Looking back at my preliminary task compared to the full music magazine, I have learned many new skills in Photoshop and in magazine design and layout. For the preliminary task, the design lacked creativity and color, with poorly positioned text and unused space. However, in creating the full magazine I learned about composition, layout, and utilized space better with professional finishes like varied colors, sell lines, and well-cut images. My skills in areas like cutting, use of space, and overall design improved greatly between the two works.

1. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product

2. On the left hand side is my preliminary task, which was made before my full music magazine, there are many differences, my preliminary task is very basic and lacks creativity and doesn’t really captivate the audience as it is not eye catching unlike my music magazine which uses a variety of colour which is very eye pleasing. Throughout the process I learnt new skills which has helped me create a much better music magazine. I learnt about the composition and layout, I was unaware about this before therefore the reason of a poor preliminary finish, as text is not positioned properly and the space on the pages are not utilised to the best. But with my music magazine it has a professional finish along with lots of sell lines and a nice masthead, my skills have improved vastly as you can see a big change between the two.Music MagazinePreliminary task

3. Front PagesOne of the main problems is the poor use of space, there are lots of gaps, also the page isn't very bright, the background is very dark with white text over it. Also his attire is blending in with the background it would have been more suitable to use a lighter background.However the masthead is quite conventional as it is big and bold with a nice outline around the masthead There is a big difference from my preliminary task and my magazine cover, at first we see a much better use of colour and photography, my brand identity is very clear and noticeable. It all goes very well together. My Photoshop skills have improved massively since my preliminary task, I have utilised the space on the a4 page very well, also I have used up all that space with lots of text and sell lines, my cutting skills have improved vastly as my artist looks like they have been cut out properly with a conventional shadow on the outside of her. Also the quality of the photo has increased, along with the use of lighting to give a more professional finish.

4. During my production process, I have developed my cutting skills as I have learn how to cut with precision, and how to smooth the outside edges when the image had not been cut-out properly. Also I problem I overcame was that while taking my photos was that there was the green background which reflected and through my artists hair, so through the refine edge tool on Photoshop I could decontaminate and colours that I did not want for example the green.Also I learnt how to use the magic wand tool which allows you to select parts of a picture and just delete it, this was a very useful tool in my production as it was very effective and helped me allot.Also I used the blending tool option allot as it allowed me to put a black outline over my text and I used this throughout my magazine.Photoshop Skills

5. Preliminary ContentsThis was my preliminary contents page as you can see it was very plain, with not allot of content, my Photoshop skills were poor her, with only the use of the gradient tool to make the background, then followed on with over laid text.No allot of Photoshop skills are present, also no images are present, its very basic with no editorial, features and doesn’t look very professional at all with allot of wasted space.

6. Music Magazine ContentsThis is my contents page for my music magazine, my brand identity continues from the front cover with the use of the red , blue and white. It has been laid out in a simple organised and effective way, I have my contents title along with and editorial and a smaller version of the front cover, these are al conventional features that magazines use In this genre. I have kept my contents page simple because my teenage audience prefer a much more simplistic view rather than a busy one. Its been a major leap since my preliminary work as my contents page looks much more professional and more effective. Also many images have been used and edited with, 2 out of the 4 photos have been cut out and place on a background. My Photoshop skills look much better. And the way I have communicated with the audience has improved as in my final contents its much more clearer and precise and easy to digest the information with a nice visual look.

7. Double Page SpreadEven though I did not make a preliminary double page spread, making the double page spread helped me learn allot with Photoshop also the skills I used from the double page spread could be used on the front cover and contents and vice versa. I used an actual setting as a background along with my artist. This subverts normal magazine conventions as they do not normally do this. But my text is very conventional as it follows a Q&A text theme, the only Photoshop skill I really needed to know was how cut out properly as my second picture on the right hand side has been cut and placed there. I had to choose my layout and I thought this one works well as it has a fine balance between imagery and text, as my double page spread is very text based it was essential that I used images to give it a professional feel and edge. I used conventional floating quotes which give a statement about the artist. I think I communicate with my audience well as I have set my double page spread simply but effective as it stands off the page and looks very good. In my text did not use much as colloquialism it was not the type of audience I was reaching too.