in exploring different tools and applications within the software. Other skills I noticed I developed in were the planning and production stages including problem solving, researching and producing more in-depth planning .This helped me to understand the project on a much wider scale.

James Eddisford Evaluation Research was a major section of the project, as this built up an understanding of the tasks ahead. As I chose the outcome to be a magazine I wanted to find out what were the main elements and stages of the production of a magazine as well as the planning processes. I found most of the helpful documents and tutorials on the internet which helped me extremely; I found a document called the flat plan which is part of the planning stage of the magazine production. The flat plan represents the whole publication, with one box for each page. The example shows the pages in double-page spread. Each editorial page should have a short description of what the content is going to be. For advertisements the boxes should be left empty.

James Eddisford Evaluation I learnt that the flat plan has a range of elements to it such as the “hard points” which are pages which cannot be moved; for example the cover must be page 1, centre spread which may be used for a pull-out section, poster is on two specific pages. As I was aiming towards producing a magazine that was fit to be sold at a retailer this helped me massively because professional magazine producers use this procedure as the basic draft of the magazine before the actual magazine starts to be created. Other sections of the research helped me to understand the production elements such as a content plan. I learnt that a content plan helps the planning process for the content of a magazine and also to monitor the production process. The document helps to divide each element of content into four essential areas:•News which may include other highly topical material e.g. Events•Regulars including the cover, contents page, letters and regular columns such as photography •Features in this case meaning other editorial not covered above, an example would be interviews •Adverts both paid advertising and house ads

James Eddisford Evaluation Another main area of research which I conducted was to look at existing magazines that were related to the topic I had chosen. This was an area of research that was an essential the reason for this was to recognize the numerous sections throughout the magazines. By doing this procedure I gained knowledge of the magazines that my magazine would be competing against. This also helped me to understand what features and house style elements had to be taken into consideration. I feel from doing this research that It helped me in producing my outcome with much more confidence and knowledge.

James Eddisford Evaluation The production stages of the project I enjoyed the most because its more of a physical and imaginative section. Here I have included images of the first draft of the cover and the final cover of the magazine as well as other areas of the magazine which were included in the magazine. In this section of the evaluation I will be explaining the various processes that took place during the production stages of the project. DRAFT ONEFINAL COVER

James Eddisford Evaluation The first stages of the production were to design the layouts of the magazine to generate ageneral understanding of where everything was going to be positioned. To make the production stages as easy as I could I labelled each area on what It would be for example: Here this area is labelled “features” I produced various layouts for each section including the contents pages, imagery and articles.

James Eddisford Outcome Reflection The front cover I produced I feel was one of the strongest pages in the magazine and from the feedback given this also allows me to think this. One of the strongest elements which makes me think this is the masthead which automatically captures the readers eye, the background image used also compliments the mast head and the general house style of the magazine because of the colours incorporated within the image such as the red and black. One of the weaker points on the front cover I feel was the fonts used and the size of the text on the issue number and features the reasons for this is because I found it hard to understand what the magazine was going to include inside of the magazine. If I were to rate this page personally out of 10, I would give this page a 7 because of the above reasons.

James Eddisford Outcome Reflection This page I feel had the most visual and well structured elements to it, I feel this because the large open space allows you to focus on the more visual aspect of the page also the page has the least amount of word processed rudiments. I also personally feel that this page is the strongest in the graphics and technical side of the production. If I were to rate this page out of 10 on an overall basis, I would rate this page an 8 as I couldn't not personally find any improvements needed for this page.

James Eddisford Outcome Reflection From looking at this article on a visual aspect in my opinion I would say that this is the section of the magazine that provides the most visual elements, on the other hand the text and the article itself does not seem to be written to the industry standard, I also think that text used on the page could have been positioned in a more skilled way with larger text to allow the buyer to read it much easier. Overall this section shows one of the main aims which is the professional quality of the imagery. Personally I would rate this page out of 10 a 9 based on it visual elements.

James Eddisford Outcome Reflection As the magazine was mainly based on the Quality of the images used within the magazine this page doesn't show them to a high level but as all magazine have to have some sort of written article or interview incorporated inside to fit into the industry standard I decided to include an interview section. I feel that this page is the least effective out of the whole magazine for the reasons that the house style changes only on this magazine, an example being the images that have been placed over each other which I personally feel does not related to the formality of the magazine, although this page has it negative elements I can also say that the articles content suites the topic and makes the pages stand out from the rest. I would rate this section out of 10 and 7 due to its negative sections.

James Eddisford Outcome Reflection I feel that this page shows the skills used throughout the whole project, ranging from the technical side and using the camera appropriately and confidently. From looking at the images included on this page I personally would say that this page shows that I have successfully produced quality images as well as continually showing my existing skills. I would rate this page an 8 out of 10 for the reason above.

