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

My magazine layout hasn't changed drastically, I have simply improved my overall presentation since the preliminary task. My coverlines are still in more or less the same place and my masthead is still in the top left corner. However my photograph positioning has been more thought out since the original task (in the center of the page instead of placed randomly in the corner) and my Photoshop skills have improved. I have learnt to use the guidelines to help position my text to make it look neater and more professional.

The college magazine picture isn't good quality as I took it on the Mac instead of using an actual camera (such as an SLR), the light quality is poor. Using the SLR camera on my music magazine makes it a higher quality as I could zoom and focus. In the preliminary task I didn't understand how to properly use mise-en-scene to portray my genre (college). I could have used props related to college like textbooks or calculators etc. I have since learnt how to use makeup and costumes to portray my genre (pop).

I have since realised how colour and font size can help the magazines overall presentation. I've learnt how certain fonts/font sizes can portray the magazines genre. For example my music magazine masthead is suitable for the pop genre. I have used a slightly larger font for my artists name to show the reader that they are the main focus of the magazine. This shows my new understanding of font sizes and their effects.
 

My music magazines structure is much better than my college magazines as my text is aligned neatly in one column with headings and looks more professional than my college magazine. Unlike my preliminary task I have separated the text into sections with correctly corresponding page numbers (which makes it more professional) and have used a much smaller, realistic size text which ultimately fits more stories/information onto the page.

The text on my preliminary task is basic, boring and does nothing to grab the readers attention. The text is too thin and the colours do not stand out against the background, making it hard to read. I now understand that fonts reflect the genre and because of this I used a fun, bold impact font to make it stand out (and show the genre) whilst also adding adding a sense of fun.

There are a lot of gaps/blank spaces in my preliminary tasks. It is less noticeable as I have a coloured background but it is still obviously quite plain. I have since learnt how professional magazines utilise every inch of space so that the page contains as much information as possible and looks more appealing. Extra/blank space can be filled with additional images or text.

The photos on my college magazine were not well thought through and were rather carelessly taken (I didn't even use a real/professional camera). They do not look good and were quite horrendously edited (incorrectly cut out with jagged edges, shoddy colour editing etc). I now know how important it is to think about mise-en-scene and I have tried to take this into account in my music magazine. I have now included props like headphones and guitars etc that reflect the pop genre.