What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

For the creation of my magazine I primarily used Photoshop. The reason for this is that Photoshop is a simplistic and effective tool in creating quality pieces of work without any hassle. I have had some experience on Photoshop beforehand so I was not entirely alienated by the program. To the left is a print screen of how I went about creating my feature article using Photoshop. As you can see there is a large variety of tools and layers used in the creation of this particular page. The first tool I found most useful was the ruler tool in which I could layout my page accurately placing text and images in the correct places. Another tool that I found particularly helpful was the ability to install and use a wide variety of brush effects, I managed to install a smoke brush which also resembled a bloody effect (connoting danger) which I used on the background of my image. Lastly the ability to have many layers open at the same time and having large number of layers with simply one thing on them such as a shape, brush effect or piece of text, I was able to manoeuvre them to my desire and increase or reduce the opacity of each layer.

Another advantage of Photoshop is the fact that while creating any of my magazine pages, if there

was a mistake or an error that needed correcting I was able to easily correct it using the eraser tool or simply editing the layer that this error had occurred on. I was also able to import several other shapes and textures to also help create the desired effect of my magazine. such as the circular shape on the bottom right of my cover. Yet another advantage of using a technology such as Photoshop is that I could import my own brushes into it and then brush over some of the page with a splatter brush to create a blood stain effect. Again, this came in very useful with the creation of my feature article, however I was also able to incorporate this slightly into my front cover with some stroke brush effects used behind the title of my magazine.
To the right is another screenshot however this time of my front cover. On this image I was experimenting with using a drop shadow effect on my text. I also used several other blending tools such as an inside glow on the text and also adding a gradient overlay which helped the colour of the text stand out from the predominantly dark background. To enhance this contrast I also lowered the saturation and vibrancy of each photo which gave the photos a dark, edgy and grungy effect to them which fitted well we my magazine as a whole.

I had never created a blog or even known about this particular website before I started this particular project. With the use of Blogger I was able to present my work in a simple and effective manner, and unlike a course work folder I am able to keep tabs on the location of all my work and edit it freely by simply clicking on the pencil icon below each blog post. None of my work could become dog-eared or lost.