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

Computer Software:

New technologies have been very important in the production of my magazine, and I used computer systems installed with professional-standard software, Adobe Photoshop and Quark Xpress, in particular to help me.

I found that in putting together the most visual aspects of my magazine, Photoshop was very helpful. It meant I could easily move individual parts of my magazine due to the "layer" tool which kept each part separate and independent. However, I had to ensure that I was on the correct layer before moving the relevant part of my page, else I would move the wrong thing, something I did not have to worry about on Quark, as on there all elements were both on the same layer AND independent of each other. Photoshop also helped me in editing my photos and image manipulation. On the program, I could enhance colours, improve sharpness of image and apply special colour filters.

Example of original photo

Example of photo cropped and edited on Photoshop

Quark Xpress helped me mostly in the production of my double page spread, as it gave me guidelines and print boundaries, preventing overcrowding and keeping my pages neat. I however felt that its capabilities were lacking and Photoshop far exceeded it in all its avenues. Quark was more difficult to use and I found it that the piece I produced on it was much less pleasing to me - it was unable to cope with detailed fonts, it could barely edit photos and, once many things were layered up, selecting individual elements of my page was made almost impossible.

Photography:

The actual taking of my photographs was equally aided by technology. In photographing my models, I used a digital SLR Nikon camera. With its range of lenses and settings, I was able to set a personal setting which worked best for me. However, being a complex tool, not all my images came out exactly how I wanted, some, like the one below, being too overexposed to consider using in my magazine due to my inability to properly control the flash mechanism.

However, on the plus, I was able to benefit from the modern lighting tools within the photography studio, using them to backlight or illuminate my models where appropriate.

The Internet:

The internet has been almost as important as the programs I used to piece my magazine together. I was able to use the internet for research of facts and figures, images and investigation, particularly during my research and development stage. It has also been invaluable in speaking to my audience, in my case through social networking site Facebook, which allowed me to post images and allowed my friends to comment and post critique. My blog itself, another internet creation, displays every detail of my project, and is versatile in its presentation, allowing me to embed videos, images and slideshows from hosting sites as well as directly input text. In this form, my project can be accessed from any computer with internet connection and can also be viewed by any internet user. My blogging helped me easily keep track of my project's progression, as it broke it down by date into small, easily understandable and memorable sections, allowing me to keep on task and understand what point in my project I had reached.