The document discusses the student's experience using various tools in Photoshop and Quark to design the front cover and pages of a music magazine. The student learned how to use tools like the magnetic lasso, character toolbox, layers, and eye dropper in Photoshop, and learned about the benefits of using layers in Quark. Various online tools were also used to document the design process and present the final magazine pages.

2. I have developed a wider
knowledge of the tools and overall
concept of Photoshop. I used
Photoshop to construct the front
cover of my music magazine.
I already had a basic knowledge of
the works of Photoshop
however, throughout the course of
my main task, I have been able to
access a wider variety of tools and
skills that helped me progress further
than I could've done before.
• The magnetic lasso tool was
one of the main tools that I
needed to work with when I
was working on the images
from my first shoot. This was
because I needed the
images to have a precise
cut around the edges so
that I could work solely on
the background. I had
previously used this tool in
another subject however, I
had not used it in this
context so I enjoyed having
the time to experiment with
this particular tool to
achieve the best outcome.
•
The ’Character’ tool box was
useful throughout the
production of my front cover
because it enabled me to
quickly edit the size, font or
format of any piece of text
on my page. I already knew
how to use most features in
this tool box however, I have
learned how to separate the
spacing within words so that I
can achieve a consistent
• I used the layers tool to
width between all of my
create a new layer each time
article titles.
I created a new or different
layer. Within my prelim
exercise, I used the layers tool
a few times but never used it
To achieve the same colour to its full use. With this task, I
scheme throughout the
made sure I put each new
production of my music
shape, text or image on to a
magazine pages, I used the new layer so that I could edit
eye dropper tool.
them accordingly.

3. I had previous knowledge of Quark due to
our preliminary exercise we did at the
start of the course however, throughout
this main task I have come to appreciate
Quark’s tools and have gained a wider
knowledge.
The ‘Guides’ tool came in useful
when making sure everything on
my page was aligned in a correct
formation and was useful when
comparing the sizes of text boxes,
shapes and images. It showed the
columns on each page so I could
make sure I took my text and
images right down to the bottom
of the page, making sure
everything was equal.
The ‘colours’ tool box was an
essential when it came to keeping
a consistent house style
throughout all of my magazine
pages. I created new colours to
my palette so that I had a variety
of tones to choose from; ensuring
that I used the same ones
throughout each page. I was also
able to use colours that I had
created in Photoshop for my
cover, on both my contents and
DPS. This was because each
colour has its own individual code.
So I used the colour tool to write in
the specific code and then I was
left with the same colour that I
had used on my cover.
I was able to use the ‘layers’
tool to add extra text, shapes
and images on to my page and
edit them individually (anything
on the same layer gets edited in
the same way).
I changed the layout of my
document a few times
throughout the production
process, so using the layers tool
came in handy when wanting
to move or edit a series of items
in one go. When I was using
Quark in my prelim task, I didn’t
know the benefits of these tools
and they were therefore not
used to their full potential. I only
ever used the text and image
tools however, I didn’t use them
with the layers tool so I had to
delete things and start all over
again because I had everything
on one layer.

4. To capture the best possible images
for my magazine pages, I had to use
a high quality camera. College
provided cameras to this standard
and through that I was able to
achieve photographs that were a
high resolution, clear, appropriate
images.
• The viewfinder was needed
to make sure I had all the
subjects necessary in the
frame so that it would fit I
the correct space on my
page. The viewfinder also
came in useful when trying
to create a focal point in
my images; I could use the
viewfinder to select an area
that would be the main
focus of the image.
•
I used the ‘Menu’ button a
few times throughout my
photo-shoots because
sometimes I had technical
difficulties. Depending on
the lighting, sometimes the
flash was not needed yet it
would still go off. Therefore, I
had to use the menu
button to turn the flash
on/off accordingly; a
change in the shutter
speed was another thing I
used the menu button for.
The settings dial came in useful when trying
to capture my images in a way that would
compliment the lighting and detail that was
needed. I mainly kept my camera on the
Automatic setting but the Portrait setting
was also used sometimes when I was
photographing close-ups of artists and
bands

5. I used a variety of online websites and software to produce work that would end up on my blog,
showing the progression of my magazine pages. Some of these websites were used to create
documents needed in the ideas process, leading up to the production work, whereas, other websites
were used for presenting my final ideas and magazine pages.
Blogger was the main online website that I
used to document the progression of my
music magazine production. I placed specific
documents and ideas into folders so that my
work was clearly laid out in a neat format. The
fact that the blogs were dated, helped me to
find any necessary information that I had
initially wrote down before I started the
production work.
To document any supporting ideas about the
production of my music magazine, I used a
website called: Prezi.
I used Slideshare and Scribd to upload any
documents that I had produced on Word
and PowerPoint
Towards the end of my magazine
production, I discovered a website
called ‘dafont.com’. This website
allowed me to create new fonts
that would cooperate with the
genre of my music magazine.