Evaluation

1. What have you learnt from completing this task?
From completing this task, I have learnt a lot of new skills, especially considering I have never done Media Studies before. I have learnt new terms and editing skills, and also how to properly use Photoshop when it comes to layers/shapes etc. I can now do more complex things with Photoshop than I was able to back at High School. The main thing that I have learnt from this task is how to create an attractive magazine cover that fits the purpose, in this case it being a college magazine cover. I know now to stick to 3 colours when it comes to colour schemes, and also if the writing is not visible once the background picture has been put into place to use a shape filled in with white, for example, and to then adjust the opacity so that both the writing and the background is visible. This then looks more professional that either having a box in the middle of the page and being able to see the writing and not having a box in the middle of the page and not being able to see the writing; it looks more attractive and professional that way. I have also learnt how to use many of the tools in photoshop that I never even knew existed before, for example the lassoo tool and also the text tool; I didn't know how quickly text could be entered before.

2. How have you used technology?
In creating my magazine cover, the main form of technology I have used has been the Apple Macs and computers in Oak 55. The main program I have used on these is Photoshop, and I decided to use this instead of Publisher, for example, because I think that it gives more professional looking results, as well as more attractive results. I have also used a Panasonic camera to take my front cover photos, as well as my Samsung Galaxy S3 phone to take the test photos, for example extreme close up/medium close up etc. I decided that I liked the Panasonic camera better for taking photos as it had a higher mega pixel rating, and also looked better in daylight than my phone did; in some pictures, my phone's camera looks quite pixilated which differs from my camera, which doesn't look as grainy and has slightly better quality. I was surprised at how similar the 2 were, however when I looked closely, I could see that there was a slight difference between the 2. I found that using the Macs was harder than using the normal computers purely because I had never used one for doing that sort of complex work before, however I got used to it relatively quickly and found that it could do more complex things than a normal computer.

3. What conventions have you used and why?
I did research to find out what was generally in a typical magazine, and found that the typical conventions in a magazine are things like the plug, masthead etc. The conventions that I have used includes a masthead placed in the centre top of the magazine as this is typically where they are placed. Above that, I placed a skyline with a slogan on, and typical magazines have a skyline with either a slogan or more information about the magazine itself. As well as that, I used a plug with the text; 'WIN! 2 tickets to the college Halloween party!', as plugs on magazines usually have some sort of WIN written on them, or discounts etc. I also used a barcode, as every magazine has a barcode with a price on to scan along with a price, as well as a large picture that fills up almost the whole of the front cover. I decided to have my model in the library as it looks very academic. The footer bar on my magazine is also in the typical place as it would be in a normal magazine, and it includes a discount section, as in my research most magazines had this. Finally, I used stories that were spread about across the whole of the cover, however not covering the models face, as that it was what shown in my research, as well as the fact that if they were covering the models face then it would not look professional or attractive.

4. What would you change if you were to do this task again?
All in all I am happy with the way my magazine has turned out, as it has all the typical magazine conventions and also a good colour scheme and it looks attractive. If I were to do this task again, I would probably experiment with different colour schemes, as I think that the sorts of blues and whites that I have used are quite plain. I would maybe use some brighter colours, for example reds or oranges etc to make it even more eye catching. As well as that, I would also change the layout of my masthead, as my masthead is in quite a typical place; I could change it to be on the left or the right instead of just in the centre. Also, I would maybe edit the picture of my model or even change it completely, for example, instead of my model being sat down, I would take a photo of them standing up, and then edit the background out so that I could put them on a plainer background that would match my colour scheme, for example a plain or baby blue. I would then finally change the text type, as I believe that this is also a bit plain; I would prefer for it to be again a bit more eyecatching and more vibrant.