evaluation: progression

Q: looking back at my preliminary task, what do I feel I have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

A: in my preliminary task, the front cover was not nearly as planned as in my final piece. I simply thought of a simple image of a friend on a Christmas theme and took a partially blurred image and overlaid it with cover lines in a standard, default font. I have realised since producing my final piece that one must address conventions at every stage of creating a front cover, contents and double page spread.

My preliminary task’s pages were created using publisher, which is basic software, more suited to creating leaflets and business cards etc. However, the full product was produced on Photoshop, which I had no previous experience of. Photoshop is used by professionals in order to create high quality publishable material (that would include CD covers, DVD covers, promotional material and magazine content)

The key skills I have learnt in Photoshop are: cropping, arranging text, layer manipulation and selecting appropriate fonts to suit audience. With the help of tutor support and my determination I was able to become competent with Photoshop and use this to my advantage.

Another key comparison to draw is to the differences in layout. The layout I chose to use in my full product was more thought through and organised than in the preliminary task. The pictures I included in my full product were planned and many of them were taken in a photography studio. This held another situation where I learned a new technique, as I had to find the right lighting to produce pictures I could use.

Conclusively, in the transition between completing my preliminary task and making my full product, the main thing I have learnt is that time must be taken over a piece in order for it to be of any respectable quality. This is evident as we were given a week to complete the preliminary task and 13 weeks to create the full product. I spent little time thinking about or researching my preliminary task cover or contents and was of considerably lower quality than my finished work.