Evaluation: What Have You Learnt About Technologies From This Process Of Constructing This Product?

A closer look at the technologies I have used & what I have learnt:

Canon EOS 550D Digital SLR Camera

1. Canon EOS 550D Digital SLR Camera

Previous to this project, I had only a little experience using DSLR cameras. I am now fully capable of working them and using the advanced features within the camera to my advantage. I really enjoyed using this particular camera, the lens, which was an 18-55mm was perfect for medium close ups of my models plus the camera body itself wasn't too heavy which made outdoor shoots easier as I didn't need to carry a tripod with me.

Apple Mac Mini (2011)

2. Mac mini (OSX Mountain Lion)

I worked on two Apple Mac Mini's during the production of my magazine and the blog. The first one I used was at college in my media suite, and the second is on my own personal computer at home. Because I already had a mac, I was already used to the operating system and knew my way around things pretty well. Nevertheless, I learnt a few new tricks that will help me in the future.

Adobe Photoshop CS6

3. Adobe Photoshop CS5+6

Photoshop was a piece of software that I used most throughout this project. I created all three pages of my magazine with this tool. I had some existing knowledge of the features within Photoshop, but I wasn't very fluent with them. Over the course of producing my magazine, I have learnt a lot of new skills that will help me when it comes to designing other things in Photoshop.

Adobe Illustrator CS5

4. Adobe Illustrator CS5

I used Adobe Illustrator to produce the logo for my magazine (the masthead). I used Illustrator to do this as I wanted the logo to be a vector image, so that I would be able to enlarge it if needed. I had used Illustrator quite a lot in the past, and more recently in my Graphics class - so I was quite comfortable within the program.

Apple iPhoto (2013)

5. Apple iPhoto

I used Apple's iPhoto to import the pictures from the Canon DSLR camera that I'd used to take photographs of my models. iPhoto was really easy to use and includes some very innovative features. I used a few of it's built in editing tools to brighten my photos and balance out the contrast.

Google Blogger

6. Blogger

During secondary school I used Blogger in class for my IT work. Because of this, I already knew how to do most things in the web app. I did, however, learn how to customise templates and add labels to posts to make them easier to find. I also looked at how to insert HTML code for services such as Prezi 'Embeddables' and SlideShare presentation embedding etc.

Example of a Prezi I made

7. Prezi

Prezi is a creative presentation maker. It allows you to produce stylish, animated presentations for literally anything. Using the easy to use online presentation builder, I created several presentations for this project, including the one above which is 'How did you attract/address your audience?' which can be found in the post prior to this one.

Flickr

8. Flickr

Flickr is simply an online image hosting platform. It is used mostly by photographers who use it to store their many photographs online. You can also follow people on Flickr to subscribe to their 'Photostream' - a feed of their latest photographs. I used Flickr to store my completed magazine. I was able to create a 'set' (a set is a group of photos) which helped me keep organised.

SlideShare

9. Slideshare

SlideShare is an online tool that converts traditional presentations such as PowerPoint's or Keynote's into embeddable digital presentations. I have used SlideShare to embed my Music Magazine questionnaire presentation. I had previously never used SlideShare, but because of it's easy to navigate website, it was really quick for me to pick up how to use it.

Twitter

10. Twitter

I used Twitter to ask for audience feedback on my magazine. I posted a tweet asking for my peers, aka Twitter Followers, to tweet me feedback on my magazine. I then used this feedback to tweak the design and make improvements. Several fellow designers that followed me 'retweeted' said tweet which gained me more exposure and more feedback!

My Forrst post asking for feedback

11. Forrst

Another way I gained audience feedback was by posting on professional design network 'Forrst'. Forrst is a community of designers (invite only network) that help each other by critiquing each other's work. I gained a lot of valuable feedback by doing this.