Evaluation Question Seven (7 Draft)

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

During the progression from my preliminary piece I feel I have learnt a lot about the separate pieces of technology I have been using as well as developing an individual sense of confidence with my own judgement. I have learnt many new skills in new devices of technology e.g PhotoshopCS6, Scribd and Prezi. My understanding of the magazine industry has also improved significantly as I feel I have evaluated different skills from different types of magazine to create a pastiche of style in my Kpop magazine. I have managed to attain understanding of the importance of different processes such as research, planning and development from draft examples to my final product.

My knowledge in the technology of Photoshop when I started the production of my magazines/ School magazine was limited and I felt that this lack of experience significantly affected the outcome of my preliminary piece. I have managed to develop my skills to the extent where I have a basic understanding of editing, layout and accuracy in the compilation of the elements of my magazine. There is a definite sense of improvement when you view my preliminary in comparison to my final product. Using the tools such as guidelines, magic eraser and the crop feature were valuable skills for me to learn as it really helped to improve the mise-en-scene and precision of the genre of my work. It allowed my work to have a clean finish and therefore it appealed to my hoped for outcome. Because I have practiced on photoshop a lot now, I feel that my work on simple tasks such as the preliminary would be easier than I found it to be at the beginning of the period of our course work.

The knowledge I have on the magazine industry has improved significantly due to my extensive research in both my own genre and others. I now feel I understand the conventions of a magazine and why they are designed in a certain way for the audience’s care. My research tackled things such as how the audience was attracted to a certain genre of magazine and which conventions were included in the construction process to aim to attract the audience. This knowledge was developed largely during the research and planning stage of my magazine as well as the drafting process of production. I attempted to receive feedback from my peers when it came to my magazine but I found this a challenge as few of them listen to the genre of music, kpop, which was the intended genre for my magazine to conform to.

My preliminary task shows key examples of improvement when brought into comparison of my final cover and contents. The preliminary task was considered a short yet noteworthy element of this coursework as it allows me to look back on my starting point and shows me what not to do and how much I have improved. I applied no precise measurements to my preliminary however the application of guidelines on my final piece of work allowed the convention of mainly my double page to achieve the standard and aesthetics that I was hoping for. Due to the genre which is very commercialised in its home country of Korea it was important to achieve an element of precision so that it would appeal to my target audience.

The same, however, cannot be said about my preliminary as I had no knowledge of accuracy and the practical resources included in photoshop. I also had not done any researching into other school magazines and their conventions and I was also unclear of the audience/ reader that would wish to purchase this magazine. It is clear that there are two standards of work presented between my final piece and preliminary and these are differentiated through the quality and standard of each piece of work. I made multiple drafts which were consistently improved and bettered judging on the comments my peers and my teachers made.

In my magazine I feel I have challenged the usual conventions of magazines as well as adopted them, In consideration with my preliminary I had not performed these actions and I have also developed considerably in the technology department, therefore significant improvements are visible when in cohort of comparison.