Evaluation - Q6

6: What Have You Learnt About Technologies From The Process of Constructing This Product?

Photoshop

I had never used photoshop before so it was a new experience. To develop my skills in this programme I would search up tutorials and video clips that could help me develop my abilities. I learned how to change the colour of items through using the magic tool. I learned how to make something transparent which was really important for my magazine. I learned how to make items black and white, and sepia tone. I learned how to crop round images, use the drop colour tool to get a swatch of a specifc colour. I learned how to make an image lighter and darker and increase in a specific tone such as blue. I also learned how to smooth away spots and even an even skin tone. I also managed to create a paint splat and snowflake easiy by downloading brushes. Overall photoshop helped me to create a realistic photo you expect to see on a magazine, the programme had alot of tool which helped me to develop the photo.

InDesign

I had never used Indesign either. I learned alot of things with this programme. I learned how to make text prfect paragraphs through the paragraphing tool. I also managed to use the layers which was a useful tool when you wanted to hide specific objects or lock layers so they couldn't be altered. I also learned how to make text bigger, wider, italic, bold, rotated through the texting options, this made the text more exciting to read and looked more professional. I also used the effects tool which allowed me to create a gradient of colour on the background of my magazine. It also allowed me to use drop shadows, inner shadows, emboss, glows which made text stand off the page and this wouldn't have been possible without this software. I could create swatches of different colours and use the colour drop tool to pick out colours already on a photograph which I wanted to use. I could create lines to measure how big an item was and to line then up equally. InDesign also made it easy to create page next to one another like the double page spread so that the writing and images could flow and I could compare them next to one another.

Photoscape

This was a free picture manipulation programme I downloaded of the internet. It is similar to photoshop and allowed to me edit a whole photos colour e.g make it look like an old photo. I found this software very useful for a quick change to a photo because it saved alot of time and was very effective. The image I used is the snow picture on the double page, it made it brighter and more clear.

Blogger

I had never ued blogger or had a blog before. I liked how blogger showed the progress of my work and I could see what I needed to improve. Blogger has allowed me to add links to useful sites I have used. Upload images, powerpoints, videos and screen flows of my work. Blogger also allowed me to create a poll for audience feedback. It was easy to manage and I could edit or add to posts as well as delete any I no longer wanted.

Powerpoint

Powerpoints I really liked using for showing how I developed my front cover, contents, and double page as I could add arrows, annotations and it was quick and simple to use. I could easily use a template to make them look effective especially with the new version we had on the Mac's.

Slideshare

Slideshare was easy to use and it allowed me to sign in with my facebook account. It was uploaded publicy and I could copy the link to blogger which would then allow it to appear on my blog.

Nikon

The Camera I took all my contents page photos on was my Nikon camera, it is 10 mega pickels, it is touch screen and I can edit the photos on the camera if I wish to do so. The images on my double page and the front cover was taken on a high-spec Panasonic Camera with a tri-pod and extended lense to gain maximum quality.

Facebook

Facebook is the most commonly used social networking site for my target audience. It allowed me to communicate with them effectively. I could upload vido feedback, pictures of my magazine and get feedback through comments and likes. It also allowed me to email my target audience to get them to vote on my poll.

Dell Laptop

This is my laptop which I used to write on my blog, edit some of the video responses and edit some of the photos using photoscape and photobucket.

Mac

At School we used Macs to create the magazines. They were extremely useful for designing, it allowed me to drag and drop images simply. I could lso use the grab tool to capture any progress I wanted to show and save them as images. I could also hide specific programmes I wasn't using at that moment so that I wasn't confused and made the designing process much quicker.

Windows Movie Maker

This was the editing software that came with my Dell laptop, I would often edit videos of my target audience feedback on here as it was simple to use and could be exported into a movie in under 10 minutes. It also allowed effects and transicitions.

Final Cut

This was a more sophisicated and higher spec editing software which we used on the Macs. I could edit my screen flow and video responses on this. It was simple to use and I could add more complex transicitions, effects and writing than I could using Movie Maker.

Youtube

Youtube is a common site used by my target audience. I used youtube to upload my videos onto and them use the link to put them onto my blog. It also allowed me to see similar videos already uploaded onto Youtube. I only had to sign up for a free account. I could also get video feedback directly onto the video.

Flickr

Flickr allowed me to upload photos publicy and add notes to the image which meant that when you hover over the image there is an explanation of each component, this was simple to use and very useful.

Photobucket

This online software allowed me to edit any photos, it also had a special editing choice where you could have different parts of the image black and white while the rest was black and white.

Memory Stick

I used a memory stick to transport my work from the Macs to my Dell laptop, it also helped me to back up my work incase any of it was lost.

Screen Flow

Screen Flow captured exactly what I did on the screen. I showed how I made a paint splat on photoshop. This was useful for other students and people viewing my blog as it was a tutorial. I also added text for the explanation. It was simple to use and easy to edit.

Google

I used Google alot throughout my coursework. It allowed me to quickly locate examples of other magazines, also images. I used Google as my main search engine because the top results where always the one I wanted. I could use it to download brushes. It also helped me to find examples of other work on Get Ahead Media OCR. 

Dafont.com

This was the site I used to download the font of my masthead it was simple to use, you could search for specific genres such as gothic text, they could downloaded straight into InDesign which was really quick and easy. 

Easy Elements

This is where I downloaded the snowflake and paint splat brush. The site had clear instructions and they gave a range of choice once downloaded which went straight into the photoshop brushes.

Hotmail

I used Hotmail to prove the permission of my photos. I also used it to transport work from school to home. Email miss my work plan and to communicate with my target audience.

Adobe Tutorials

This tutorials gave clips and speak on how to do specific things on each programme. I found these really useful as I often didn't know how to do something as I hadn't used the programme before.