The student learned about various technologies through creating a music magazine. The main technologies used were InDesign to layout and design the magazine, and Photoshop to edit images by cropping, adjusting brightness and color, and removing backgrounds. Other technologies included a camera to take photos, lighting for images, and the internet for research. The student found that InDesign and Photoshop worked well together and allowed creating a professional looking magazine more easily than without technologies.

1. QUESTION SIX.
WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNT ABOUT TECHNOLOGIES
FROM THE PROCESS OF CONSTRUCTING THIS
PRODUCT?

2. INDESIGN
When making my music magazine I have used the programme ‘InDesign’. This
product allowed me to create the ‘template’ for the magazine, change the colour
of the backgrounds, add pictures, add text, create the masthead and position
text and images. When using this product I used a range of tools in order to
make my magazine as professional looking as possible. Some tools I used
include:
•Text tool- to add text to the magazine for coverlines, content etc.
•Place tool- to import images onto my magazine
•Shape tool- to create the circle for my puff/plug and square for my masthead
•Resize tool- to edit the size of my images, text boxes etc.
Therefore, ‘InDesign’ has been the main technology used when creating my
magazine as it is the programme used to actually make my magazine and put
everything all together.

3. PHOTOSHOP
After taking the pictures I have used on my magazine, I used ‘Photoshop’ to edit and manipulate the
images to make them look more professional or to remove the background. The majority of image I
have taken have been manipulated on ‘Photoshop’, even just to brighten, sharpen or crop an image.
Thus, making my images look that much more professional. The tools used here include:
•Sharpen
•Colour
•Brightness
•Saturation
•Contrast
•Crop etc.
The main model image has also had the background removed in order for the image to be used on the
front cover and for her to appear in front of the city buildings instead of a plain wall. Also, the images
of New York buildings have had their backgrounds removed in order for them to stand
unaccompanied as the background of my front cover. In addition, these images have all been altered
to be greyscale/black and white so it ties in with the colour scheme of the magazine and make the
images appear more similar. The tools used in this process include:
•Magic wand tool- to remove large chunks of background quickly
•Pen tool- used to ‘cut out’ the image wanted for the magazine (removing background)
•Crop tool- to remove any unwanted parts of an image
•Eraser tool- remove any ‘rough’ edges when cutting out image
•Colour tool- makes the buildings greyscale/black and white
•Layers- this allowed me to remove unwanted backgrounds quickly and easily
•Zoom tool- allowed for clear, precise cutting as I could see up close what I was doing

4. OTHER TECHNOLOGIES
Other technologies I have used throughout the process of my magazine include:
•Camera- to take the images for my front cover, contents and double page spread
•Lighting- to help give the images more light/less light to create professional effects or to simply light up
the model
•Internet- allowed me to research current magazines, target audience etc.

5. OUTCOMES
The final outcome of making my magazine with these technologies is that my magazine looks
professional and everything just fits together nicely. All the images used look professional and clear;
all the text match, fit the colour scheme and help the magazine look professional; and all the editing
and putting together process of the magazine look professional and display the conventions properly
and ensure they are there. Therefore I am pleased with the outcome of my magazine regarding the
choices I have made when creating my magazine and the technologies used. I feel I have achieved a
professional looking magazine with the use of these technologies.

6. WHY HAVE I USED THESE TECHNOLOGIES?
After researching which programmes would be best to use when making a magazines and after using
such programmes in my preliminary task, I thought the best choice would be to use ‘InDesign’ to
create and put together my magazine, and ‘Photoshop’ to manipulate the images. These technologies
also work well together as they are by the same creator (Adobe), therefore making the process easier
as the programmes worked together in harmony. Also, these programmes are widely used in
publishing, media and creative industries so using professional products helped make my magazine
the best I can achieve.
After working on my magazine, I have realised the importance of technology in the publishing sector
as without such technologies designing, making and publishing the magazine would be a lot harder as
there would be so many more steps involved to create the finished product. The use of technology
saves time, makes the product look more professional, creates precise alterations to images, size etc.,
images and text can be easily changed etc. Thus, technology has had a huge impact on the publishing
sector as without so, making a magazine wouldn’t be as easy as it is these days- as I have discovered.