Jessica created experiments for a magazine front cover and skin care website to practice skills in Photoshop and Wix. For the magazine cover, she used layer styles and glow effects on fonts to make the masthead stand out against a background image. Feedback from exploring layouts and color schemes informed her final design. For the website, she found templates to start but wants to design from scratch for her final. The experiments helped her learn skills like matching colors and arranging elements that she will apply to her professional-looking final products.

1. Experiments
Jessica Crosland

2. Process
To begin with my experiments I opened photoshop as a (A4) page therefore this was a
magazine template for me and the width wasn’t to wide, I then chose an image using
google images and used a model picture which I copy and pasted into photoshop and
used command and t to place the image as my background. This is normally how I begin
when creating my products because I think a base image really brings the products
together and it makes it easier when matching different colours for fonts. For my fonts I
either like to use the fonts on photoshop or dafont I normally use both I like to use
dafont mainly for mastheads I picked ‘bebas kai’ because this font is large with a colour
scheme of light pastel this will appeal to my audience as pinks are a feminine colour.
When erasing the white background with the fonts I use the magic wand tool and select
the white and press delete I find this very useful and quick. When choosing colours I use
the right-hand corner and pick my main colour then use the paint bucket tool and click
each font for the colour to change. I also added a date for my magazine and barcode I
prefer adding this first, so I have more time for my cover lines and headlines afterwards,
so it isn’t time consuming.

3. Process
Secondly, I continued adding more fonts now these where mainly from photoshop because I
find it easier when placing them to frame around the models face because this still creates
the main focus on the model (background image) which I am looking to create in my final
products. I began clicking on the layer of some fonts and changing the layer style I normally
don’t do this so I changed around some saturations at first to see the outcomes and this
didn’t work out well so I continued to experiment with different fonts and placing them
around to see which layouts looked better for this I also used google images and searched
up magazines such as VOGUE and looked or inspiration on my layout because I was
struggling on how to space things out so it wasn’t too over crowded. I was also using the
colour sampler tool to match the colours this was my aim because it looks a lot more
professional and there isn’t too many colour which don’t match.

4. Process
• This is my final outcome to my magazine front
cover experiment, I am really happy with the
outcome. This was created by using the layer style
again after I got the hang of this I used this on a
few of my fonts mostly the masthead I added a
glow affect of white around the purple colour I love
this outcome because it stands out a lot more and
gives a really good affect to the rest of the
magazine. I also added a pug I did this by using
google images and finding a black circle
background and copy and pasting this into
photoshop and placing behind my fonts and did the
same for the skin care products to advertise the
brand and pull the readers in. Overall this is exactly
how I wanted this experiment to turn out and using
photoshop was quite easy for me as I've practiced
before when creating this type of product and is
something I enjoy, I also love when the colour
scheme of either two or three colours match on the
magazine mine was black, white and purple I
mixed basic and a pastel colour together because I
think it matches together nicely.

5. Process
Next, I moved onto my other experiment for this I made a example of a skin care brand
website although this was my first time using wix.com but it was a very useful app and I
began trying different things to get the hang of this and decide I will be using this app
again for my final idea. To begin with I searched ‘skin care websites’ to form together a
template as this was my first time creating one, I then found images from google images
and downloaded these to place on the front of the website I edited fonts and chose pastel
colours because this is my theme and matched a colour scheme of a light pink. So far this
was simple, and I enjoyed setting a layout and changing it up to experiment which styles
looked better. The fonts are provided on this app, so it made it a lot easier and I liked these
fonts it also had a colour scheme palette to which I used to choose my colours.

6. Process
• In this stage of my process I added main features for the website such as social media handles
of the brand which I was able to download the logos on google images. I also added phrases
to advertise to the audience and changed these fonts using the website and matched them
with my main title. To change my main background I pressed control and my mouse to add
different styles or add pictures but because this was my first attempt, I decided to add one
colour which I picked a hot pink therefore this would mix well together with my light pink
colour scheme. Overall I like the outcome of my second experiment although in my final
website I will add a lot more detail and have saved extra time for me to achieve a professional
and full website. The wix website is very straight forward and already includes many different
template examples to get started which also made it a lot more simple when creating this one
so maybe in my final product I wont use a template and will start from scratch to challenge
myself as I now have a much better understanding when it comes to this so my experiments
did help me a lot.
https://jessica-crosland.wixsite.com/mysite

7. Reflection
• What elements of your experiments will you include in
your final product?
– The main elements which I will include in my final product is mainly
how effectively I use photoshop and the skills I have learnt through my
processes this will include how I use the magic wand tool to erase
backgrounds and placing my text around the main image using the text
tool for my layout, and the colour schemes of the bucket tool and
matching my colours together this means having two or three main
colours for fonts or background this Is something I think makes a
product stand out and doesn’t look to messy or random. I am also
looking to use the same layouts for both of my final products because I
liked my outcomes and think they really stood out, especially for my
main image of a model on the magazine front cover I also want to
include a photo like this. Mainly I believe layout is one of the most
important processes for me because that can depend on an outcome
and with my experiments it has shown me this type of layout is perfect
for a final outcome.