Final cover and contents

Preliminary task

• By comparing the preliminary task to my final magazine I think you can see the improvement in skills on Photoshop. When I first used Photoshop for the preliminary task I had never used it before so my skills on there were very low and I did not know what a lot of the tools did and how to use them. When doing my draft cover I got to know more and more skills that I could use on photo shop like how to make cutting out a picture neater, about all the different layers used and how to change colours on fonts, images and background etc. When it came to making my final cover, contents and double page spread I felt like I knew a lot more and that I would do a lot more on Photoshop with the skills that I had learnt by practising during the preliminary task and the draft. With the images on the preliminary task it was not taken in a good location or on a good back ground as one was taking in front of glass so you can see the reflections and the other was very hard to cut out because of the way she was standing when the image was taken. The images for my final magazine had a lot more thought took into them, like where the pictures would be taken and when during to day like etc, also in the images in the final magazine the model is making direct audience address as she is looking in to the camera in both of the images on the front cover and the contents page. This automatically makes the image look more interesting and draws the audience in because they are making eye contact with the camera. The images taken for the preliminary task were taken in the corridor of the school where the lighting was not correct because there was no natural light coming from anywhere, but the images for the final magazine were taken mid day so the light was perfect for taking images inside and outside. Overall when looking at the two different examples I think the improvements are very obvious as the quality and quantity of the cover and contents has changed a lot.

Improvements and Progression

What I learnt about doing all of the research and planning before making your draft and final magazine is that is plays a massive part in the end out come. With out the planning and research you would not know anything about what to include in your magazine, how to lay it out, what you want your article to be like (formal/informal), what image you should choose, etc. One of the things that really helped me when doing my research and planning for the magazine was looking a different types of magazine, even if they went music magazines. This really helped because you could look at lots of different examples and eliminate one that you didn’t want your magazine to look like. When finding some good magazines you could look at these in more detail looking at all the different features and how they were represented. A very good website to look at all different types of magazines was Cover Junkie, this features hundreds of different magazine covers from recent to ones from years ago. For any feature of detail that is on your magazine you will have to do research and planning for it, even if it is the smallest detail there will be some needed. The reason why it is good is because you can keep track of what you have looked at and decided on for your magazine and it helps you make your decisions on other features. I think it also helps your creative side because you are looking at all these different styles on magazines what ever they are so it could be from fashion to gadgets to music but when you see a style or feature that you particularly like it inspires you to be more creative with your ideas to make it look the same or even better. Over all I think that without doing all my research and planning I would not have had half of the ideas I had for my magazine with out it.