Evaluation Question 6

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

Throughout the creation of all of my magazine pieces, I have used a wide rang of technology in both hardware and software format. Without the use of technology I never would have been able to create what I have, and neither would other magazine industries for that matter! The first piece of technology that I had to use for the project was a camera. Getting the right picture was imperative before creating the magazine. A picture can say a thousand words, so the idea is to insert the picture and then the rest would come together as and when. The cameras on the left are two that I used. The bottom one is my own digital camera with a 14.1 megapixel camera. The top one was my friends camera -way too expensive for me- with only a 10 megapixel camera. The first lot of photos that I produced shown here. I was happy with the quality of photos that were produced but after I decided that I wanted to change the magazine that I had originally produced, I had to get more photos. When taking pictures of my model Nick -cover model- I used his Nikon camera which is a 10 megapixel camera. I was again more than happy with the photographs that were produced and it was evident to me that regardless of the megapixel of the camera over 10 megapixel you still produce the same quality of photographs. Both cameras were simple to use and required a simple click of a button to take and then to simply remove the SD card and place it straight into the computer to retrieve the pictures.

The other piece of hardware that I used was computers. Although I use computers every day and you would think that I did not learn much, I did. I used Apple Mac computers because they are the best computers to run the software that I used on. A similar machine that I am writing on now is pictured on the right hand side. The computers, were at first, difficult to use as I always use my Dell Inspiron laptop at home. I could not use a Mac all the time as they are at school. Both machines allow similar things, however at home the only thing I could do without complications was upload pictures that I had converted on the Mac, and also blog on the Internet. I prefer using the Apple Mac computers as they have all the software on them ready to use and are quick and efficient in what they do.

On terms of software I have used, there is a small picture on the left with the different icons that represent each programme. From top left to bottom right we have: Blogger, InDesign, Photoshop, Firefox Internet and Grab.

Blogger: this is a website on the Internet which allows anybody to keep a diary entry like website. I have used the blog website so as to keep all of my work in one place. It is easier to do that print a magazine and write everything out as you cannot lose any work unless you delete it yourself. With hand written things, work can get damaged and lost. Please find links on the headings to a Wikipedia page about them in more detail.

InDesign: This is the programme I used to create my double page spread. It is harder to use than Photoshop however easier to use to construct the spread. It allowed me to separate the page in to six columns so that I could follow the conventions of a magazine. As well as this I could move things around on the page appropriately without having to worry about selecting different layers. InDesign did prove hard to use at the start as I had been used to using Photoshop, but after playing around with it and help from other friends, I managed to produce what I have.

Photoshop: This programme was essential in the making of my magazine. Without it I would never have been able to produce the final product. It allowed my to do everything from edit photos by removing spots on people's skin, to changing the colour of the top somebody wears. Obviously there is a lot more you can do with Photoshop and I merely brushed the edges of the programme, but again, I am pleased with the results.

FireFox Internet: This is just the type of Internet browser. I could have used Safari, or even Internet Explorer which is what I had to use at home on my personal computer.

Grab Tool: This tool was extremely helpful in the production of my magazine. It meant that I could show small screen shots of pieces of work I have produced without uploading a whole picture and then highlighting the point. It is similar to a normal computers 'print screen' but with screens the size you choose to have.

This technology is different on a Dell laptop. Because the Adobe Series is so expensive -£400-£100o depending on what you get- I do not have it on my personal computer. This meant that I could not edit any photos at home. So, if I wanted to upload anything at home, I had to make sure I saved the things I wanted in JPEG format on to a memory stick and then upload them at a later time. Some things that I needed when blogging at home meant that I had to take some 'screen grabs' using the laptop. To do this I had to lower my technology standards and use the simple key 'Print Screen' and then paste this in to the awful programme that is Paint. Although I did not like using Paint at home, I was able to produce some screen grabs.

I also used a website called dafont.com. It allowed me to browse through different fonts that I could potentially use for my project and download them. Using the simple fonts that are already uploaded on to the computer would have been alright to use, but in order to gain that extra bit of authenticity to my magazine, I wanted to jazz it up a bit by using a font that not many people would have seen before.