7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Preliminary Task: College Magazine

As you can see from the table above in my preliminary task which was a college magazine I only included the basic conventions of a magazine. For example: a masthead, a main image, a bar code and a colour scheme. It helped to do the preliminary task therefore we could make mistakes on it so that we didn't repeat these negative things in our foundation portfolio products. I think it was very useful as when I look back now at my preliminary task and compare it to my foundation portfolio I can tell straight away which things stand out as been wrong or need to be changed on my preliminary task noticing ways I could now improve it. In my foundation portfolio I produced a pop music magazine which included many more conventions of a magazine. These extra conventions included: sky lines, cover lines, extra images, a date line and anchorage.

From the beginning of the year to now I feel I have learnt a lot of new skills but mainly understanding the conventions of a music magazine and been able to apply them to my work specifically the pop genre. I also learnt how to use new technologies in each different process including the research, planning, editing, producing and evaluation stages. I used Photoshop to manipulate my images and create my three final products increasing and enhancing the features throughout the pages making it look professional. I also discovered how to use programs for my research and planning for example: GoAnimate, Prezi and Slide Share. These programs allowed me to present data in different ways rather than just using text and images.

If I could change anything on my preliminary task I would change the image that i had taken and produce another image with a plain background focusing more on the artist and drawing attention to her rather than the background things which are irrelevant. I would use different fonts and a different colour scheme. I used black front which doesn't stand out at all and isn't noticed buy the audience because it blends into the background image. I would also make some of the text larger and add effects so that it became bold. I would use fonts that link in with the genre of the magazine rather than different fonts for every piece of text on the front cover.

Overall I feel I have learnt a lot throughout the processes from my preliminary product to my foundation portfolio products considering all stages including: research and planning, editing and producing my products and the evaluation stage. I think the main reasons for these changes are because of gaining experience with the program Photoshop and developing my skills to make my work better. I realized that in order for my pop music magazine to sell if it was placed on the market it would have to look professional and like existing products to encourage people to consume it.