https://padlet.com/nataliebrotherton/x9jiec4xjumz "Looking back at my preliminary task what do I feel I have learnt in the progression from it?" en-us 2016-04-21 16:04:29 UTC 2025-09-27 20:54:32 UTC hello@padlet.com https://padlet-assets.storage.googleapis.com/portrait/notebook.jpg nataliebrotherton https://padlet.com/nataliebrotherton/x9jiec4xjumz/wish/107051408 2016-04-21 16:15:15 UTC https://padlet.com/nataliebrotherton/x9jiec4xjumz/wish/107051408 nataliebrotherton https://padlet.com/nataliebrotherton/x9jiec4xjumz/wish/107051734 2016-04-21 16:16:25 UTC https://padlet.com/nataliebrotherton/x9jiec4xjumz/wish/107051734 nataliebrotherton https://padlet.com/nataliebrotherton/x9jiec4xjumz/wish/107052190 During the process of creating my final products I used fireworks most of the time to put them together. Here are some of the things that I learned]]> 2016-04-21 16:18:09 UTC https://padlet.com/nataliebrotherton/x9jiec4xjumz/wish/107052190 nataliebrotherton https://padlet.com/nataliebrotherton/x9jiec4xjumz/wish/107052344 Then: During the first experience of Fireworks, I had no ideas that guidelines existed. Looking back on it, I believe they would have assisted me in making my magazine layout look more professional.
Now: Upon learning about the usage of guidelines, I have discovered how important they in the process of creating a magazine. They are used for making the pages proportionate and symmetrical. They are done by dragging a line from the side and top of the screen. You can measure where they are situation by double clicking them and entering a number in terms of the pages measurements. For example, if the width of the page was 1000, placing the guideline at 500 would situate it directly in the center.]]> 2016-04-21 16:18:42 UTC https://padlet.com/nataliebrotherton/x9jiec4xjumz/wish/107052344 nataliebrotherton https://padlet.com/nataliebrotherton/x9jiec4xjumz/wish/107053202 In order to create my magazine in fireworks a lot of thought went into the planning that affected the creation process. One thing I needed to focus on was what models/ pictures would be features in my product. In terms of photography, multiple planned photoshoots took place in order to snap the perfect shot for my front cover, contents and double page spread. I planned out the costume, makeup, poses etc in order to appeal to my audience and genre. The photo shoot for the school magazine was not pre-planned. Photos were taken in random locations with no representation, and altogether the photos came out in poor quality - whilst the new photos came out much better because of the thought that went into it. After the photos were taken I edited them using free online software, where I fixed the models skin as would be done in a real magazine cover. I altered features such as the brightness, contrast, highlights, shadows etc. In order to get the perfect, well looking mix. I then downloaded the photos as PNG images in order to get the best quality possible.]]> 2016-04-21 16:21:44 UTC https://padlet.com/nataliebrotherton/x9jiec4xjumz/wish/107053202 nataliebrotherton https://padlet.com/nataliebrotherton/x9jiec4xjumz/wish/107053838 Then: As you can see from my old magazine, I had a very plain intriguing layout, and had little knowledge of the ways I could alter the product's appearance.
Now: In terms of text there are many ways the magazines written content can be edited in appearance, other than just the size, colour and font, such as Leading and Kerning. Leading relates to the spacing between certain lines in a paragraph, whilst kerning refers to the  spacing between the letters of the words. Both of these are important in order to make the words look neat, presentable and fit appropriately in the product.
Layers are a huge part of using fireworks, they determine what features on the screen overlap others to make them more/less visible. For example in my product, all features overlap the main image, which remains at the very back of these layers. These can be edited in the layers tab to the right of the screen. Or you can send certain items 'back' or 'forward' using the Arrange Tab when right clicking the item.
