The document discusses what the author has learned from creating a preliminary magazine product to developing a full magazine product. The author learned that simpler designs with neutral colors, minimal fonts and images are more professional than busy designs with many random colors. The author also learned the importance of using common magazine conventions like positioning the masthead on the left page side and using rule of thirds for layout. For the full product, the author applied these lessons to create spreads that look more polished and appeal to readers.

1. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product? It is clear to see the difference in my media products. The first major reason I think caused this is because I learnt that lots of random (non-matching) light, pale colours are not commonly found on magazine covers. They cause a childlike and busy design rather than a simplistic but effective and sophisticated design. By using neutral and plain colours with minimal bold, bright colours the design is simplistic but sophisticated and professional. The multiple colours, fonts and subheadings on the cover lines have made my preliminary product confusing and off putting to look at. Thus I learnt that less fonts, colours and cover lines with a more room to space them out makes a more attractive, relaxing and attractive design. The busy design of the flasher also contributes to the unprofessional look due to is hectic design and overpowering appearance. Despite having plain backgrounds of both of the magazines I learnt that as the common photography technique is to use a plain white or possibly a plain black background to an image. Thus the un-naturalistic green colouring behind the woman on the cover of my preliminary task give the page an unprofessional and uncommon appearance. Despite being seen in on many magazines on the market I noticed that having a large masthead on the top left of the page rather than the top right makes it more memorable and recognisable as it conforms to the instinctive method of reading from left to right. Thus this is the first item that the reader sees on the page and by doing this as well as using the scale and prominent colouring the masthead dominates the page giving it an overall more professional appearance . I noticed that adding a block shape behind the headers and footers, they look much more professional and stand out more. I discovered that making the main image overlap the masthead slightly is a commonly used technique in making the page look skilful and dynamic, thus giving it a professional appearance. Although I used it in the preliminary task, I have developed my use of the rule of thirds which most magazines use, therefore it makes magazines look attractive, appealing and professional.

2. For my contents page I tries a totally different approach. Instead of creating a contents page that looked simplistic, plain and easy to read, I decided to create a page that was dark, busy and eye catching. Despite making it slightly harder to read, by caching the readers attention they will focus on it more anyway. I have again used the rule of thirds yet despite the fact that he main image fills the two right hand columns, they are also filled with more images and the text row across the bottom. This fills more of the space but makes it more inviting due to the large quantity of contents and more profession I have again decided to split my cover lines into subheadings. This breaks the page up and allows the reader to find their desired article more efficiently. As in my preliminary task I have kept the colour, scale and position of the masthead exactly the same as on the cover. This is to make it more repetitive and therefore memorable. However this time the masthead is on the left. Therefore I decided to make the blocked column of the page on the left side also. This adds structure and simplicity to the page. The fonts I have chosen to use for this magazine differ from the preliminary task as they are more blocked then curvy. This is a more commonly used technique for magazines. I have used three images as before as it is known that people like the use of triples. However I have made one the main image and two smaller images. This makes the page more image dominated and busy. I have added effects such as drop shadows onto the images and captions to makes them stand out against the main image. The page numbers for each article is more simplistic than on the preliminary magazine making them easier and more inviting to read. However the numbers on top of the images are larger and stand out more highlighting the fact that they are the main articles in the magazine. Yet I have not added a block shape behind as it makes them blend in and look more natural on the page. I have again added the title ‘contents’ at the top of the page as this is a common feature for any magazine. However I have also added a URL web address below the title to highlight to the audience that this is a well known, recognised, successful music magazine.

3. Although I had not created a double page spread in my preliminary task, I had carried out research and analysis of them and the common conventions they feature. Thus the things I learnt to carry out on my double page spread were either features that I found in my analysis or things I learnt from my overall preliminary magazine. I have used a simplistic but eye catching colour scheme to prevent the page from looking hectic and off putting as I discovered from my preliminary magazine cover. I added tags to my images and the pages in order to explain the relevance of the images in terms of the article to attract the reader to read all of the article. I also added a tag onto the whole double page spread allowing a more efficient location of the article fore the reader. I have made the main image fill the entire second page as I notices this was a common feature from my research and analysis as I found by making the pages image dominated, readers were more attracted to read the article. For this reason I have also added two other images. I have devised the article in Q&A format as it makes a more simple and easy to read article, especially for such a long article. Therefore I did this to make the reader more attracted to read the article . I have learnt to follow common conventions of magazine as they help make the magazine look more professional. Hence why I decided to include a stand first and a by-line. Again to make the page look appealing, attractive and professional I have added effects to the small images used and made the pull quote the title of the piece and in a bold red colour.