Skills Profile Review
Skills and Knowledge Gained through MY Magazine Assignment
Typography
Knowledge and Skills:
Through the development of this assignment, I learnt the use of Typography which this is the type and design of font within graphic design, Magazines and website/print design which I could then apply to my work. By carrying out secondary research into Typography and the fonts which are popularly used within graphic designs within 2011 I understood the use of Typography and within a class workshop, carrying out an exercise within Adobe Illustrator CS2, where I learnt knew skills in different effect tools which I had the option on fronts I used within MY magazine, I learnt effect tools such as; 3D, adding a shadow, rotating the font, enlarging font, distorting the font, through this exercise, I learnt and understood different ways to add effects onto fonts to make it more creative and it’s own unique design. Throughout this assignment, I also understood the main two family types of fonts, which include Serif which is includes more modern, bold fonts, the other font style being Sans serif which is a more traditional font which can be used for old articles to emphasise the traditional feel, which helped me when choosing and justifying the choice of font within my magazine. Throughout this assignment I have gained knowledge within the importance of fonts and the main family fonts, the importance of Typographic within graphic designs.
Production of documentation of work
Throughout this assignment of MY Magazine, I also applied my existing skills onto my work and gained other skills within creating my own ‘Production Schedule’, whereby I highlighted tasks to be completed in a correct order with the date started and the deadline whereby I learnt the management and priorities of specific tasks. As well as manually printing the production schedule out to follow, how I kept up with deadlines of tasks I digitally saved it where I’d update it by highlighting a task either red or green, green for it has been completed and red to identify the task is in need of completing, which I followed throughout this assignment and gained the skill of organisation through this. Also throughout this assignment I gained skills within documentation work of presenting my findings from primary research into a word document included with charts to visually portray my findings. From the other assignments I have completed, I already gained knowledge and skills within documentation such as; skills profile, evaluating work, initial ideas, research, contingency plan, mind map etc. I could apply this to this assignment however develop on from the existing skills I have such as; presenting work, adding more detail and information. Throughout this assignment, I completed all outstanding documentation at my best ability with in depth information and explanations with images, charts when necessary to back up my findings.
Responding to a brief
Throughout this assignment, I gained skills and knowledge into the use of briefs and the different types of brief such as; Contractual, Negotiated, Informal, and Tender, etc. From learning the types of briefs, it enhanced my understanding into the purpose and elements of briefs. From learning briefs, I understood the use and importance of them within real workplace scenarios, with the advantages and disadvantages of the different types. Through retrieving knowledge into briefs, I could then apply this when responding to a brief; I could then identify which brief we were given and respond to a sound standard. I thoroughly understood the brief and responded to it at a professional manner, as the brief stated to produce a Front Cover, Double Page Spread sheet and Contents Page for a college/university containing information on student life and the social scene aimed for primary both student sexes and ages of 16-21, therefore by responding to this correctly, I carried out primarily research into the correct age and gender category to retrieve reliable information on what they’d like to read about, which I could apply to my work with a guarantee they will be interested in my magazine, based on primary and secondary research retrieved, I created successful Front Cover, Double Page Spread sheet and Contents Page aimed primarily for students containing information on student life and the social scene, and secondary for parents by including the opportunities available for students, members of the general public to see clubs available and see the latest updates on the college, and for potential advertisers by including an advert for a fashion shop. I believe I successfully responded to the brief and achieved all the tasks acquired from the brief.
Research methods
Throughout the other assignments I have completed, I already retrieved knowledge and skills within using research methods such as carrying out primary research by questionnaires, focus groups, interviews etc. and secondary research, information gathered from sources such as; books, internet, magazines etc. and the use of qualitative and quantitative data and the ability to evaluate my findings and present them in graphs and charts, I applied these skills within this assignment to develop from my skills. Throughout this assignment, I understood the emphasise on the importance of research to develop ideas etc, which is where I develop from my research skills and carried out secondary research into trends within graphic design, colours used, trends with the latest technology, therefore it enhanced the quality of my work. I learnt the importance of primary research to gather people’s opinions, therefore throughout this assignment as the brief stated the magazine will be for primarily an audience of students of both sexes of 16-21, therefore I learnt that it was critical to carry out primary research of a questionnaire to the target audience, therefore justifying my ideas and reasons for choices of colours, images etc, were based from the audience, therefore they’re reliable and it will enhance the chance the audience will be interested In my magazine.
Generic conventions
Throughout this assignment, I understood the codes and conventions used within print publications by researching into magazines and newspapers and to identify the codes and conventions such as; columns, folios, layout etc, to respond to this brief successfully I understood I’d have to understand the codes and conventions of student magazines therefore I could apply this knowledge when developing my magazine. I carried out secondary research into student magazines and found the codes and conventions which are similar to fashion magazines, music magazines, however I learnt that student magazines include codes and conventions of; the school/university title and logo, relevant images, relevant subtitles such as; competitions, holidays, volunteering, gap years etc. Codes and convention for student magazines also included generic conventions of any other magazine publication such as; gutter, masthead, header, sub titles, bar codes etc. From understanding the generic conventions of student magazines, I then applied this to the development of my magazine and included the generic conventions to clearly identify this magazine was for students such as; imagery of students throughout the magazine, sub titles relevant to education.
Designing and planning
Through gaining skills and knowledge within designing and planning within previous assignment by using documentation such as; production schedule, storyboard for film, sketches with annotations, mind maps to develop ideas, I then applied this to this assignment. Throughout this assignment I gained skills within drawing sketches for magazines by adding all the generic conventions to portray a magazine clearly, following carefully and strictly to a production schedule to complete all tasks given, through creating mind maps to develop ideas and to follow through to planning the development of my magazine. Other skills I gained within designing and planning is experimenting with graphics such as; texts or images, to see the different outcomes achieved, therefore I could experiment to find retrieve the most satisfying appearing product.
Graphics production
From already obtaining a number of good and useful skills within graphic productions such as; editing and manipulation images, and the knowledge of software programmes such as; adobe Photoshop, I applied this to the development of my work and throughout this assignment I gained skills within graphic production such as; editing font to add more interest and to create a meaning to the text, I learnt tools such as; adding 3D effects onto fonts, rotating font, adding distorting effects, making the font letters cut outs of images which was very striking and bold. From gaining these skills within graphic productions, I applied this to my work and experimented with fonts heavily to create a unique font to appeal to the audience.
Legal and ethical issues
From already retrieving knowledge into legal and ethical issues within media productions throughout the previous assignment, I clearly understood the legal issues such as copyright on images and products, and to respond to a brief successfully and completing outstanding work for the client who is putting their money at stake, I also understood the importance of ethical issues within media products such as; not to discriminate anyone, not to give misleading information, not to be racist nor be prejudice, from gaining skills within understanding the importance of legal and ethical issues I applied this to my work and carefully made sure there were no legal and ethical rules broken.
Responding to feedback
Throughout this assignment, I developed onto my skills within responding to feedback successfully and applied this to this assignment; I carefully understood feedback and constructive criticism and responding to the feedback by altering work to enhance the quality of my work, such as; I retrieved constructive criticism that ‘the masthead was too busy’, which I took on board and agreed with and completely change the masthead for my magazine front cover to a more simple, professional standard, and the outcome was greater and the quality of the appearance developed. Other feedback I retrieved was the quality of the imagery and the fact they appeared slightly distorted, I agreed completely and re-edited the images into the front cover together and kept the quality intact.
