Through developing skills in Photoshop and research on magazine design, the author improved their final magazine cover from the preliminary version. For the final cover, they used a medium shot of the model with controlled lighting and plain background. They included a logo rather than graphic for the model credit. The layout followed principles like including advertising in the strong fallow area. The color scheme and inclusion of a website link made it more professional. For future improvements, the author could make interviews longer with smaller images, adjust font colors and sizes, and add more pages/promotional features.

1. Q7
Looking back at your preliminary
task what do you feel you have
learnt in the progress?

2. Through use of research and development of skills in photoshop I have been able to create a
more professional looking magazine than I created with my preliminary task. A variety of
differences were made when creating my final product.

3. Cover lines
In my preliminary task I had various cover lines that
linked in with the genre of the magazine, which I also
did on my final product. However on the preliminary
task I included 11 or so cover lines which resulted in the
magazine looking cramped and could overwhelm the
reader and made the magazine look less professional.
Also on my music magazine there was a smaller font
underneath elaborating on what the actual cover line
meant. There was also a larger gap between each of the
cover lines making it look more professional. Also the
model credit Includes different text used as a logo,
however on the preliminary task I used a graphic feature
that included the model credit. By using a logo rather
than a graphic feature I found that fans of said band
would feel more inclined to buy the magazine and
would draw more attention from their fans because of
the easily recognisable logo. The dress code for my
music magazine was also taken into consideration. In
my preliminary task the person was dressed in a coat
and she was outdoors, this shows little links to a
student/college magazine. However in the final product
the model is wearing a black leather jacket, skinny jeans
and band shirt with jewellery and makeup also hair that
all have clear links to the genre.

4. Image/photography
The image for my preliminary task had a variety of differences and
problems to what my cover image is on my final product. However
one thing I kept the same was the fact it is a medium shot. After
researching different magazine covers I was able to decide that a
medium show would be the best for a main image and what would
make it look more professional. However I decided to use artificial
lighting that I could control. The lighting in my preliminary task was
dark and that background was unsuitable for the magazine which
meant I had to cut her out using photoshop to have a plain
background. When researching magazines I found that using soft
boxes and fill lights would make my image look more professional
and the lighting could be controlled. By doing this I was able to
create shadows on the cover subject. Also the background was
plain therefore could be used as a background for the magazine. I
also learnt that the model should be using direct mode of address
to create confidence within the magazines. Using direct mode of
address is a convention of magazines and is used on most covers
within and outside of music magazines. The preliminary task she
had a camera covering her face. I also leant how to make the
framing and composition of the images more suitable for the
magazine.

5. Design and layout
After researching various music magazines I noticed they all took the
Guttenberg design principle into consideration when creating the
cover layout. On my preliminary piece I didn’t include anything in the
strong fallow area. This means that it looked dull and boring. On my
final media product I decided to include a graphic feature that
advertised the line up to a popular music festival. Also the colour
scheme of my magazine was unappealing, though did link into the
genre but wouldn’t be eye catching for the readers. On my final
product I used a colour scheme with brighter colours and would look
more professional and appealing. Furthermore, I decided to include a
website in my final product, which I didn’t use on my preliminary
task. I did this because when researching different magazines most
included a website page link presented along with the barcode, price
and date. The reason magazines do this is because print based sales
are down therefore they need more people buying/downloading the
magazine on new technologies. The design for the contents page also
changed slightly from my preliminary task. Initially the contents page
on the preliminary was just a basic design however after researching
contents pages in magazines such as Kerrang I decided to section
each part of the contents to make It informally balanced and to
clearly group each part of the contents.

6. Areas for improvement
There are a few improvements that could be changed when creating a future media product. Firstly on the double page spread I
could have a slightly longer interview with smaller inset image and have more of them. For example I could have a band image
rather them as separate people. Also on the inset image I could change the font colour of the words ‘Becca Knowles’ from red to
blue. This means that it would be easier to read and that it is more consistent with the colour scheme used. Lastly on the double
page spread I could make the page numbers slightly smaller so they aren’t distracting and cover the image less because on regular
magazines the page numbers aren’t as large. In addition, on the contents page I could reduce the fontsize of the information on
the main articles on the right because it is to big and disproportionate to the left hand side. I could also include quotes from the
interviews and articles to make it more appealing and make the reader feel more obliged to read it. I should also include more
pages because my magazine is a monthly magazine however it only has 60+ pages, it should be at least 90+ on a monthly
magazine. Lastly, on the front cover I could include a promotional feature such as a competition or free posters because
magazines such as Kerrang sell better because of these features.