Klaudia Demczuk

WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNT ABOUT TECHNOLOGIES FROM THE PROCESS OF

CONSTRUCTING THIS PRODUCT?

HARDWARE • Hardware refers to the physical components of a computer system(The equipment

attached to a computer). Some basic computer hardware includes the keyboard, ,mouse ,CPU, RAM, hard drive, etc.

SD CARD A SD card is are small rows of chips which store many documents , music, photos and more. This card is a faster way of transferring many documents in all forms onto different computer hardware's This card enables me to take a picture on the camera and then take the card out that has been in the camera and put it in a usb adapter and then plug it into a computer to transfer the images onto a different hardware.

Therefore from this hardware I have learnt how to transport different documents, especially images from a hardware(Camera) to a different hardware(The computer) so that it will enable me to use the images taken put onto the cover, contents and article.

CAMERA- NIKON D3000

This camera has helped me to take a very good quality pictures for my magazine cover, Contents page and article. Many photos taken were well focused and resulted in a very good quality of the objects I have taken pictures of and the individuals. The flash and the portrait feature has resulted to pick up on the faces and other features such as hair and clothing in the photograph which produced a very good quality of the image and the object/person in it. The zoom in and out focus also allowed me to take long and head shots to have a variety of different images.

Features of the camera• Built-in pop-up flash with Nikon's original i-

TTL flash control.• Large 3.0-in., approx. 230k-dot LCD with

brightness adjustment • Integrated Dust Reduction System • Scene Recognition System, utilizing 420-

pixel RGB sensor, improves autofocus, auto exposure and auto white balance performance

• Multi-CAM 1000 autofocus sensor module featuring 11 AF points provides fast and precise autofocus coverage across the frame

Because I have used the camera before I knew the different features like for example how to close the flash and how to zoom in and out.

MAC

• The main and the most dominant piece of hardware I used when producing my magazine and developing the ideas for the magazine was the Apple mac.

• The Apple mac I have been using was the Mac Os X with a 8GB memory and 2 GHz Intel core processor.

• The Mac helped me to produce my work to a high quality and a professional outcome because of the Macs quality such as a big wide screen which enabled me to look closely into the layout of the magazine and it was displayed in a much more bigger image than a normal computer with a very good quality (Bright colors seen) which has enabled me to produce my magazine in a more professional and successful way.

• The Mac also contains software's that would not be particularly found on normal computers such as Photoshop or InDesign.

• Overall I learnt how to use the Mac computers as I have never used them before and this improved my skills towards media as a whole.

KEYBOARD, MOUSE • These hardware's such as the mac mouse and the keyboard has enabled me to be able

to control the Apple Mac computers. Without these hardware's I would not be able to perform anything on the Apple computers therefore they were very vital for me to produce the magazine.

• These hardware's helped me to select tools and programs on the Mac so if I wanted to open up and use a software's like Photoshop or InDesign a mouse is needed for this to happen .Same with the keyboard because if I wanted to type something into the search box in Google I need a keyboard in order to put the words in. A keyboard has also helped me to explain the development and plan the making of the magazine because I could explain what have I developed and post it to a blog.

• It was hard for me to use these hardware's at the start of the course, especially the keyboard because the controls are different from a normal computer for example when I had to screenshot I had to press CMd,shift and 4 at the same time to screenshot a particular thing I wanted. instead of just pressing one screenshot button. However I think this was easier as I could only screenshot the object I wanted and not the whole page which saved me time as I didn’t need to crop it.

Overall I have learnt how to use the mouse and keyboard from a different software.

SOFTWARE

A software is a general term for the various kinds of programs used to operate computers and related devices.Different kinds of software has helped me to put my magazine together and show the development of the magazine.

Hardware and software are both vital for the computer because without the software the computer cannot complete any useful work. Without the hardware, the software has nothing to run it.

MICROSOFT WORD

I have used this software to present my evaluation questions, write my article and show the development of ideas on the blog.

Word is a graphical word processing program that individuals can type with and save their documents .

I have used word to write up my article . It was easier to use word as I could write up the article and it made it easier to read through and check whether there is anything to improve, ensuring the grammar and spelling is all correct, which saved me time (no mistakes made) and created a much more professional article (Checking whether the article flows.)

• POWERPOINT

PowerPoint is a slide show presentation software program that enables to design multimedia slides to be displayed on a projection system or computer.PowerPoint has allowed me to put a variety of images, screenshots and text to create a more interesting and visual way of presenting my work in my blog and enabling me to present my thoughts in a different style than just a post.

I have learnt how to use the tools at the top of the software for example editing the image by cropping, changing the colour of the image, putting a picture border etc.

I have learned how to make a new slide and change the theme of each PowerPoint to create a different style for different effects.

I have used PowerPoint in many of my work which resulted in making my blog more visual and to show the different technologies I have used.

PUBLISHER

• I have only used publisher briefly as it has helped me in the analysis of the different magazine covers, contents and article pages.

• The software allowed me to create a bigger image of the magazine’s cover or article and it was easier for me to add the text and draw arrows from it to show which part of the magazine I am describing and evaluating.

Publisher is a desktop publishing application, it almost acts the same as Word however there is emphasis on the page layout and design than in what word focuses on such as text and proofing.

