Project Monitoring 27.02.14

By this time, many aspects of my magazine are to be fully completed - this is the stage I am at, too. With there having been countless times when things have gone wrong in terms of product quality, it is quite remarkable to think how far I believe I have come. To begin, it seemed almost impossible to create an entire magazine product in the space of just a month. There were certain aspects of my magazine product that were difficult to adjust, such as the images - at times, the positioning was inadequate for creating a high quality magazine and, sometimes, the image was too pixelated. All of which proved to be a learning curve, however. During the half-term, I came into college four days of the week to complete my final DPS and make adjustments on my contents page. I did this because I know it would be incredibly beneficial to the speed of production and it would render this final week as a spill-over week where I could allow myself the time to make final adjustments that could either make or break my product. It was very important to me to use this final week of production to work on the aspects of my magazine that needed more work doing to them. According to this plan, I have been very successful and had managed to complete my 3rd DPS, ready for editing this week, which was also successful.

On Monday, I started on editing my 2nd DPS, simply making finishing touches such as positioning correctly and inserting a quote insert, while thinking of a kicker I could place below my masthead. Then, on Tuesday and Wednesday, I edited my contents page as I was aware that the page was bare and hardly looked professional or authentic. Thus, I believe that my contents page is, by far, the least successful page. On Thursday, I fixed fonts (changing the plain, default fonts to custom fonts from Dafont) on my front cover and prepared the page for inserting into my InDesign file, as I created my front cover on Photoshop. Everything did run to plan, however, the machine I use had a serious disk error which meant that both InDesign and Photoshop needed to close immediately which put a stop to my production. In addition to this, the Mac had another malfunction that hindered my progress because during one of the sessions, I was not able to log on for approximately 40 minutes of the session, at which point I was forced to use another machine. Even that did not prove helpful because my fonts are not stored on that machine. To reinstall and use the fonts I would need to restart that machine which would bring me to the end of the session. This was exasperating and meant I got very little done during that session. However, I did have to make up for this inconvenience by making many changes in the next session. In Photoshop, during half-term, I edited the image for my 3rd DPS to look old and rugged. In order to do this, I adjusted the HDR settings on the image. This created a old, gritty effect. After doing this, I increased the shadows in the darker areas of the model where the light did not reach. This allowed my next step to stand out. I next increased the exposure of light on the head and the hands of the model to make this sections glow. The reason for doing this is because my article states that "the power is in the hand, not just the head". I then took this quotation and placed it as an accompaniment of the image. In doing this, I have developed the skill to appropriately use the HDR editing tool to create a gritty and rugged effect. I also learnt how to position and crop images to fit certain areas of my magazine without them becoming pixelated, which was often a problem for me that was becoming very irritating.

Some of the images I took were unqualified for usage. The model was too far to the side in some of the images, and even of the wrong side which would make it unsuitable for my DPS. however, this is not my model's fault, but my own for taking the images in that way. Facial expressions and positioning of the model were both fine, but in these instances (sometimes), I unfortunately got the end of the backdrop in the image. The perfect image for me was when my model was performing very well and the image did not capture the sides of the backdrop. I then cropped these images to fit my DPS. The eyeline conveys no particular meaning, but the the facial expressions of the model (cocky, yet inquisitive) suggests that a new sort of power can be attained by selecting a new pen.

I think my client would be impressed by the effort I have invested in this project recently, especially since I came in to edit during my holiday time. However, they may also feel that I have neglected my contents page slightly which could disappoint them. My project at this stage does reflect my treatment in terms of positioning of the masthead (even though I have adjusted it slightly, making it more dynamic). In addition to this, rather than having my article spill across both pages, I limited it to one page (left) and put the table underneath. I did also keep my image on the right of the DPS. The colour has changed ever so slightly, much like my other DPSs - I have kept the purple (which has connotations of luxury) but I have changed the gold colour to teal on account of being unable to find a glossy, golden colour; I could only ever find a murky yellow. Finally, the worry I have about my project is that my contents page will be a disappointment. I did have magazines by me while creating this, but I believe that creating my contents page was my weakest production point.

The image used for my DPS.

Image where the positioning of the model of not good.

Image where light is visible in the shot.

DPS 3 (fonts are missing).

