The document reflects on the progression of the author's skills in using Photoshop to design magazine covers, contents pages, and spreads over multiple iterations. The author notes they started with a basic preliminary school magazine cover to learn Photoshop basics. Subsequent preliminary pages showed improvement in layout and design. For the final magazine, the author used Photoshop instead of Publisher, which allowed more advanced design. Though the final cover was conservative, subsequent pages demonstrated growing skills with elements like quarter circles and creative stamps. Overall, the author felt their work showed clear progression from early pieces to the later contents page and double-page spread, being happy with the balance of information and design in the final pieces.

1. Question 7
Looking back at your preliminary task,
what do you feel you have learnt in th
progression from it to the full
product?

2. This is my Preliminary cover
This is my preliminary cover, as you can see it is quite basic and it
doesn't look too great. I used Photoshop as I would use this for
my real product so I needed to learn how to use it. The main image
is good as it is clear and appropriate for the cover. I think that the
image would look better if it was at more of an angle as it would
show more of the building and appeal to the audience as more
interesting. The two pieces of text are ok but the shapes around
them aren't the best. I tried to put something behind the text to
make it more interesting but it hasn’t really worked as it doesn't
look that good. The logo and title are both necessary on a cover
and here they are bold and clear which is good.

3. This is my Preliminary contents
After my school cover I had to make a contents page. I Publisher
to see what it was like as I could use it for my final products. The
contents is well laid out with a mixture of text and images that are
clear. The two sections of text are easy to read and well laid out
with the bigger number and heading with the smaller information.
This would be easy to understand and follow for the readers.
There is also a wide variety of images which would interest
different audience which is good. There is PE, History, IT and sixth
form related pictures. The pictures also have caption on which
would show the reader the related page quickly and easily. There
is also a competition which would attract the pupils and the phone
number which would be useful for parents. Overall I feel this is
better than the cover and shows I was honing my skills. It is clear,
interesting and informative which is what a school magazine
needs to be.

4. This is my Final cover
This is my music magazine final copy. After using Publisher for my
school magazine cover and contents I decided to move to
Photoshop as it can do much more and produce much better
results. I took me a while to adjust but I slowly did. The cover is
very conventional with all the standard features such as left third,
top strip and a pug, I did this as I didn’t want to be too creative as I
didn’t know the software. However the cover would appeal to the
target audience so I was happy. I tried to make it look as good as
possible and was happy with the section in the bottom right. I
made small boxes different sizes and lengths to make it look
original and exciting. Then I added the bright yellow circle to make
it stand out. This was a small feature but it showed I was
improving with my Photoshop skills in time for my contents and
DPS. On the whole I though I played the cover safe but for my first
Photoshop attempt it was good.

5. This is my Final contents
Now after completing my cover I felt I was more accustomed to
Photoshop and was confident going into the creation of my
contents. I didn’t want make the contents really filled with effects
as I wanted to keep it quite simple as the focus was on the
information. I kept to my colour scheme which was important as
this is the brand identity and I didn’t want to change this. I put two
columns in which was important as this is where the majority of
the information went. Then I added pictures as I felt they were
needed in the contents with a caption explaining the image. The I
tried to get creative by making the quarter circle in the top right
which I was proud off. I though it looked great with the two
colours and the drop shadow. Overall I could see and feel my
progression and was happy with my contents. I though I got the
balance between the information and the creative side.

6. This is my final DPS
Lastly I had to make my DPS, when planning it I
was unsure of what to do for the background so I
thought the image could be the background. I
think the tree look worked well and now the
background was done. The interview was done in
a Q and A style and this would work well for the
genre. The quote and statement looked good and
would work well to interest readers. Finally I
though I needed to added detail and effect to
round it off. The page number with magazine
name look really professional and the stamp looks
great too as it is creative and like something you
would see in a professional magazine. The stamp
would be something I never thought I would been
of been able to make when I stated using
Photoshop. Overall I though this was the best piece I made and it was the last and I was really aware of music
magazines and how Photoshop works.

7. My Progression
I think from my poor school magazine cover to my music magazine
double page spread there was a massive improvement. With my
three final pieces I would say I was happy with the contents and
double page spread. I am not disappointed with the cover but I
would say it would be worth hiding some layers and just having a bit
of a mess around to see what I could change and how it would look
with minor changes. The contents is arguably the most important
page in a music magazine as if it is poor then it wont get picked up
and there for sold. However for my first three documents in
Photoshop I am really pleased with my work.