Evaluation Question 6

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

At the start of the construction of my magazine I created a blog to log my development through the project and show my progress with the pages I was developing. To make some of my posts more interesting and show a range of media understanding, I used applications on the internet like Prezi and SlideShare on my blog. I also used a series of photo editing and design software to create my magazine.

Firstly, I used a website called blogger to blog my project. At the start this website was new to me so had no experience using it and therefore did not know how to use it. My first post was a test where I learnt the basics of how to use blogger. As you look through my blog you’ll notice the progression with the techniques and confidence it took me to learn how to write a blog.

I used Prezi and SlideShare perhaps not as many times that I should have throughout my blog but they did help make my blog less boring. The two programs allowed me to present my work in a different form to usual which is good because plain text logs can get very tedious. The two programs made my work my interesting through the layouts and their interactive designs. 

Furthermore, I used Serif PhotoPlus. PhotoPlus is an image editing software which I used to help me make my masthead and edit all the images in my project. I had a basic knowledge of how and what you can do with the program as I used it during my GCSE graphic design course. Now looking back on my progression, I have learnt a lot more than I was capable of doing at the start of this course. I now would say I can use the software much more professionally than at the start. 

The main program I used for the making of my front cover, contents page and double page spread was Serif PagePlus. PagePlus is a deskstop publishing program that enables you to create professional looking pages. When I first used PagePlus I understood the program to an extent because even though I had not used it before, it was fairly similar to PhotoPlus. This gave me an advantage but I still had a lot to learn. I understand the software a lot better now that I have finished all my work with it and I believe that my work would be a lot better if I were to start again as in my first few pages I did not understand fully how to use the program to its full.