We were tasked with creating a practice student magazine project to gain experience for an upcoming music project. Through research of existing student magazines, we found that many focused on stereotypes or used images that did not appeal to both male and female readers. To create a magazine that was different, the author conducted focus groups of fellow students to get input on content. Photoshop was used to layout and design the magazine, but challenges arose from the author's lack of experience with the software. Feedback was solicited to improve photo editing skills and produce a higher quality final product for the target audience.

1. Preliminary Project Evaluation
We were set the task to create a student magazine as our practice project to give us as idea of what to expect for the music project. We first started looking at student magazines as it fits perfectly with age group we are targeting. Within the magazines we started to point out the psychographics and the demographics to give us idea to what to include within the magazines we were creating. Also to find out how it speaks to the preferred readers and gets the message across. During our research we have realised that most of the student magazines include lots of stereotypes about teenagers. Such stereotypes as magazines covered with bright colours such as pink, yellow, where as the preferred readers would mainly be female. Where as some of the male magazines were filled with male gaze photos which attracted them to pick it up. Within the research we figured out that most of the magazines we looked at are mainly for main streams, the types of teenagers that are following the world and don’t really care about their education but about the latest materials. But to create my own magazine I wanted it to be different and to include what I thought and wanted but it was difficult to do that because otherwise I was not listening to my audience. To get the audiences opinions, I burrowed a digital camera from the school and kindly approached fellow students asking them if they mind being part of my audience focus group. Within the recording I wasn’t able to get balance opinions from both sex, which in the end I should focus on the majority which had similar answers.
To create my student magazine I first used PowerPoint to sketch how I would like to see it turn out, to also play with and see how many ways I can make it appealing to my audience as well as giving them what they want. After that I used my friends Iphone5 to take images that I would like to include with my magazine, such as my front cover photo and my main story line photo. I did this to give the audience a taste of what they should expect.
I used a desktop publishing software to edit my photos and format my magazine, this was Photoshop. The first time I used Photoshop I found it difficult as it was something I haven’t used before, which meant I had to learn to use the new tools and software effectively. This affected my magazine because my completed product was not to the standard of someone who is familiar with the software. An advantage of using his software was that I could create a professional magazine that matched my layout design. I overcame my difficulties by asking for help and by watching YouTube videos that explained how to use Photoshop.

2. Preliminary Project Evaluation
We started off opening Photoshop and uploading a photo.
I then wanted to get the cut the photo away from the background so I used the quick select tool to select the part of the image I wanted to keep and then used the inverse to select and delete the background. This was the edit I did to get rid of the background so that I could layer my photos to create a professional look.
When creating my music magazine I would like to advance my photo shop skills as I would like to produce more professional work. I would also like to use DSLR’s as I would my images to be a high standard quality which would improve the professional look of my magazine. Furthermore I would like to improve my front cover and contents page as I don’t feel that I added enough information or made my magazine specifically for my target Audience.
I think my finished product was not to the standard I had hoped as I was new to using Photoshop and was not familiar with the software so I didn’t know how to use the advanced tools. Other than that I think I completed the task with an open mind so that my target audience would enjoy it and I think it was good.