Question 7- Looking back at your preliminary task (the school magazine task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?

After looking back at my preliminary task I can see that my skills and knowledge of using Photoshop have increased considerably. On my first attempt at using Photoshop my skills were limited and I didn’t really know how to use it, I also had no previous experience of using Photoshop, which made it even harder as I didn’t know what most of the tools were used for.  After playing around with it and experimenting I started learning what you could use all of the tools for etc. for example I found out that to remove any background from around an object or image I could just select the magic wand and pull out the bits of the image that I didn’t want, I found this very helpful as I used this tool quite a lot when creating my magazine. I have also learned how to use layers more effectively which overall has improved the layout and whole appearance of my magazine. Also from doing lots of research and planning I learnt all about the conventions of a magazine and what features make a magazine effective to the audience.

I feel that throughout the research and planning stage of my coursework i have learnt a lot that has helped me develop my skills and creativity when it comes to making my magazine. In the research and planning stage i looked at lots and lots of different genres of magazine and picked out parts of each magazine that i liked and thought about taking through to my magazine. I also learnt a lot about the coventions of magazines, what is conventional of a normal magazine and what isnt so conventional. One of the biggest aspects I learnt about through my research and planning is the layout of a magazine. I would say this was the thing that I found the hardest when making my magazine, I wanted to make sure that my magazine looked like a 'real' magazine and was effective to the audience. After getting feedback from my drafts it was clear this is what i still had to work on, so i went back to the research and planning stage of my coursework and looked at all of the layout of these magazines that i liked, i found this helped me a lot when making my final magazine. after looking back on my research and planning stage i have learnt that if i hadnt done as much research that i did i wouldnt know half of what i know creatively about magazines and i also wouldnt have had any ideas about how to create an effective magazine.

I believe there is a great improvement from my preliminary task to my final magazine, and I feel that I have done well considering that before doing this coursework I had never used Photoshop before and know I have used all the skills I have learnt to produce a cover, contents page and double page spread that looks professional.