1. Looking back at the
preliminary task,
what do you feel
you have learnt?

2. Photoshop – College As you can see, I haven’t used many skills in
Photoshop whilst making my College magazine,
Magazine this is because at this stage; I only knew the
basics needed to create it. I was confused by
Crop
the different Photoshop's that are available as I
Move have a different version at home. I found that I
only needed certain tools to create the cover,
Re-size although this meant I was unable to try out new
Textbox things and make it look more professional.
I used normal things such as text boxes to place
Colour words, layers to make sure each section of the
magazine was separate so I could freely move
Shapes them around and change the layout if necessary
Copy & Paste and the shape tool to create boxes to make the
design a little bit different.
Layers
Free Transform
At this stage, I didn’t get chance to experiment with
Photoshop and see all of the things you can
do, which effected the look of the College magazine.

3. ... My skills increased a
Photoshop – Music lot whilst making the
Magazine Black & White music magazine
compared to the
Crop Inner/outer glow
College magazine as I
Move Sharpen image had done research on
other products which
Re-size Eye dropper
gave me ideas on how
Textbox Exposure a magazine should
look, such as the
Fill colour Auto Levels
masthead behind the
Drop shadows Eraser photo. Whereas I did
no research for the
Levels Justify College magazine.
Hue/Saturation Layers
I used many more Photoshop techniques whilst producing my
Magnetic Lasso music magazine, this is because I took time to use the internet
Opacity and research tutorials on how to do certain things, such as the
magnetic lasso. I found that I needed to use these other tools to
Free Transform create the magazine as they made it look neater and gave an
overall better finish. I used settings such as the opacity to make
Copy & Paste shapes more opaque so that the colour wasn’t as bright, this also
made them stand out somehow and separated them from other
All of these tools were very things. I also used hue/saturation to edit my photos to make them
useful and needed to create clearer, although I found that levels was more effective as it
allowed me to change the lightness of pictures and make colours
my music magazine.
more subtle. I used this for the full page photo on the front cover
to make it more white and less yellow.

4. What have I learnt?
Cover lines
Studio lighting
makes it look
glamorous
over the
persons face Photograph
y's
improved
No barcode
Pull Quote
Used the obvious
same fonts
Only used Price, da
two te and
different barcode
fonts Text is
Colours off the
don’t image
represent
anything Masthead
behind the
No real image
layout, Costume
looks has been
jumbled thought
up about
College Magazine Music Magazine

5. Different fonts Through using
used instead of Photoshop, I was
the same one. able to find new
Masthead has ways of making my
This makes each
a drop work like other
cover line stand shadow effect
out more and get magazines already
on it to make
noticed for it stand out. on the market. This
different reasons meant I could place
and also makes the masthead behind
the cover look the models head
fun, which which makes it look
represents the more professional.
genre of music.
I have used layers The pull quote uses text
to create my front effects such as drop
cover, this meant shadow, which wasn’t used
that I was able to anywhere on my College
move things such magazine front cover.
as text. It also
enabled me to be
able to put the My College
masthead behind magazine didn’t
the image and cut have a barcode,
it out. website or price.

6. Obviously, I only did a draft of the College magazines Used a
contents page but you can tell how the layout of each I have used text effects pattern to
magazine is different and the music magazine is such as drop shadow represent the
much more sophisticated and looks like others on the music genre
market.
I have
Too used
many columns
images
Page
Only uses numbers
two fonts
Better
Looks very layout
basic and of
boring images,
spread
Block across
colours, the page
no
effects Colours
match
No the
effects photos
on text
Use of
However, many
I do like different
the I have fonts
headings College Magazine Music Magazine
changed the I have used
opacity on justify to chance
images and the position of
the shapes the text

7. Pop design
Drop shadow – used to used to
make the text stand out represent the
else it could blend into music genre.
the white background.
Edited photos to
make certain
Columns things colour but
everything else
Used text effects black and white.
such as drop
shadow again.
I changed the
opacity of this
photo because I
I have learnt a lot thought it was
about Photoshop too bright.
whilst making my
final magazine, I
felt I only had the
basic skills when
making the College
magazine whereas
I now know more.