The student learned Photoshop skills over the course of creating preliminary and final covers, contents pages, and a double-page spread for a school and music magazine. For the preliminary covers, the student used basic Photoshop skills but recognized areas for improvement. Subsequent contents pages showed honed skills in layout and balance of information and images. For the final project, the student felt more comfortable in Photoshop and was able to incorporate creative elements like custom shapes and effects. Overall, the student saw major progression from an initial poor cover to a final double-page spread that effectively incorporated design principles and tools learned along the way.

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 used
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 thought 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. Then I
tried to get creative by making the quarter circle in the top right
which I was proud off. I thought 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 thought 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
thought I needed to add 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 able to
make when I stated using Photoshop.
Overall I thought 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 therefore sold. However for my first three documents in
Photoshop I am really pleased with my work.