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

I used Blogger as a way to log my progress through production, also as it is an online record it allows other access to it which came of use when refining my product and evaluating it afterwards. I found blogger extremely straight forward to use and a great way to present my work as a whole project. The fact that other types of media can all be intergrated into my work on blogger allowed me to express wider media knowledge in my evaluation in the form of slide shows etc.

I used Quark express to create my double page spread and also my contents page, this was an obvious choice of programme as quark hasthe right tools, and a range of page formats to start your projects on. The programme ensures a professional look as it has tools such as columns. I also learnt how to add text images and using the correct tools was able to wrap blocks of text around or to the shape of an image which is common in alot of professionally produced magazines. I had help to learn how to make the editing look smooth, and professional. I found Quark slightly more challenging than photoshop, and still would see myself as a confident user without assisstance, however without the programme i owuld never have been able to reach the level of prefessionalism which to programme enables you to.

When editing photos for my product i used the programme Adobe photoshop, which was new to me but i got the jist of quite quickly which helped during my production as this was a huge oart of it. Photoshop helped me to edit and refine photographswhich i have used throughout my magazine, (for the main image, spread images and contents).This was also the choice of programme that i used for the whole production of my front cover. The reason i chose to use photoshop over Quark express for my front cover, is because i found it easier to arrange the images and text content in this programme as it gives you a completely blank canvas to work from. Also as functions such as writing columns were not needed at this stage of production. I prefer the way you are able to manipulate images as you are going along, there are also a wider range of fonts and colours to choose from, and lastly because the programme is easy to use, apply to and work with. Through creating my magazine courswork, i learnt more about photoshop, about its layers, and how they can be an advantage with making images and backgrounds look more appealing and professional, and also about the different shapes and line tools they have when creating straplines and screamers. Another function i found useful when producing my cover was the programmes ability i apply effects to images and text, this allowed me to make my cover appear more professional as i wouldnt have been able to create these effects myself.