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

Research• I have learnt throughout this process that research is a vital piece of work

to carry out if you would like to produce a stable and well produced music magazine. I included surveys, interviews and looked at reader profiles of existing music magazines to research into my target audience.

• For the preliminary task I already knew the target audience as it was a college magazine for college students, so 16-18 year olds. Although I knew this I didn’t research into any competitive college magazines around and didn’t know what people would like to be reading about and what would make them buy my college magazine.

• When I looked into reader profiles on other music magazine websites they helped me define my target audience in terms of age, gender and class which I did not research into on the preliminary task.

Planning• I have learnt that planning is a key part of ending

up with a successful final product. It allows you to organise your time effectively and creates a secure plan before you create the final product.

• I planned a pitch for my magazine including the name, target audience, price and what it was going to look like and I presented it too the class, I was given back feedback to improve my magazine. I found this very helpful and the feedback did improve my magazine for the best too.

• I created a style sheet where I included images that I could base my images on based on the composition and backgrounds. It also included colours I might use and fonts. This helped me decide what would go best together and effectively.

• I also did a photography plan. Before taking my own images I looked at existing images to base and get ideas from to make my photographs look as best as they possibly could.

Product• I used Photoshop to produce both products. But in the

preliminary task I edited the photography too much making her skin look too smooth for reality. So in my final product I didn’t use any smoothing tools and only used a slight touch of the light and shadow tool to bring out detail.

• During the preliminary task I wanted to experiment with the different tools and shortcuts before using them straight onto my final product. As you can see I have gained experience throughout this product to gain a more professional look to my magazine. The colours all match and the fonts are not too blocky and aren't taking away features from main detail on the from cover.

Evaluation• By doing this evaluation I have been able to identify parts of my magazine

that have been successful and parts which I have developed in my own way. It has made it more clear to me why I spent so much time researching marketing and audiences and how much it has helped.

• I feel I have been a long way from the start of the year when I produced my college magazine for the preliminary task. Looking back onto this magazine I have laid back on the Photoshop effects and have learnt certain skills which has made the music magazine look more presentable.