Preliminary Task Evaluation Questions

What have you learnt from completing this task?

I have learnt what a media "text" is and what the conventions are for texts, like magazines. I have also learnt that all features om a text are placed in certain places and are coloured to make them appear attractive to a certain audience. I have also learnt how to see the connotations of different magazines and adverts and what message the magazine editors were going for. I have learnt how to structure a contents and double page spread, and how to select certain colour schemes depending on the genre of the magazine.
I have also learnt how to analyse a magazine and see the ideology of the magazine creators and publishers.
I have also learnt how to manage my time effectively as we had alot of work to do and little time to do it.
I have also learnt how to take effective photos to go on a magazine cover (must be a medium close-up)  

How have you used technology?

I have learnt how to use Blogger and how to make a blog look attractive and presentable by creating a colour scheme and customizing my blog's theme. I have also learnt how to insert images and how to schedule blog posts on blogger. I have also been working with cameras and learned how to create a depth of field to my pictures by blurring the background and focusing on the main part of the picture. I have also been working on the software Photoshop and have learnt how to enhance images for effect, for example, I can blur the background of the image to make the main attraction of the image stand out. I have also learnt how to make an effective masthead and how to make it stand out. 

What conventions have you used and why?

I used a plug for my magazine cover to advertise a competition the students could win.
I used a footer to include the price and date of the magazine.
I used a header to advertise what was inside the magazine.
I used a main image (medium close up) to make the magazine cover look presentable, and to relate to the feature story.
I included a feature story as it is an important convention to all magazine genres as it gives the audience an idea to what the magazine will be talking about. 

What would you change if you were to do this task again?

I would change the picture on the magazine cover as I feel that it didn't really support the headline and was rather irrelevant. I would have also taken more time with Photoshop to see what colour schemes would've worked better. I would have also thought of more content to put on my magazine cover as I only included a plug, main headline, header and footer. That made the cover look quite empty and boring. The cover needed to be more busy overall.