Project Monitoring 13.02.14

This week, I began working on my grammar DPS that debates the solidarity of the rules behind grammar and how these rules affect writing. In order to properly address this issue, I did a photoshoot where my model was bound by a green rope - the rope represented rules holding a writer from delivering true art. My model was wearing a facial expression that looks confused and bewildered. According to my schedule, I have completed more than what I had expected to complete because I have virtually finished an entire DPS in one week. It would seem that as the weeks progress, I am becoming faster at producing material for my product. I believe my client would be happy with the progress I have made this week.
To begin with, I debated the new colour scheme, as - once again - I have had to change my colour scheme. I had initially wanted to use a grey and light blue (cyan) colour scheme but could not because of the unexpected colour of the rope in use. However, this was not as unfortunate as I may have first anticipated because the new colour scheme - dark red and dark green looks very good. Before I could do this, though, I needed to edit the picture so that it looked brighter and sharper than what it initially was. Therefore, the light image against the green and red colour scheme looked very modern and far better than any other writing magazines on the market. I also managed to work out my own method of wrapping text around my model. The reason I did not know how to in the first place is because my model is not a moveable object. I drew around my model with a pencil and put a text wrap on the pencil markings which thus meant that the text wrapped around my model where I drew the lines. However, the fact that a shape appeared on my model was an issue so I simply put no colour on the shape.


My other images could not be used because the eye-line was out of place and the facial expression from my model is not quite what I was looking for. In addition to this, my backdrop is visible. Therefore, I had to select the best image I had taken.

I believe I am working at a good pace and this progress mirrors that in my treatment and am confident I shall complete this DPS in time. 

Project Monitoring 06.02.14

This week, I began production on my first DPS. I found it particularly easy positioning my image, as I did not need to stretch the the backdrop to fit my page layout. However, with this ease, a difficulty arose; this being the style of my DPS. The problem here was that my page did not have enough simplicity and, yet again, I had gone for some more adventurous fonts with a bizarre colour scheme of green & black. It came to mind that perhaps my magazine would gain more marks if there was to be a larger degree of simplicity. Thus, I changed the fonts so that they looked slim and plain - this did actually make the magazine look far more conventional than what my previous draft had done. Even the colour scheme was changed to black and white as opposed to green and black. The white and black worked better with the grey backdrop. At first, I was unhappy with these changes and I found it might need more work if the DPS used simpler fonts and colour schemes. Upon testing the DPS and its layout, I eventually found that I was much happier with the changes and I now feel that it looks far better.




Here is the simple, more modern version of the my Reading Recommendations DPS

According to my schedule, I am working at a good pace and am on track to completing this first DPS on time. Although, the end of the week is very close at hand and if I am to finish on time, I need to work at a much faster pace. On the first day of the week, I placed the image in my DPS page and created the masthead and the page slogan that went either side of the centralised image. On the next day, I inserted the list of reading recommendations by researching Amazon's list and then using this with my own favourites to create a great list of recommendations. On the third day, I began writing my article for the left side of the page and today I plan on finishing this and text-wrapping it around my model on the page. I am slightly worried about how I might be able to make this work but if I do struggle then I will have to seek help.

With the upper image, I found that images I had taken such as this one, there would great difficulty in trying to create a professional-esque DPS. The reason for this being because I had too much of my model's body in my shot, and while this would give me more room to work, it almost feels like too much room, to me. In addition to this, the shoot has been badly-aligned and I would need to crop the image so that the top of the backdrop was no longer showing, but this would mean I would be cropping my model's head at the same time. With the image below, I am zoomed in further to my subject which does - I feel - look more professional.

At first, I had trouble positioning the masthead of my magazine but I discovered that it would be best in the far corners of my DPS. I believe that the biggest problem I have with creating is that once I have made an addition or initial decision, I am reluctant to change. Although, once I have considered other options, I find that my magazine does look more professional. While the initial positioning of my list of reading recommendations ran smoothly, I found that once I had tinkered with the list, I discovered that I could give the DPS a more authentic feel if I adjust the placing. One example of this is the shortening of the stroke lines to fit around the model. I have learnt that I should refrain from resisting advice from others concerning my work. In addition to this, I should be more open-minded about some of the decisions I am making. By doing this, I will be able to create a more authentic magazine.


In terms of progress made this week, I believe that my client would think that I have worked with diligence and hard effort. My client would see that I have been working well with my schedule and that I am working quickly and carefully with the time I have. What my client might dislike about what I have achieved, on the other hand, is the way in which I am quick to take my decision over anybody else's. They may, though, be pleased with how I am becoming more open-minded and even perhaps wise. The current state of my project vaguely mirrors my treatment handbook because I have used the same layout and positioning (that being central). However, I feel as though I am not doing as good of a job as what I could be since I am not being a consistent as what I could be; my colour scheme has changed unexpectedly and my font style is dramatically different to that on my flat plans. At the minute, my greatest worry is that my product is only 'satisfactory'.Essentially, what I am most scared about is how my DPS may not even be that good in terms of stylistics. Though what is more worrying is that I will know exactly how good it is, overall, until it is too late.