The student learned several important lessons when progressing from their preliminary magazine cover design task to the final product. For the preliminary task, they created a simple cover with a photo of a friend against a wall that lacked visual appeal. For the final cover, they took photos in specific settings to catch the reader's attention. The student also learned to use design elements like colored boxes behind text to make subheadings clearer. Overall, they learned to create a more interesting layout, effective use of color in photos, and clearer fonts to appeal to their target audience.