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

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

Media productsIn the construction of my music magazine I have learnt many things since the prelim task of a college magazine. I have also used many more types of technology such as indesign, powtoon and others. These new skills have helped me develop a more successful magazine that follows the codes and conventions as well as appeals to my particular target audience. There are many differences between my prelim pages and final music magazine pages, these changes have been made due to negative feedback from my prelim magazine and to suit my new target audience of music fans over the old college students audience.

Front covers comparisonMy college magazine and indie music magazine have both similarities and differences. As they are aimed at different target audiences these differences in the magazine are clear, for example my college magazines colour scheme is very bright. This is because it needed to attract students attention whereas my music magazines colour scheme is less colourful, more simple but suited to the particular audience I was aiming for. I have learnt how to aim my magazine cover at the right audience by using the right colour scheme as well as appropriate images. It would not be suitable to have college images in an indie music magazine or band shots in a college magazine. On both covers I have used a main image of a single person using direct eye contact. From my prelim task I have learnt that it is very important to have this as it will attract the audiences attention. Also, from my original college magazine cover I have learnt that it is very important to keep the articles simple, easy to read and very clear. I have done this more so in my music magazine. All text is straight, clear and cold meaning the reader can understand what it says. However it is more difficult to read on my college magazine. Another thing I have changed is the number of fonts I have used. In my prelim cover I used many different fonts and colours that made the page look more complex and interesting, however from feedback I have learnt that too many fonts looks confusing and it is easier to keep the format simple and only use a small number of different fonts and colours. Most of my cover lines are in black apart from the main cover line in orange which stands out more against the others as well as fitting in with the colour scheme. The background on my music magazine is blank to make the main focus the articles and main image, I learnt from my prelim task that a complicated background may take the focus away from the important images and articles so I avoided this. I also made my cover lines smaller so the page did not look as cluttered. I feel this made my magazine look more professional and branded. I learnt some new skills cutting out the main image for my music mag that I didnt learn for my college cover as I did not cut that main image out. I used more rule of thirds in my music magazine to help keep the main focus on the image and important cover lines. Overall, I believe my style of magazine cover has improved from feedback from my college magazine.

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Contents page comparisonMy contents pages from prelim to music magazine are very different but do have some similar aspects such as the two columns, title and use of masthead. From feedback of my college contents page I have learnt that in order to make the page easy to read I must keep the articles and images consistent. My prelim contents page is very complicated, meaning it is very complicated to read and use for its main use. Therefore when it came to the construction of my music magazine contents page I kept the columns more separate, the text consistent in size, colour and font and did not use an image as the background. I found that the image in the background took the focus away from the job of the page and the articles were not clear, so I added an effect to my music contents page to make it look less boring and like it had texture, but not so that it took the attention away completely. I also added subheadings to make it easier to navigate around the page. The text is bolder and the fonts are all simple. I feel this makes the page look more professional than my prelim page. I also added more images to my music magazine as it makes the page look more appealing to my target audience if they recognise the artists featured in the images, I found this more difficult in the prelim task. I kept the colour scheme the same for both of my magazines, my college magazine was very colourful throughout and my music magazine less so but suited the genre. I learnt what type of articles would be more interesting for my audience by doing questionnaires and focus groups, I then featured these type of articles on the page. One thing I didnt include on my final magazine was social media links, I did this in my prelim task and got good feedback however I felt this was not so necessary in my music magazine. But, feedback from my music magazine and focus group says I should include these social media links. This is one criticism of my final magazine that I should have included and will in future media products.

Double page spreadI learnt many new skills in the production of my double page spread. As we did not do a college magazine double page, it was difficult to start from scratch. I learnt how to create an article and produce my final product on a new program. I had never used InDesign before so this new technology was challenging. I learnt other new skills such as shaping the inserted text around an image so it didnt overlap. I felt that the finished idea was successful as the text went well around it and looked professional. From my prelim task I learnt how to attract the audience and I incorporated these skills with the image I chose and the grab quotes featured on the page. Also, from research during my prelim task I learnt to include a drop cap to help inform the reader where to start. I also knew how to include appropriate text, fonts and colours due to my prelim task. I used clear text that stood out in a reasonable size for my article and a more complicated but clear font for my main article headline. This stood out the most as it was very clear for the reader. I used my Photoshop skills to edit the main photograph as the text was not able to fit between the two people. I separated the people by adding space, this allowed me to fit my article on the page more successfully in a professional manner, All of these skills, I found very useful in the construction of my final double page spread, hopefully attracting the attention from my target audience.

ConclusionOverall, the skills I learnt during the prelim coursework task were incorporated into my final music magazine. I have progressed in things such as how to attract a particular target audience using images, text, font, colour and articles. I have also learnt how to write an article, use InDesign, add appropriate cover lines and colour schemes to my pages. I have realised how important planning is in the making of my product as well as feedback from questionnaires, focus groups and my prelim college magazine, By asking my target audience what they think I have found many ways to improve as well as many successes in my final product. I feel my prelim task helped with the construction of my full product in many ways and these skills will help me with other projects. Also by using other technologies and practicing with cameras and Photoshop helped me improve my magazine and these skills I learnt allowed me to do certain things I would not have succeeded in otherwise. Also, skills such as planning, organising, and being prepared were developed from the transition from prelim to final.