Learning how to use Tiki-Toki Timeline Software

To present an overall change and progression of my work I placed it within a timeline through using Tiki-Toki timeline software. This allows me to see an overall of all my work.

Learning How to use SoundCloud

To speak directly to my audience and add more emotion and interaction I have learnt and developed an understanding of how to present my work personally to someone over a computer screen.

Learning How to Use InDesign

Above conveys me learning how to use InDesign and developing the basic knowledge of the software I already had. This means that the results will look a lot more professional and that I will be able to create different and interesting effects that will be memorable to the reader and flow fluently.

Improved Understanding of PhotoShop

Here conveys me learning how to edit and improve images to they are more clear and remain looking professional. I have removed moles, out of place hair and spots to also rise the fluent and professional tone. I have now learnt how to improve images on the software.

Learning How to use Poll Maker

Here demonstrates using PollMaker to collect data which is a lot more efficient of me previously taking tally charts or using SurveyMonkey for one question. I can easily embed this and distribute it across many sites such as Facebook or Twitter to ensure that the maximum amount of people vote, thus giving me more reliable results.

Learning How to use Mind42

Here demonstrates my new skills picked up through the mind mapping system of Mind42. This allows me to convey my trace of thought online instead of looking slightly less professional by scanning it in.

Learning How to use Issuu

Here demonstrates me being able to use Issuu, I really like how this is presented as a magazine which makes my work transfer more fluently. Issuu also gives me the choice of how to upload documents from Word or PowerPoint and how I want my reader to perceive it.

Learning How to Use Pinterest

Here demonstrates my new skill of being able to use Pinterest, which will now allow me to illustrate my design and style direction. I like how it is a mood board yet it can still be annotated so I can explain what parts of the image I like and dislike.

Learning How to Use Windows Movie Maker

Here I have learnt the basics of Movie Maker such as adding effects, transitions and images. This will assist me in the future to making videos aimed at portraying information.

Learning How to use SlideShare

Above is a progression of me using SlideShare. Through learning how to use SlideShare I can now present Word and PowerPoint documents online whilst keeping their format and design. 

Learning how to use Prezi

Here demonstrates all the different skills I have picked up through learning Prezi, I have learnt a variety of skills such as how to embed videos, add symbols and how to add diagrams within the presentation, all of which are a lot more interactive and interesting ways to present information, a whole lot more interesting than using slideshows such as PowerPoint. Through learning to use Prezi my audience will be a whole lot more engaged in the information I am presenting them with.

Using Social Media to Gather Responses for my Questionnaire

I use social networking sites regularly to connect with friends and to see any major events. Yet I was new to using these sites as a way to increase responses and make my data more accurate.

I was given a link by SurveyMonkey which I used to give people a direct route to my questionnaire to add time efficiency and ease for the people answering it to ensure them that this would be a quick and easy process.

Tumblr

I added a link to my blog on Tumblr so it would appear in peoples feeds who followed me on this site. It also appears at the top of my blog so when people visit that site then they come across the link which hopefully brings people in to answer it. I added tags which means that when someone searches that tag they can come across my post and hopefully cause them to answer my survey. This broadens my audience as my friends and followers can enjoy the same things and share the same characteristics, by adding labels I broaden the people answering it as they won't be influenced or share the same personality that would be within a group of people. Most of my followers on Tumblr are into the same music and artists as my blog has a specified genre of music, so results from this group of people could be very similar.

Twitter

I then used Twitter to broadcast my survey, by having a simple short tweet and a link. I have kept it brief as the whole aim of Twitter is that statuses and other social networking is kept short and brief. I didn't add any tags as there was not enough characters to add them, but I feel that if I did add tags then it would clutter my tweet and make it look complicated therefore unappealing and a bit like spam.

Facebook

I then went to Facebook to broadcast my survey. I put the link in with my description which I put as a status. I put it as a status as it is the one way that the majority of Facebook use to communicate, it is simple and short which makes it look like the survey is simple therefore looking more attractive to answer.

Instagram 

I then used Instagram to also promote my survey. I took a simple picture of a postcard saying smile and then added a filter, using a real picture will interest my audience and look less like spam which is generally avoided by the majority amount of social media users. I added tags so more people could access my survey which meant a wide amount of different people could put in their input meaning that I get more accurate results as like Tumblr I could have followers that share the same interests as I post very similar pictures so this could make my survey inaccurate or unreliable.

Overall looking at the type of language that I used it was informal as all these social networking sites are full off informal lexis. If I was to use formal lexis then it might alienate my audience and make them not want to answer my survey. If I used formal lexis it might look like I didn't post the survey and that I had been hacked or have spam this would make my audience avoid answering the questionnaire.

Looking at how I used social media to broadcast my survey to gain more answers looks exactly the same to how I post normally but I have learnt that you shouldn't always be formal when you ask for something to be done that is more sophisticated than gossip or friendships as this can create a barrier between you and the people you want to reach.

Learning how to use Survey Monkey

To gather my audience research and to get a wide and accurate representation of my target audience to be able to produce a valuable product design that would appeal and achieve its purpose I used the online site SurveyMonkey. I had never used SurveyMonkey before so I have gathered and developed skills that before I had never acquired before.

