Will Storey evaluation for
unit 3
On
completion of this task I think the group all worked well on the what’s on
magazine called Around You. We all decided to have an equal input into the
ideas and the making of the project in order to make a great magazine and get
the best grade possible. At times, I found it difficult to work in a team and
got very frustrated because we disagreed on many aspects, such as font type,
size, layout, colours etc. We all had our own ideas and wanted to use them.
Some members of the group are quite strong characters and so putting forward my
views was very difficult at times. Things improved as time went by and as we
all got on with our pages. I thought that I worked well independently however
it was always useful to exchange ideas and look at the work of the others.
At
the beginning of the project the group put all our ideas together and came up
with a list of the content of the pages we would include in the ‘Around You’
magazine. I feel the group did this quite well as we were able to come up with
the pages and who would do that page. We all have very different interests and
so it was obvious who would do what page. As soon as we had decided who was
doing what we got to work on it straight away. And although will had a few hic-ups
along the way I feel we worked well.
We
did really well at meeting the deadlines as we devised a production schedule in
the beginning and regular reference was made to this. I always got on with the
project within lesson time and sometimes outside of the lessons. Although I
thought I had finished the pages a few weeks before the deadline, after asking
others for their opinion of my pages, I still had a little work to do on
improving them in order to reach the best standard possible. I feel we did very
well using the resources and getting pictures together to use in the different
pages of the magazine.
I feel the time management of the team was very
good as we always got on with the task in hand which we were doing well and
never got to distracted by other things going on around us. We never spent too
long on each page and always made sure everyone got a look in and be able to
put forward their views on making the page better.
I think my organisational skills could have been
a little better because I did forget the photos I needed for the scout page but
I remembered them in the end. Organisation of folders and work on the computer
could have been improved as I have a tendency to save things to my memory stick
and then lose it or forget to bring it in. Organising work in the correct
folders in my area needs improvement and I need to delete items that are no
longer required. My communication skills were very good as I always
participated in group discussions and put my ideas forward. I also tried to
listen to everything that was said by others within the group. Within the group meetings I feel
I got a say as to the direction of the magazine and that my comments on the
groups performance were taken on board.
In comparison with the more professional work the
magazine is not really up there with them. I think to get to a professional
standard we would need longer on it and a lot more practice on the magazines.
This was the first time for me designing a magazine other than the cover, which
I did in unit 2. So because of this I had to look closely at another what’s on.
When I looked at the sample I found they used a white background instead of a
colour one like I did. I feel the colour I used made the page a bit more
interesting, exciting to look at. However with the white space in the sample
magazine it dose make the type easier to read. Other differences in the layout
include the fact that I have crammed all my text into a small box without
leaving space around the edge. The alignment of some of the graphics was less
than perfectly placed, as a couple of the boxes of colour were not lined up and
therefore looked unprofessional. But overall I feel I did a very good effect in
the pages I did for ‘Around You’ and although I could have done a better job
with the layout.
The images that I used in some of the pages I
got from Google images, but the images on the scout page are my own images from
home. I realise that if I was making the magazine for real I would have to get
permission to use the images for the film or use the ones provided in a media
press pack. I inserted my own film description to each film. I included the age
certification rating with each of the film listings.
The magazine meets with the original plan in
some respects these being; each member of the team completed the pages as we
had planned with the exception of the kid’s page. We kept to the categories
that we had originally planned as we felt these were interesting and provided
more than enough content. We did not keep the colour scheme for each page as we
decided to use different background colours to help each bit stand out. We kept
to the planned typeface and size of text for the headings and body text as we
felt that this was easy to read.
The techniques that I used to create my magazine
pages are using a range of colours from the colour palette. This was used to
differentiate the articles to help the reader follow the text and to see
clearly the divide between items. We tried to use the colours that blended
together but that also enabled the font to be seen. Throughout the magazine we
decided to stick to the same font type, as it is important to make the magazine
pages flow and look consistent. We researched typefaces by looking for a clean
and easy to read font and after looking for a font we decided upon Ariel as
this looked professional and fit for the purpose. We also devised a grid
containing vertical lines as we felt that this would be helpful to each member
of the group to help with the layout of the pages and keep them consistent.
The only thing that we planned to include but
failed to accomplish was the kid’s page and this, I think, was due to a lack of
time. The kid’s page would have made a nice addition to the magazine and been
of interest to young children. We would have to manage our time more
effectively in future projects to ensure that everything is completed.
