Evaluation - Technologies

 

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?


During the construction of my magazine I have used many technologies to help me create my final product. I have used microsoft publisher to create my magazine, microsoft word to annotate my work, macromedia fireworks to save and edit photos, gimp to further edit my photos and a digital camera to take all of the photos. Through creating my magazine I have improved my skills by using these various technologies and therefore creating a professional and suitable product which will appeal to the specific target audience. 

I took my photos with my digital camera, getting  a variety of different shots and angles. I did this to ensure I had enough photos to chose from for my magazine. I had to chose the most suitable photos which would appeal the most to my target audience. The chosen photos had to be edited to make them more attractive and eye catching. I took all of the photos at my house and tried to make them look as professional as possible. They were constructed in a way to ensure the background and model looked suitable for my magazine genre and target auidence. I took the photos against a blank white wall so the pictures I chose to use would make the magazine look like a typical magazine. I also used effective lighting to make the photos stand out more and look more bright. The picture I used for my front cover needed to have a blank background so the cover lines would stand out and would be clear for the audience to read. This would mean that people would be more likely to be interested in my magazine. The photos i chose to use for the contents and double page spread also were taken against a blank white background so the text would be clear to read which would attract the audience.

I needed to edit my photos to make them look more professional. To edit my photos I used an editing program which I downloaded called gimp. This program is eay to use and operate which allowed me to effectively edit and create my chosen photos. By using this program my photos were much more suitable to use and resulted in clear, professional looking photos for my magazine. For my front cover photo I had to edit the image to make it look more professional and suitable for the front cover. I needed to adjust the sizing of the image too, so it would fit accordingly to the size and layout of the cover. I had to add onto the image more of the background to left side so that the cover lines would fit on. I also airbrushed the photo slightly in order to make it look more professional and appeal to the target audience. This made the magazine look like a typical magazine so people would be more interested in it. The original image had a shadow around the outside of the model which looked quite unprofessional for a front cover of a magazine. Therefore I used a photo editing programme which allowed me to remove the shadow without the image becoming tacky. The original image also looked quite sharp so i continued to use the editing programme to soften the photograph. This made the image look more proffessional so that it would work well on the cover. Below on the left hand side is the image I used for my front cover and on the left is the final edited version,

            








I used all of the above techniques in all of the photographs used in my magazine. The editing process of creating my magazine definitely made it look more appealing and suitable. By doing this the magazine has a more professional look.


The image below shows the gimp editing program I used to adjust all of my magazine photos.

I used Microsoft publisher to create my magazine as shown below. I believe this was the most effective technology I could use to construct my magazine which allowed me to create a suitable and appealing product for my target audience. Also, the program was very simple to use meaning I could create the magazine efficiently while still proving to be extremely appealing. The front cover of my product is very ordered. This look is produced by the structure of the cover lines and how everything on the page is evenly spread out. To create my cover lines I downloaded some fonts from DaFont.com which meant I was able to make the magazine attract my specific target audience appropriately. 

Also, by choosing appropriate fonts the magazine looked professional throughout. Once I had downloaded the fonts I used them to make the product look as appealing as possible by changing the sizes and the colours. I then experimented where to put all my cover lines before eventually deciding where they looked best. I arranged all cover lines and the photo of the model on the cover very neatly making the magazine look mature. By creating an ordered layout the magazine appealed to my specific target audience. Publisher allowed me to move around items on the product until it looked most professional. Publisher made the construction of the magazine an easy process and therefore the ordered layout was created effectively. Also, it was simple to include the conventions of a magazine during the construction process. For example I could easily use the convention of the route of the eye to attract my target audience. When I was constructing the contents page I created columns by using many text boxes to make this effect attract the audience. I also used this column effect on my double page spread and arranged them closely together to get a professional look. To create the page numbers at the bottom of the pages I used autoshapes which made the spread look more realistic. All these technical features I used to make my product the best it could be, made it look more professional and realistic which would appeal to my target audience. My front cover, contents page and double page spread were created in various steps using publisher. I created many drafts of each page before I finally got my final magazine design. Through creating drafts and being able use the tools on publisher efficiently I have drastically improved my technology skills as I have become familiar with the program. I learnt how to use the program to the best of my abilities creating a high standard magazine. 

From constructing my magazine using many different technologies, such as photo editing software and programs to produce my magazine, I have created a professional product. I have developed my skills and now have a better understanding on how to use them appropriately.