Wednesday, 3 April 2013

Q7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Looking back at my preliminary task I feel that I have learnt a lot, from the progression from it, to my full product. My preliminary task was very simple, a lot of my research and planning was not of as much of a high standard as in my main task, so therefore my final product for my preliminary was not of a high standard. My knowledge of software was also lacking in the preliminary task, so in ways the preliminary was practice of all the different software so that when I came on to my main task my knowledge was much greater.

In the preliminary task, my research of other magazines was almost insignificant compared to my main task. I feel as if this was a huge setback on the final product of my preliminary as my knowledge of the basic conventions of a magazine were lacking. As I did some research, I knew a few things about conventions of magazines, for example, having a house colour and a master head at the top of the page. This minute and undetailed understanding did not enable me to create a professional looking magazine. So for my main task I took more care and time into the research of other magazines so that I could get a clearer and more precise attainment into the conventions of magazines. I also thought it would be more appropriate to analyze magazines that were similar to the one I was going to create, so I researched, in depth, two rock music magazines. This gave me more of a focus on my product and helped to me to see the more specific conventions of a rock magazine.

The research on my target audience for my preliminary task was also very vague, so I didn't have a clear understanding about what readers of my magazine would want and this led to my magazine not being able to attract my target audience. For my main task I undertook a lot more research about my target audience with a reader profile, this helped me gain a distinct knowledge about what I needed my magazine to look like and what content I needed to put in it. My final magazine then ended up looking more typical for the genre I wanted it to be. From this I learnt that doing research on my target audience was a fundamental part of creating a magazine.

All in all, I've learnt that research plays a considerable part in the construction of my magazine. It has made me realize that making a magazine is more complex than I originally thought and each little aspect is important as it all comes together in an overall picture. During my preliminary I didn't look into detail whilst researching into other magazines and my final product didn't come together properly so it looked messy and unfinished. Whereas on my main task I did lots of research and was able to see each little aspect, so my final product came out looking professional and complete.

I also feel that I have learnt a lot in the software I have used in the process from my preliminary task to my main task. During the preliminary task my knowledge of certain softwares and the appropriate times to use them was vague. For example I decided to use Microsoft Word for the front cover of my preliminary task. Word is a very basic piece of software and the amount of tools that you can use on it are limited. I then used Adobe Photoshop for the contents page of my preliminary to test it, and it looked much better than the one on word, as Photoshop has considerably more tools available. After attaining this knowledge, I decided for my main task to create it all on Photoshop and my final product came out looking a lot more professional as the tools on it allowed me to edit photos and I had a choice of more tools to change the way my page looked.

So therefore, my knowledge of software has helped me develop from my preliminary to my main task, as it has helped me create something of a higher quality.

My preliminary task also helped me evaluate where I went wrong and what I could approve on. I feel as of it has helped me develop in my knowledge of how to successfully create a magazine, as I feel it was a chance to experiment and practice different things.
Conclusively, I think I have definitely progressed in my knowledge of how to create a magazine, and this is shown by the quality of my main task compared to my preliminary task. Even though I feel there was more that I could have done to make my final product better I am pleased with the progression I have made.

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