Here is my evaluation for the Preliminary task:

My media product uses forms and conventions such as the font size, use of capitals for the coverlines, having the main cover image a mid-shot of a person looking at the camera aswell as keeping to a clean but eye-catching colour-scheme. With my preliminary task I don't feel I challenged the conventions and I just followed them, this is something I will take into account for when I come to do the main task.
I used Adobe Photoshop CS3 for the cover which I found easy as I have a good understanding of the features of Photoshop and how to use it, therefor helping me create the cover but when it came to do the contents page we were told we had to use Quark Express which I found difficult and not as powerful as Photoshop, I gained an understanding of it quickly but I still found it to lack alot of the features Photoshop had therefore taking me more time to complete the Contents page, for the main task I will enquire about using photoshop for my contents page so I am able to make a more visually pleasing contents page.
My strengths within the media product were the design and layout of the whole thing as I feel I have given it a professional look which is attractive to it's target audience aswell as inviting to read. I feel that I lacked originality with this product as I followed the codes and conventions very closely so I will work on this for my music magazine in the main task. I feel my strong points concerning my use of media technologies were my abilities within Photoshop as I have a very good understanding, enabling me to help both students and teachers with it's functions and I also think I grasped Quark Express quickly although I wasn't a fan of the overall program.