1. Question 7: What do you feel you have learnt in
the progression from your preliminary task to
the full product?
I have made lots of improvements in comparison to my preliminary task (college
magazine). I have made the magazine look more professional and related to the genre of
magazine that I decided to do. Throughout the process, I have been able to expand my
skills and develop them further to benefit my final designs.

2. College Magazine Music Magazine

3. • For the college front cover magazine, I didn’t plan or research into anything when creating this magazine. I
simply used ideas and thoughts which I personally believed would appeal to the target audience. But with
my music magazine, I did extensive research into all parts of the music and other magazines of that genre.
I researched designs, layouts and content of similar magazines of this genre for example ‘KERRANG’ I also
found it easier to make this music magazine as it is a genre I’m interested in so I used a lot of my own
knowledge to back up basic information I had found out.
• In the design of my college magazine, I used generic styles and fonts, without giving much thought
into how the page would actually look to the target audience. Whereas with my music magazine, I knew I
needed to make it appealing and interesting, I used quirky fonts and tried to design an eye-catching front
cover. When taking photos for my college magazine, I was happy with my image I had taken, but didn’t edit
these in any way. With my music magazine, I used and developed my skills with Photoshop to make the
photos I had taken look more striking and distinctive. My skills using InDesign improved considerably from
when I used it for the first time when creating my college magazine, to my music magazine. I was able to
try out more interesting designs and use more complex features on the programme as I became more
familiar with it; I know I will be able to use these skills in my A2 year.
The content of my college magazine wasn’t specifically targeted at a certain social group, whereas with
my music magazine I narrowed down the target audience and this made it easier to decide on the
content and how to attract an audience.

5. I also continued to make improvements with from college contents page to the music magazine
contents page. I picked a definite colour scheme which appeared throughout all of the pages I
completed, whereas with the college magazine, the colours and design wasn’t necessarily linkable from
one page to another.
I think that throughout the process, from the preliminary to the music magazine I have made
substantial improvements to both the actual design of the magazine and also the way in which I went
about researching and coming up with material for it. I have developed my skills, in Photoshop, browsing
the internet, taking and editing photos and InDesign. I also think that I know have greater understanding
of how to research and create a magazine, making it appealing and targeting the correct audience, as my
main task (front cover, contents and double page spread) is a lot more interesting and links well to the
genre at which it is in. The skills I have learnt in this process will be useful for any other aspect of media
and also my second year.