What I have learnt from the progression from the preliminary task to my full product

Problems Page

The preliminary task of making a problems page allowed me to learn the typical conventions of a magazine page. For example the layout in columns, a slogan, a bold title, drop caps, images and quotes. I also learnt how these conventions can be used effectively in order to create a successful magazine, such as pull quotes being used from the article to entice the reader.







Furthermore I learnt about the importance of house style in order to create consistency throughout the magazine and how certain choices made about it, such as colour scheme and font, can be used to appeal to your target audience. This enabled me to make an appropriate house style for my magazine. The feedback I got from my problems page helped me do this as it showed which aspects appealed to certain ages and genders. 

Preliminary Task Feedback Table

The preliminary task also showed me which software was best for making my final product. I found that when making my problems page that programmes such as publisher did not make my product look professional. Therefore for my magazine I used more advanced and professional looking software such as photoshop, which made my page look much more like products from the real media.

Construction of problems page (Publisher)

What I have learnt about photography through the process of constructing my magazine

In order to take my pictures I used my digital SLR camera. By using this I could see what my pictures

looked like straight away using the screen. It also allowed me to experiment with the different modes/settings for the photographs to give the best overall effect. Furthermore SLR cameras are often much better quality than normal digit cameras so my photographs were able to look much more professional.

When taking the pictures I also learnt that I need to take the lighting into consideration and which kind of light gives certain effects. For example natural lighting often gives a much clearer effect. My photographs were taken in a studio setting and so artificial lighting had to be used in order to make my images look professional.

As well as this I tried to experiment with camera angles to see which would achieve the most flattering effect. I found that the more higher angle shots were more flattering for close ups, such as the image I used for my front cover, and lower angels for more medium and long shots, such as the image in my feature article.


I also learnt the important of mise-en-scene which included; props and costumes. I found that the use of no props and plain background gave a much more classy and professional effect to my images. I also learnt that the use of bright colours for her costume drew the readers attention to her and made the image eye catching.

What I have learnt about technologies from the process of constructing my magazine pages

To produce my magazine pages I used the software Adobe Photoshop. By doing this I think that I managed to create high quality and professional looking pages. Photoshop allowed me to easily construct a neat and consistent layout throughout all of my pages.

The software allowed me to choose from a variety of fonts styles and sizes as well as providing flexible layouts so I could place things exactly where I wanted them to be, for example placing one of my pull quotes from my feature article in the middle of the main text. It also enabled me to use the technique of layers so I was able to put items, such as text, over other items, such as images, without it looking messy or unprofessional making it easy for my audience to read. This in turn allowed me to make my pages as similar to my initial designs as possible.

I also learnt how to edit my photos on Adobe Photoshop, as well as creating my final pages through the use of it's many tools. Some of the most used tools I used were cropping and light adjusting.

However I also used an online editor called Picadilo.com in order to remove any blemishes the model had and to even out her skin tone. I also used this site to remove the lines in the sheet behind the model to create a smooth professional looking background. I did this by using the "wrinkle remover" effect. 

Before and After (Picadilo and Photoshop)

The Microsoft Word software allowed me to prepare my written content for my feature article before adding it onto the final design.
It also enabled me to draft some of my blog posts before publishing them on my blog to decrease the risk of mistakes.

How I Have Attracted My Target Audience- Front Cover

How I have Attracted My Target Audience - Contents Page

How I Have Attracted My Target Audience - Feature Article

Original Photography