Flatten Selection allows the user to group together different layers and items so that they can be moved as one, rather than moved individually. This proved very important in making my product, as there are lots of different items that needed to fit together in an exact way. If I moved them individually they would be shifted out of place each time. These are only a few of many features in fireworks that affect the products layout.]]> 2016-04-21 16:24:09 UTC https://padlet.com/nataliebrotherton/x9jiec4xjumz/wish/107053838 nataliebrotherton https://padlet.com/nataliebrotherton/x9jiec4xjumz/wish/107055540 2016-04-21 16:30:14 UTC https://padlet.com/nataliebrotherton/x9jiec4xjumz/wish/107055540 nataliebrotherton https://padlet.com/nataliebrotherton/x9jiec4xjumz/wish/107055563 2016-04-21 16:30:20 UTC https://padlet.com/nataliebrotherton/x9jiec4xjumz/wish/107055563 nataliebrotherton https://padlet.com/nataliebrotherton/x9jiec4xjumz/wish/107063191 Then: The only tools I ever experimented with was used to create shapes, such as the elipse tool, or to crop photos down to appropriate sizes
Now: I made use of many different tools that fireworks has to offer, in order to make my final products more effective. For example to alter photos, I used the rubber stamp tool. This was where the use can take a colour nearby the pointer that will mimic the nearby colour. This allows the user to do such things like fix imperfections in backgrounds. A similar tool to this is the eyedropper tool, which allows the user to click any colour on the screen, so it can be selected for the pencil or fill tool. This assures the user will have consistant colours throughout their product, without having to select the exact cube from the colour selection box every time. Other tools I have learnt to use include:-
- Marquee Tool - Similar to cropping, my main use for this tool was to cut off a selection of a selected object without it affecting anything else on the page, such as cutting some length of a picture in order to make it fit it better.
Text Tool - As the name suggests, this tool is used to produce text, of which certain features can be edited such as the font, size, colour, outline colour + thickness among other things such as leading and kerning
Skew Tool -  This tool is used for rotating features. Before I was educated about this tool, I thought the only way to rotate photos could be done by 90 degrees in the 'Arrange' tab of the menu. However I leant you can 'scew' the features by however much you want. And you can also use this tool directly from the crop tool. These are just a few of the many features I have used in fireworks]]> 2016-04-21 16:56:00 UTC https://padlet.com/nataliebrotherton/x9jiec4xjumz/wish/107063191 nataliebrotherton https://padlet.com/nataliebrotherton/x9jiec4xjumz/wish/110435388 2016-05-11 21:09:39 UTC https://padlet.com/nataliebrotherton/x9jiec4xjumz/wish/110435388 nataliebrotherton https://padlet.com/nataliebrotherton/x9jiec4xjumz/wish/110436282 In terms of how I laid out my magazine I have learnt that it is crucial to make the products look professional and eye-catching for the audience. Readers will not be encouraged to buy a product if they do not think that it is of high quality. Therefore it is extremely important that the magazine has been laid out to look appealing and eye-catching so that the audience is drawn to its content.
Then: I used to play out the magazines content so that it was neat as I thought this would be the best method in designing my magazine however having the magazine to simple is not very appealing to potential audience members.
Now:  I have paid attention to specific details of successful magazines and embedded them in my own designs.  Four example the use of an interesting and eye-catching house style is key to grabbing the readers attention. Instead of using all basic colours like black white and red I have instead experimented with using interesting bright colour (hot pink) to contrast with these basic colours and make the magazine look attractive. As well as this features such as enlarged article titles, descriptive texts, names of recognisable artists etc. all play a part in attracting an audience, and are not so coincidentally, features that I had not included in my preliminary task.  Therefore I feel that learning the importance of features such as this is very important to the success of my magazine. This success comes from how  these features of my noticing bring in a certain type of audience. The genre and representation that is being portrayed by my magazine is very important. Things such as the mention of certain popular artists from certain types of music drew in audience members who enjoy such music. Or how my models look and what image they portray will attract certain audience is purely from their parents and what personality they are putting forward in their photographs, this spans anywhere from their facial expressions to what jewellery and clothing they are wearing. All of these aspects are important in terms of attracting the right type of audience. ]]> 2016-05-11 21:16:34 UTC https://padlet.com/nataliebrotherton/x9jiec4xjumz/wish/110436282 nataliebrotherton https://padlet.com/nataliebrotherton/x9jiec4xjumz/wish/110438333 If I were to recreate my preliminary task I would start off by re-taking the photos and instead include pictures of students in uniforms. I would do this because it would obviously put tray that the magazine is target audience is for current students at Plantsbrook School, I would also direct the models to be looking straight at the camera so to portray confidence. I would take photos in different shots and angles, and would have the models pose in a variety of ways. I would also include features such as brief description beneath article titles, borders, social media information etc. I would do this as from my journey,  I have now learned that this would all contribute to the success of my magazine in terms of its appearance and its ability to attract and satisfy an audience.]]> 2016-05-11 21:37:22 UTC https://padlet.com/nataliebrotherton/x9jiec4xjumz/wish/110438333