SAFARI Safari is a web browser developed by Apple Inc. With the OS X and iOS operating systems.It’s the apples default browser.

This safari has helped me to search different pieces of information and images that I needed for the creation and the inspiration needed for my magazine.It has made it quicker for me to access the blog and the St. peters media page because as soon as I clicked on the button a variety of windows pop up where the websites are already saved onto the safari, therefore it l saved me time by having a variety of pages saved that I had recently used.

I had used a Google search engine because it is very easy and simple to use. This enabled me to find any type of information needed to make my magazine but also to look for inspiration from other pop magazines that are actually in the market .Google also enabled me to see images of variety of target markets fashion, hobbies and interests, but also what are the most famous pop artists that the majority of the population recognises successfully.

ADOBE INDESIGN CS3

This is a publishing software publication which is used to create posters ,flyers ,magazines etc.

This software has helped me to put the text and align it in an article style(putting text into 3 columns)on the layout of my magazine to finish the production of the magazine.

By using this software I have learned how to place the layout I have designed on Photoshop, simply by opening the software and clicking on the ‘File’ followed by ‘Place’ which allowed me to find the Photoshop format and placing it onto this software to add the text.

I have learned how to align the text according to the layout of my magazine and selecting the appropriate target market font.

In the Indesign software I have used how to make the text in the article go around the images I have put in the article so that the text takes up less space on the page and also so that the text doesn't look simple and aligned in horizontal straight rows as this makes the article look uninteresting and simple. In order to do this I have clicked on the box tool on the left hand side and placed boxes on the images I wanted the text to go around. Then I have used the tools on top of the page and clicked on a box that goes around the text which has aligned the text to go around the images.

WORDPRESS BLOG This is a free web software which enables to create a website or a blog with a variety of designs and themes which also can be customized or purchased.

This web software has helped me to design my own blog and organise all the documents and also the development of my magazine, but also it let me to display my work in a variety of different creative methods.

This site has helped me to organise my work and make it very easy and quick to find. By using the ‘pages’ tool it has helped me to create a link to different pages on top of the blog, therefore I can put each evaluation questions for example, on one page aligned in the right order so it is ordered and easy to find all of the questions.

I have also learned how to insert media into my posts to create a more visual and interesting blog which supports the development and analysis of my magazine. However when there is a post I cannot put images by simply dragging it onto the document and therefore I need to click on ‘Add media’ and then drag the image onto that page, when it fully downloads I can click on the ‘Insert into post’ button which puts the image onto the post.

Word press allows me to make new posts and keep them in order but also keeps track of the dates when the post was created. Before I post the document onto my blog I can create a draft which saves the document but doesn't post it onto the blog yet so it gives me an unlimited time to improve and edit it before letting other people see it. The posts enable me to find the right document quickly by just looking at the title of the post and the date of it being posted or saved as a draft and also it allows me to rapidly edit anything that needs to be changed or added by simply clicking on the post.

Overall,I have learned how to use and operate wordpress and make a blog which enabled me to display all the development of my work and the final pieces of my magazine.

ADOBE PHOTOSHOP

• Adobe Photoshop is an image editing software. It is considered to be one of the best leaders in the photo editing software.

• This software has allowed me to manipulate my image and layouts by cropping, resizing, and putting the correct colour on digital photos.

• I have used Photoshop throughout my magazine cover, contents and also the article because this software enabled me to edit any images to get a more professional look to the magazine by slightly changing the images properties such as lightning ,colours. slightly blurring a person and then highlighting the main facial features to make the individual stand out from the background. Also I have learned how to highlight the colour of the hair and cover up any remedies from the skin for professional look .

It was quite difficult to use Photoshop as I had never used this sort of software before the production of the magazine and therefore I only relied on the basic tools that are found on the left hand side, it was also quite difficult also because its a complicated software as experienced professional use it. However I did have a chance to get to know the software more by firstly doing the prelim task which helped me to discover the different tools available.

One of the tools I had used and I had learned to use a magnetic lasso tool to cut out a person or an object more accurately and quickly as this tool identifies the person or different objects in an image by locating the change/gradient of the colour which spots the edge and keeps to it. One the object was complete the dotted line appeared and started to flash around the object/Shape.I will then transform the shape by clicking the ‘Layer’ in the tool bar and then ‘New layer’ following ‘Layer via copy’ which would make two copies of the image where one is the original copy and other is the cutout object from the image pasted into a different layer. If I wanted the object onto my document I am working on I would just drag the new layer onto the document of my actual magazine document

YOUTUBE

• YouTube is a video sharing website that allows me and billions people to discover watch and share originally-created videos.

• By using YouTube this has allowed me to watch different music videos of the pop genre which has helped me to get to know popular pop music artists(Especially by looking at the views) and getting the sense of style(type of clothing and makeup) and the different attitudes of the artists. It also enabled me to explore the different settings of the music videos and what props they use for impressive effects. I have also made my own music video to a song that was in the top charts in 2013 which inspired me for the magazine by making it colourful and energetic for the target market.

• Therefore it has enabled me to get inspiration from the pop music videos for makeup,hair styles and fashion the artist is wearing. I also learned how to post a video onto the sharing website for other people to view it.