Question 3

How did your production skills develop throughout this project?

For this question, I thought of making an audio recording as there was a lot of things to talk about.

I first wrote down few pointers that I wanted to talk about on Google Docs and then recorded it using the ‘Voice Recorder’ app on my Macbook. After recording it, I also wanted to add a transcription, as if the listener didn’t understand a word they could refer to transcript instead of decoding it.

While I was doing this I noticed that there wasn’t a transcribe option on my mac so then I had to share it to my phone and then copy and paste the transcription from there to the docs on my phone which was synched to the one on my laptop. I then made a few changes to it as it added a few words that were not said and then pasted it here.

As I had never added an audio recording here before it became a bit difficult to figure things out. Initially, my audio was in the form of m4a and it would not upload. But then I researched a bit and asked one of my colleague who had already uploaded a audio before to which she told me that the file must be in a mp3 format. I then later converted it and uploaded it.

Answer

Transcript

Hello everyone, this is Kaavya Valse and for this creative critical reflection question, number 3, I chose to present my answer in the form of an audio recording. This will allow me to explain my ideas more clearly and reflect on my development in a more natural and detailed way, rather than just limiting myself to a written text. 

Throughout this project, my production skills have developed significantly across various areas, including photography, editing, layout design, typography and just overall visual organization.I noticed that my photography skills improve drastically.

During the photo shoot, I became more aware of composition, lighting and angles, hence making sure that each image was clearly captured and it enhanced the clothings and cultural details. I began to also get more pose ideas that varied between each model and their clothing as well as background, even if it was just a slight difference.I also started to think more carefully about how I frame my shots and how I direct the models, which helped create a more natural and visually effective image. This allowed me to produce photos that were more suitable for a professional magazine layout. 

In addition to that, I also developed my image editing skills. 
Because before I used to drastically just change every single setting, after which the before and after would look nothing like each other and was viewed to be too over exaggerated and over-edited. So during this project, because of the number of photos I edited, I learned how to adjust the brightness, the contrast, the color tones, etc, to make the images look more natural, consistent and of high quality. 
This helped me improve the clarity and details of the images, making them more visually appealing.

In the beginning, I also found it difficult to create pages that were balanced and professional. My early designs were more basic and I didn’t fully understand how to organize texts and images in a clear and effective way. They had uneven spacing and no clear hierarchy. However, as I continued working on the magazine, I learned how to position elements more carefully, making sure that the images and text were allied properly and also spaced evenly. I also started to think more about how readers would move through the pages, which helped me create a smoother and more professional reading experience. I hence became more confident in structuring my layouts and making them visually appealing with the help of practice and as well as feedback from my teachers and colleagues. 

I also developed my understanding of color and visual identity. Early on, my use of colors was less controlled and more of a “we will use what looks best”. 
But I eventually refined my palate to only include warm and neutral tones that worked well together across all the pages with a few accents of bold colors in the imaging. This helped me create a consistent look. and feel throughout the magazine, making it visually stronger. 

Another key skill development that I noticed was my understanding of typography. 
At start, I used font sizes as they would fit to the page and the space remained after all the elements were placed without really thinking about how it would look with all the pages combined together. As I progressed, I learned how to create a clear hierarchy by using different text font sizes and styles for the titles, subheadings, body text, etc. But while also making sure that they have a consistent font size for each. 
This made a magazine easier to read and give it more of a consistent and polished look. I also became aware of how the typography could reflect the tone of the magazine, hence making a decision to match the cultural editorial styles that I was aiming at. 

My ability to plan and organize my work also improved. 
I became better at managing my time, working in stages, and making improvements based on feedback. I also learned how to review my own work more critically, and identify the areas that needed improvement and also make changes that strengthen the final outcome. 

So, these were some of the main ideas that I noticed that have improved throughout the project. 
I am pretty sure that there are many more, but these are the ones that stood out to me the most. I hope this has clearly answered the question and thank you so much for listening.