Skills development

1. SKILLS
DEVELOPMENT
Front Cover, Contents Page and Double Page
Spread

3. What are the strengths and
weaknesses of your production work?
Strengths
• I used an appropriate model to suit the genre of the magazine
using improved camera skills and different angles to add to the
stylistics of the genre and make the front cover look
professional.
• The front cover has a colour theme of blue and white as well as
using all of the same fonts to add continuity to the page.
• The model has direct mode of address with the reader to entice
and address the audience.
• I edited the photo using photoshop to make the models head
appear in front of the title to make the image stand out more
and add impact to the main image.
• The cover lines are framed around the models face to draw the
readers attention to the central image and keep it as the main
focus.
• I followed the codes and conventions of a music magazine to
ensure it looked professional.
Weaknesses
• I had to use two different colours for the
coverlines instead of just one due to the
clashing colours in the background.
• The image of the model is too high to the
top of the page. If i could do it again I would
make sure that I took the picture with more
room at the top of the image for a title.

4. • I found importing the image easy as you just had to drag the image onto
the page and then scale it to the size you wanted it to be.
• Writing the text was also fairly easy to do as the site is easy to use and
the tools are clearly shown. The symbol to write text was a simple ’T’ so
all I had to do what write my cover lines in.
What did you find Easy?

5. • The most difficult part of this page was making the head of the model appear to be in
front of the text. I had never done it before and the fact that the models hair was spiked
up makes it harder. This task took a long time to do however I would now know how to do
it in the future.
• I found taking the picture difficult as I had to find the right angle to make the picture look
professional as well as fitting the genre of the music magazine.
• I also found finding a way to make the main coverline stand out against the background.
Due to the contrasting colours of the background it was difficult to see the blue in front of
the black jeans and difficult to see the white infant of the white background. I overcame
this by putting the opposite colour outline on the text.
• Importing the title was also difficult as it was an image title as opposed to the normal text
off photoshop. I found it difficult to scale the title to the correct size so it fitted in the
space behind the models head.
What did you find difficult?

6. • The tool that I used most when I was creating my magazine was
the text tool. I used this to put in all of my cover lines and to edit
the text to make it fit with the theme of the page.
• I also used the quick selection tool to remove the white
background from my title and the barcode as they were both
imported images. I had to re do this a few times before it looked
right as sometimes the wand would select parts of the image that
you needed.
• I also use the eraser tool a lot to make the models head stand in
front of the title. This took a lot of time as I had to go slowly to
make sure I went intricately around the spiky hair.
What were the main tools you
used in photoshop and why?

7. How does your use of photoshop compare to
the preliminary front cover you produced?
Throughout the course of this project my
photoshop skills have developed greatly.
There is a clear contrast between the
preliminary and the main task due to their
professionalism. The front cover from the
preliminary task is messy with little
structure attached to it whereas in the
main task, the cover lines and the title
were strategically placed so that the main
focus is on the model. This reflects on my
photoshop skills as it shows that since
the beginning of the production, I have
learnt how to import new fonts, position
images in front of the title by erasing
parts of the layer using the eraser tool
and position text so it fits with the
structure of the cover. I also learned how
to use the quick selection tool on the
barcode to remove the white background,
this makes it look more professional.

9. What are the strengths and
weaknesses of your production work?
Strengths
•The page is well organised so that the text and the
images fit together nicely, leaving no gaps adding
to the professional look of the page.
•I used Quarkxpress accurately to split the text into
columns of three so the structure of the page is
noticeable to the readers.
•The Feature, Regular and page titles are all in bold
and in different colours to make them stand out so
the reader can navigate around the page easily.
•The house style is continued through the contents
page to make the magazine identifiable and make
the page look sleek and organised.
•The pictures are appropriate to the content of the
magazine and all link to individual articles.
Weaknesses
• The picture of the recording equipment does
not link fully to an article as the equipment is
not brand new or innovative whereas the
article is talking about how the new
equipment will ‘change the way you listen to
mucic’
• In my audience feedback I was told that the
page had too much of the colour blue in it
however I purposely used these colours to
create a house style.

10. • I found importing the pictures easy as once you had
put the box where you wanted the picture to be, all
you had to do was import the picture and scale it into
the frame.
• I found putting in the columns very easy as well. To
do this you had to just go on edit page and then
choose how many columns you wanted. I chose three
becuase it fitted better with the layout of my page.
What did you find Easy?

11. • I found it difficult to figure out how to use Quark in the first place as I
had never used it before so it took some time to get used to the
system.
• I also found it difficult to remember to add the extra cover page when
first making the page so that the work was on the left hand side.
• Making all of the numbers and subtitles was not necessarily hard
however it was very time consuming as you had to do each number
individually.
What did you find difficult?

12. • The tool I used most whilst producing my contents page was
the text tool. I used this to put in all of the text on the page.
This was easy to do as i had columns so all of the text fitted in
perfectly.
• I also used the picture tool to create the space where my
pictures would be then imported the picture and cropped and
resized it to make sure it fit within the allocated space.
• I also used the shape tool to make the heading of the Feature
and Regular articles stand out. I used the colour tool to fill them
in in black so they were noticeable on the page.
What were the main tools you
used in Quarkxpress and why?

13. How does your use of photoshop compare to
the preliminary front cover you produced?
The difference between these two pages
are drastic. This shows that my
knowledge on how to use Quark has
improved a lot. When i first made the
preliminary task, I did not know what i
was doing so spent a lot of the time
figuring out how to use the programme.
The preliminary task is filled with white
empty space and the pictures are not
lined up. I also did not insert any columns
so the page is not very well structured.
My main task looks much more
professional as I had learned how to use
columns so everything had a set place
and lined up. I also experimented more
with colours and fonts to make the
headings and numbers stand out.

15. What are the strengths and
weaknesses of your production work?
Strengths
•I downloaded a wider range of fonts to make
the page more exciting and fit better with the
genre of the band.
•I used my english skills and research of the band
to write an article of high quality, pulling out
the most interesting points from my interview
to create an article that would be engaging to
an audience.
•I used pull quotes to show some of the key
points of the article to entice the reader.
•I learned how to use drop caps to make the
article look more professional.
Weaknesses
• The model in the image does not show much
expression and looks quite boring on the
page.
• I had to experiment with the text size to
make it all fit in the text box so each column
was equal.

16. • I found putting in a pull quote easy as there was only
one tool I had to use and then Quark moved the text
around the quote for me.
• Inserting the image was also easy as I used the quark
picture tool which created the space for the image
and then I just had to import the image.
• Making the drop cap was also easy because there was
a drop cap tool so all I had to do was decide how
many lines I wanted it to take up then Quark did
everything else for me.
What did you find Easy?

17. •I found downloading new text fonts difficult as I had never done it
before and there were lots of steps to it.
•I found making the text line up with the other columns difficult as I
had to make sure the pull quote was in the right place, all the
words fitted fully on the line and that no text was missing off the
end of the paragraphs. I had to experiment a lot with this before I
got it to work
•I also found choosing a font that was appropriate to the genre of
the band difficult as there were lots to choose from however only
a few suited the spread.
•Lastly, i found writing the article difficult as I didn’t know which
parts would be interesting to the reader
What did you find difficult?