Question seven

From the first task which we had to do which was to design a simple layout for a school magazine, I was new to the software of InDesign so I didn't understand much of the formats and how to create and use layers etc. I enjoyed using the software and my skills kept developing the more I was using the software. I felt the more I was playing around the more I was learning about how to use more tools within the software, this was with some extra help of looking up videos for tricks so I could develop my skills quickly and effectively. From the first task my work was very basic, just a simple drag a box and add text to an image and done, it didn’t take me very long to create as it was so basic but I found the more I was using it like planning for the main task I could see my skills massively develop. It also helped that I was looking into more magazines to get the look of a more professional feel to a magazine so it doesn't look tacky and cheap, this was helping me create my main magazine pages and helping them develop together, looking back now I can see a huge difference in what I have done from the beginning to the finished piece. 

Here is my first magazine which i create for the school:

These two magazines as you can see are very basic and seem to have been put together with minor thought, not much creative thinking was done before doing these and did not have a full understanding of the software. Now i have had time to practice and work with the software to gain a better understand of how stuff works and looked up magazines i have created a much cleaner and more attractive cover and contents page. Here are my other pages:

As you can see there is a large progress from my initial pages, these pages look a lot more professional and thought through. First the images which have been taken for my music magazines you can tell have been through a set plan of action to make work and go with the feel of the page itself whereas the school magazine pages you can tell were just quickly thrown together without thinking of lighting, placement or people. The music magazine images look a lot better than the others because they look more professional and more appealing to the eye. The cell lines which i have created on my front cover of my music magazine is set out around the image and the layout is to match so the picture is the main source of attention but the cell lines are still noticeable. whereas with my school magazine they are just thrown on the page without thought. The contents page which i created for the school magazine the color co-ordination for it is very bad with the black and blue writing and background makes it very hard to read whereas i learn't from that and as you can see from my music magazine there is a huge difference in color schemes to make the not overlap each other. The layout of the school magazine contents page has the same kind of layout as my music magazine but a lot less developed. i didnt understand most of the software i was working with at the time and quickly threw it together whereas i took my time, made things look a lot cleaner and precise when working with the music magazine. The whole layout with the colors changed on my music magazine looks a lot better making it clearer and a lot more attractive than my school magazine. 

I think I have improved with my layout techniques and the eye to see whether things will work or not work, before I kind of didn’t think before acting when planning out a page. Now I feel more comfortable waiting for a great idea rather than settling for an average idea. I feel my work with computer skills and working around InDesign and other software’s like Photoshop has improved because I’m now able to go onto them straight away and crack on with something rather than taking my time and getting introduced to new things and ways to edit, I feel I still have much to improve on but at this moment in time I’m at a very high level of understanding most software which is helped with designing a music magazine. It has also made me pay more attention to small details in my work as you have to be very precise about placement as it is very important for a professional look.