I first had to decide the name of my music magazine and decide the category of my survey. As my survey is for my music magazine I have put it under the category of 'Market Research', I decided against placing it under 'Education' as it may affect my results if people know that it isn't for a real product free for the public to use. I called it 'Music Magazine Survey' because it is straight forward and might appeal people to answer it as it conveys as a very simplistic survey which would be completed quickly. 

I then get to design the layout of my survey. I got to decide the boldness of the title and the colours that were in the survey. This is important as it has to look visually appealing as some people might not fill it out due to it not looking visually appealing.

I then started to add questions. SurveyMonkey produced some suggestions so I used them, this then set up the answers, I added an 'other' which gives them a chance to disclose this information or suggest other genders that they are. I made this question compulsory to answer as it is key to being able to categorize my results. I only gave a certain number of characters if they specified 'other' as this restricts them to giving unhelpful answers, although they still can it is harder for them to as I have restricted the characters.

   

I then came across another problem. Due to me only having a free basic account there is a limit on questions. I then had to incorporate some questions into one another for me to get all the data I required, for example two questions I had was 1. What is your gender and 2. What is your age, I then made these two questions into one by increasing the categories (e.g male 13 or below, female 14-16) that they could answer. I also had to eliminate questions which weren't going to give me the exact answers I needed, one of the questions I removed was 'how often do you log onto social networking' I did this as I felt that a previous question 'what social networking sites do you use' gave me a similar answer and that me not knowing the amount of times a person logs on to a social media site is less important than knowing what music magazine they currently read. 

Basics of InDesign

Above is the basics I have learnt through InDesign these skills are vital to create a document but I feel that at some point I should improve my knowledge of the programme to create more interesting and professional effects as these skills are very basic for a publishing magazine.

Skills I have Learnt while Designing my Front Cover of my Magazine

I have learnt new and various techniques by experimenting with Photoshop while designing my front cover.

I started off with my image which I proportioned and moved to a suitable and eye catching place, which I learnt to do when I had a tutorial of Photoshop. I then adjusted settings like the sharpness, brightness, contrast, hue and saturation to achieve a professional quality image. 

This is my original image, there has been no editing to it or cropping.

This is my edited image. I have brightened the picture to make the picture to make it stand out more, I have increased the saturation so the colours are more definite and are more striking. I also increased the sharpness so my model would look more definite and separate from the white backdrop. I also adjusted the contrast and the brightness so then my picture would look more defined.

I then added my coverlines, mastheads and slugs, these were edited on by using cooltext.com and then copying and pasting into Microsoft Word, cropping off the pieces I didn't want and then copying them into Photoshop then arranging them according to my flat plan and what looks appealing to the eye.

I have added the cover lines in the house font style which is reversed out, I  tilted the mast head to give the magazine a more relaxed tone. There is only one cover line as I feel that if I used too many cover lines then the whole magazine would be cluttered and look untidy. I also added a bar code by making the white transparent but I placed this out in the corner so it was on its own and not very noticeable.

I found that due to the lack of cover lines there was a huge white space to the right of the cover. Although this is the side of the magazine that wouldn't be seen when presented in a shop it still made the cover look empty. I resolved this by moving the image to the right.
 

I have moved the picture to the right, this has given me my completed magazine cover. I decided not to use  a  lot of grabbing techniques or cover lines as this clutters the cover page and I think that less is more and would appeal to the audience more. When I do my contents page I will include more information of what's in the magazine but I will obtain the 'less is more' tone.

Photoshop Skills that I have Learnt

Recently I have learned numerous techniques to do with the software Photoshop and how to edit photographs in numerous and different ways. One of the basic techniques I have picked up on is how to create a new document and how to size the desired picture I want without it being out of proportion. 

This is my image in Photoshop which has been proportioned so it is an appropriate size so it keeps its sharpness.

Another skill I have picked up it how to change the hue and saturation of my picture, so I can change the colour and the lightness of the photo.

I have changed numerous properties to my picture. I have altered the hue which has caused the red in the picture to turn  pink. I have also modified the saturation to allow the pink to be more striking. I adapted the lighting slightly so the image would become darker overall.

 I have also picked up a skill which can allow me to distort photographs to make them look more fun and relaxed rather than them being more serious.

I have distorted my picture to make the body look really small compared to the guitar and the legs.

Another technique that I am now aware of is how to use the lasso tool. 

I have used the lasso tool to remove the neck of my guitar but I dislike this process as it is very time consuming and fiddly. It also doesn't produce the best results.

I have gained how to use the quick selection tool. 

I have used the quick selection tool to delete my models head. I preferred this to the lasso tool as it is quicker and much more precise. If I ever need to delete parts off photos then I will use this tool as I preferred it to using the lasso.

The last technique that I have learned is how to fill a section of a deleted part of the photo.

I have filled the head, which I deleted by using quick selection, with the paintbrush.

Learning How to Use Scrid

Above is the progression of learning how to upload documents to Scrid which is another piece of software that enhances my presentation of my work making it more interesting instead of reading a typical blog post. Scribd can also assist me by portraying my work whilst keeping a certain style, therefore making my work look presentable.

Learning How to Use Blogger

 

 

 

 

Above are the skills I have learnt from using Blogger so now I can present my work in different ways. This photo collage conveys me learning a range of techniques such as how to change colours and look at HTML's, all of these skills will be vital throughout the production of my coursework.

 



About Me

Hello, I'm Charlotte. This blog is for my AS Media Foundation Portfolio. This is my first Media blog. I love media, especially journalism.