James Eddisford Evaluation When it came to capturing my images I had to take into consideration various elements such as the locations I was going to take my photograph at and what features I was going to use on the camera to achieve the high quality images. To find the best locations to capture my images I used my own knowledge of where the best places were and also using the online software “Google Street Viewer”. This helped me to prepare for when I was going to travel to the locations as I had created a mapped route of where I needed to go. I found that using the camera was very easy as I had used the same camera before, this made it much more easier for me to use whereas if I were to use the colleges camera equipment It may not have captured the photographs to the quality I had done with the other camera. Link to Camera Information:http://www.panasonic.co.uk/html/en_GB/Products/LUMIX+Digital+Cameras/G+Micro+System/DMC-G1/Overview/1564800/index.html

Online Survey Reflection One of the major areas of the project was to generate feedback on the final outcome I had produced, to do this I decided to create an online survey using the software provided for free www.surveymonkey.com. This help me to connect with the intended target audience, to do this I posted various links including a brief paragraph explaining what the survey was for. I posted the link on relevant websites and forums such as www.graphotism.com and also email all the contacts on my email account. From completing this process I received almost 50 responses. In the next few slides I will be reflecting on each questions responsesJames Eddisford

Question One:From looking into the responses of this question it shows that the main percentage of responses were rated 9 or 10. This allows me to say that I have successfully reached two of my aims. These aims were as follows: Produce a professional and high quality visual for my magazine which is aesthetically pleasing for the audience and to use the equipment used confidently. I feel that I have reached these two aims from looking at the responses of this question as most of them are rating the quality of the images very high. James Eddisford

Question Two: This question was also on a rating scale to allow the audience to choose how they felt about the question asked. From the responses I received from the question it again allows me to say that I have successfully created the layout of the magazine to a high standard and quality as the target audience have responded by choosing the rating scale of 9 which I almost the highest you can rate. James Eddisford

Question 3: As the magazine was aimed to be more visual this questions was just to gain feedback on the word processed areas such as the interview and brief description of Manchester culture. From looking at the ratings from who has completed the question, it shown that the main percentage (33.3%) of them chose the rating scale of 8 for the articles featured in the magazine. This tells me that I was successful in producing the articles in the magazine as the majority of responses were above the rating scale of 8. Only a few of the responses were negative so it does show that some areas may have needed improvements, to realise the area that may have need changes I will next time include a comment box below to increase the amount of criticism I receive, where they can include suggestions, areas of improvement and other relevant constrictive feedback. James Eddisford

Question Four: I purposely included a question in the survey about the target audience and who they thought it was for the magazine, the reason behind the question was because I had set myself the aim of targeting the accurate audience for the magazine. My chosen target audience was middle class demographic groups, from looking at the feedback from this question it has shown that I have been successful in targeting the relevant audience as the largest amount (64.9%) of responses chose “Male Middle Class Demographic Group”. For this question I also provided an option to leave a comment or provide their own view on who they thought was the target audience, the most common comment left was predominantly about males, teenagers and people with interests in art and design. From reading through the comments left I can reflect by saying that I could have broadened the target audience to a wider range by including male and females.James Eddisford

Question Five:This question was mainly to allow me to notify that any of the fonts, font sizes and colours used was relevant towards the magazines chosen topic. From looking at the reposes I can almost certainly conclude that I have reached this area successfully as 46/48 chose “Yes” as their answer. James Eddisford

Question Six: One of my aims set in my brief at the beginning of the project was to create a professional looking magazine for the audience and try to produce it to an industry standard. The question was to see if I had successfully done so, from looking at the responses I can yet again conclude that I have met these aims as 93.8% of the responses chose the answer “Yes” which automatically shows that I have met the aims by a large proportion. James Eddisford

Question Seven: This question I specifically chose because it would help me in understanding the various areas of improvement I may have needed to have conducted. From looking at the responses from this question it shows that 44.8% have chosen “layout” and “articles” although they have chosen these the main majority of participants chosen to use the comment box below, since reading the responses it allowed me to realize that a lot of areas may have needed slight changes to the magazine, this is because of the varied amount of comments provided. The comments that appeared the most were “nothing” but various others provide feedback what I found constructive. James Eddisford

Question Seven (Cont):One of the comments left was to change the front covers type faces as it does not suite the magazines inner house style, this is a possible task I would take into consideration as I want my magazine to be consistent throughout to ensure the magazine as a whole was to a high standard. Overall from reading the feedback from this question I feel that I have be successful in the design of the magazine as the majority of comments and responses were positive.James Eddisford

Question Eight: The feedback I received from this question was mainly positive I believe this for the reason that one of my aims was to produce a more visual magazine which I achieved. The responses that were provided allowed me to understand that to produce an industry standard magazine it has to have more content which is word processed, this includes articles, interviews and reviews. Overall the criticism from this question shows that if I were to have included more articles within the magazine I could possibly have reached the highest industry quality. James Eddisford

