Even though I've had some experience with Photoshop from other subjects, I had never used Indesign until this point. I used some tutorials on the internet on how to make features on the program such as master pages and different effects. I used Photoshop to modify my images to be used in my magazine, I watched some tutorials on Youtube on how to do so, I also used some of my experience gained from my ICT classes to edit the photos. I then used Indesign to put all my text and images together for my front cover, contents page and double page spread. I used Indesign the most as putting the magazine together took up the most of my time, I only used word to type up my double page spread and photoshop to edit a few pictures.

i think my production skills have developed substantially throughout this project. I think my double page spread has been made to a high standard and my style of writing was quite professional. I followed the traditional conventions of travel magazines which made it easier to develop my skills in the different sections within. I haven't had much experience with graphic design in general but having a guideline to follow definitely made it easier. My front cover utilised my Photoshop and Indesign skills the most as it is arguably the most important page in a magazine. I used Word to type up my double page spread and format it, I had no issues with this as I have experience with the software from my ICT lessons.

My research involved looking at a range of different travel magazines, each with a slightly different target audience and design. These gave me an idea of the conventions of the magazine I was making. They gave me an idea of what I can do with the programs I had access to.

I think the most challenging part of producing a travel magazine would be making the cover page, I had a lot of different ideas for it before deciding to model it after a combination of two of the magazines I researched. I wanted it to be simple yet also have things to look at to draw readers in. The contents page was also quite difficult as I didn't want to cram it with too much information or images. However I thought this would be fine as it fits in with my target audience of older adults. I didn't really have any technical issues with my photography or computer work.

I think the shot list gave me a good idea of the type of images I wanted to include in my magazine. I followed this to get most of the shots in my final piece, however I also used some that weren't on the shot list. I used to location recce to decide on the actual locations for my shots, I got multiple shots from a single location to avoid having to travel too much.

I think my photography skills improved a bit because I never properly tried taking good landscape images and I am pleased with the final outcome. I used my iPhone for some of the images and a camera for others. The iPhone images are of a slightly lower quality than the camera ones. However all of the photos are done to a fairly professional standard.

I think working independently had a lot of positives compared to working in a group. I had more control over what I wanted to have in my magazine. There was also no fuss over deciding when to take photos or having to meet with others to put it together/edit the images.

The feedback I got on my work affected some of the design choices on my front cover as well as my contents page. This was mainly to do with the fact that the colour scheme on the front cover didn't meet the codes and conventions of the magazines I had researched. I made some changes to these pages to make them fit in with the codes and conventions more, making it appear more professional.