This is my response to question 7 of the Evaluation question

2. OVERVIEW
Looking back at my preliminary task I feel as if I have learnt a range of
different techniques and terminology that I have acquired in the
progression to the full product. For instance the constant use of
terminology such as cover line, puffs, pulled caps and more. The
constant use of this terminology meant that it was fixed into my brain
and I didn’t have to keep looking back at the help sheets given out to
help us. I have also learnt about the ways in which major magazine
publishing institutions stay ahead of smaller institutions. I have also
advanced in my skills with the technologies used; For instance I have
learnt how to use InDesign to an extent that I am reasonably good at
it, and I have learnt more detailed tool and techniques on products such
as photo shop, like the healing tool. A main thing I have also learnt is
how to actually lay out my magazines in a professional way, by
weighting text and pictures equally either side of a page. This all can be
seen by the quality of my preliminary task pages and my final
pages, and how much more detailed the finals are to the preliminary.

3. I initially at the beginning of the project created a preliminary magazine to test
how skillful and capable I was with Photoshop, and the conventions of
magazines. Even though at the time I thought that my preliminary magazine
looked good, I feel as if the colour use made the magazine appear empty, as
they were very neutral colours, for instance with the cover, it gave it a dull
appearance and didn’t really present the genre or theme throughout the
magazine. The black and white picture however didn’t contrast enough and
made the page appear dull. I think the image I have used for my final front
cover is more representative of the genre of ‘Metal’ music as it is very
strongly associated with the clothes they wear. There wasn’t anything that
stereotypical in my preliminary, compared to the make-up of the character
and the violence associated with the connotations of the guitar being held
like an axe. I have learnt a great amount of information since the preliminary
task about structure and the layout of the pages. Overall that layout affects
the total aesthetics of the magazines. This difference can be seen from my
preliminary task to my final magazine. To develop on my structure since the
preliminary task, I looked at multiple magazines, such as ‘RockSound’ and
‘Kerrang!’ These were extremely obligatory to my final magazine, as well as
the house style and themes of colour and layout.

4. The lack of editing to the photos I edited for my preliminary task, and the
lack of preparation to them, meant that the page didn’t appear as
professional as my final. However on the creation of my final, my
photography skills had improved, and I planned the clothing and
lighting and different poses, meaning that the pictures turned
exceptional, and being on white backgrounds meant that I could edit the
background out and place something else over these.

5. One of the main factors that helped make my final cover so much better
than then preliminary task, was the use of the website ‘dafont’. I
searched this website to plan which masthead would appear best and
have connotations of the music genre unlike my preliminary which had
no planning before it. Planning the title meant that my final magazine
appeared professional and represents the genre. An example of the use
of the ‘dafont’ planned fonts is the band name ‘HELLandBACK’ using
then font ‘Brain Damage’. This spiky appearance not only is
aesthetically appropriate for the genre of ‘Metal’, but the jaggedness of
each letter almost appears like fire, giving connotations of Hell. The use
of it being coloured red, also emphasises this point.

6. I think my skills have developed a lot since the preliminary task. This can
be seen on my front cover through the use of my black and white colour
scheme, however with a touch of colour, to make my pages look
effective but with a stylised, classy black and white approach. The
colour scheme connotes danger which also continues and emphasises
the theme of ‘Metal’ and rebelliousness. My double page article has a
different colour scheme as the colours relate to the picture. These
colours helped emphasis the figure and make it stand out more, while
making the page look aesthetically pleasing, and giving it connotations
of aggressiveness.

7. Because of the poor quality and lack of knowledge of conventions I showed
in my preliminary task, I used this as an outline to ask the questions in
my questionnaire. I asked what sort of music genre I should create. This
was a very key question as it was really the outline of what my
magazine would eventually be, as the genre, changes the house style
meaning each of my pictures would have to be different and have a
different colour scheme throughout the magazine. Once I had gained
the feedback from the questionnaire, I used all of my data to incorporate
in my final design, as to target my specific target audience with all of
the correct features that I have obtained.