Question Nine: This question was to allow me to understand if I had produced a magazine that was suitable to be sold at a retailer, the most popular answer chosen was “Yes” this shows me that I have met this aim set at the beginning of the project as more than half of the participants said that they would buy the magazine, although 38% chose that they would not buy the magazine I feel that a small quantity of the participant of the survey were not my intended target audience. James Eddisford

Focus Group Reflection From conducting the focus group I received various amounts of constructive criticism, being negative and positive. I began the focus group by asking the question “What do you feel is the strongest element of the magazine and what appeals to you the most about the magazine?” the first response I received was about the visuals, as one of the main aims for my project was to create a magazine mainly based on its visuals. I felt that I had met this aim because most of the replies were based around the visual elements of the magazine. Another participant said that one of the strongest elements was the front cover for the reasons that it has a professional quality to it; also others added comments on the masthead being strong and bold. Another aim that I set my self at the beginning of the project was to improve my graphics skills during the productions stage, as some of the responses from the questions I asked were associated with the given aim it allows me to assume that I have also been successful in meeting this aim. James Eddisford

Focus Group Reflection Another question I asked was on the matter of improvements, one area that was brought into conversation was the consistency of the house style on a certain page as it changes slightly the responses that I was given were both positive and negative. Various suggestions were also brought to the table, such as possibly incorporating advertisements with the magazine. This is extremely common within the magazine production industry as it covers the costs of production, from hearing this I have taken it into consideration and for further projects on magazines I now know to include advertisements in the magazine to make sure that it is to the quality of a retail magazine. Another suggestion was also provided towards the technical area of the magazine, this was to include power phrases to separate the articles columns this would enhance the visual aspects of the magazine much more. James Eddisford

Focus Group Reflection Overall from listening to the recording from the focus group I feel that the responses that I received were mainly positive and various comments made by the participants I can conclude that I have reached all the aims that were set. These aims were to ensure that the magazine was created on a more visual aspect, made to appear as a professional and to an industry standard; I also can confidently say that I have successfully reached my intended target audience but could have broadened the demographic groups to a larger scale of potential buyers. James Eddisford

James Eddisford Conclusion Overall I can conclude that the project as a whole has been successful, I believe this because of the quality of the outcome. The reasons that allowed me to think this is from the feedback that I received which was mainly positive. The aims that I set at the beginning of the project were:The magazine must be visually and aesthetically pleasing to the intended audienceThe magazine must reach the industry standards Test and improve my graphics skill’s and other skills such as photographyMy final outcome must be able to serve its purpose of being a magazine suitable for a retailer Managing the project as a whole from start to finish meeting the assessment objectives and being in control of my workAim 1, 2 & 4:I feel was met when the final outcome had been completed, when I conducted a focus group the comments that I received were mainly on the topic of its visual elements thistells me that I reached my first intended aim. I also personally feel that I reached this aimbecause when I was designing the visual aspects of the magazine I was positive and stayed focused on reaching the aims.

James Eddisford Conclusion Aim 3 (Test and improve my graphics skill’s and other skills such as photography):This aim relates to the production stages mainly and I feel that when I was using such software as Adobe Photoshop CS3 I was using it self-confidently and efficiently which helped me to keep a positive drive throughout the production stage. From reflecting on the feedback given to me it allowed me to understand that I had successfully met this aim. Aim 5 (Managing the project as a whole from start to finish meeting the assessment objectives and being in control of my work):One of the major aspects of the project was to ensure that the management of the project was controlled and all tasks that were set had been met. As the project was completed to a high standard and I did not miss any deadlines set this aim was also met, this can also be proven by looking at the reflective journal that I had continually updated on a weekly basis which reviews each weeks accomplishments.

James Eddisford Conclusion The project as a whole from start to finish I personally feel has been successful. I have met all the aims set but other areas I feel I could have completed to a much more higher standard. The product outcome was one of the areas that needed the least amount of improvement but one of the main stages of the project I though needed to be more thorough was the constant reviewing of the project on a weekly basis as some week were not updated, this resulted in the projects understanding lacking. This could have been avoided easily by simply updating the process continually. Other stages of the project need only small parts to be changed, one more being the that the software used is not the latest edition and this could have enhanced the quality of the outcome to be much more closer to the industries standard. Although there were various areas that needed slight improvements I feel that overall there were more positive sections to be commented on, beginning with the outcome its self, this would not have been achieved if the research and the planning was not as detailed as it was. One area I feel I had completed the most successful was the research, this gave me the confidence and knowledge of the project, which then reflected onto my work produced.

James Eddisford Extended Project Evaluation

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