Looking back at your preliminary task, what

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it

to the full product.

This is my preliminary task which I done at the start of the year so I could compare it to my final product. This was done on publisher because I had no skills on photo shop and didn’t have any knowledge of how a magazine should look and what it should have on. In my opinion I had creative skills on creating my magazine in my preliminary task but just not any knowledge on what my focus points should be and how to approach my audience.

This is one of my first attempts, at my front cover. I just started to use photo shop so my knowledge on it was very slim. I had different intentions and ideas whilst designing my first draft. Whilst looking back at this product, I feel I have achieved a lot and developed my ideas to structure the product to a whole new level. As I gained more experience using Photoshop; I started to experiment with different effects and text and fonts. From the first draft I like the idea of beginning to make Tom the model and the piano stand out, making my front cover 3Dish and draw attention; to the buyer. Unfortunately, the down points to this product was it was very plain. Furthermore there was still a long way to go; until my product would be to a high standard. I feel from this starting point, my progression has grew and grew. The more I explored and learnt of the different things ,I could do whilst using Photoshop; the more my product grew and developed into something new. Finally you can see the chosen colour is Blue ;which has been carried on to the finial product.

This is my progression of my product half way through. At this stage, my product had developed slowly into looking more like my finial product. I was able to explore different options on Photoshop, as you can see I started to play around with the effect of Tom. I did this by outlining him with a shadow to make him stand out. I thought it would also be creative to have the pitcher black and white. This effect has a big impact to the reader, it catch's their eye and the main person on the front stands out from the rest of the colours. A big difference was also changing my background; this is because on my first draft it was to plain and did not have much texture as this one. I felt having Toms name in white with a fancy pattern helped to emphasise how important the model is on the front and throughout the product. I started to play around with objects adding different shapes and adding red in to make certain things jump out at the reader. In addition to make them want to open my product. At this stage my product was starting to look more like a magazine. I played around with different colours and fonts; with titles and words. Furthermore adding “Playing Out The Shadows” added depth, to the magazine. I tried to be creative having “PLAYING OUT THE” in grey to tie in with Tom. Then “SHADOWS” the same colour as the background to make the reader want to read more and make Tom to be mysterious and this way the reader will want to open up and see this new upcoming artist.

Finally my progression took me to my completed product. In my finial product you can first see the background has changed once again. I wanted to add more depth and texture so by adding bricks it had a knock on effect. However you can see I still kept to the colour blue; which has always been throughout the planning process and from my draft to the finial copy. I started to grow more confident using Photoshop, I took the shadow around Tom to a whole new level. The shadow creeps across the white “Blues” title, I feel this makes Tom stand out even more also symbolizes his importance throughout the magazine. Half way through my design, “Chicago Blues” was small in the left hand side of the magazine. I felt the Chicago got lost into the background this is why I moved it to the middle top and stretched it more across. I did the same with the blues making it bigger and bolder. In comparison to my product half way through I kept with the idea of Toms name with the fancy pattern. However, I was able to become more creative with the fill colour of Toms name making it half blue and white to stand out against a lot of the other titles and still show Tom as an importance. In my finial product I also got rid of the two white bars on the previous slide. This is because I wanted to change the layout of my product. I also felt that disregarding this made my finial product look more expensive and classic. I feel my finial product has progressed into a high standard product. I am very pleased with the end result. I feel it is at a professional standard and fits in well with my specification.

The four images above show my contents page developing and progressing step by step. If you compare the standard of these images, to my preliminary task; you can see a huge improvement and a different standard of work. I feel from my preliminary task, publisher did not allow me to explore different options. This made the product look quite shabby and childish and not look like a high standard music magazine. Furthermore I was unable to be creative and add different layers and effects. The big advantage of becoming confident using Photoshop reflects well throughout these 4 images. Starting at the first image I started to explore with backgrounds I liked the idea of starting with a black background then adding a lightening effect to make it glow. Finally adding Tom against the side of the page gives the effect of him putting his foot against a wall and gives a powerful image. On the second image I started to add images and focus on my layout I incorporated more of the black background into it. This was done my putting different flower stems through. Moving on to the third image I started to add text and more colour on. I also put white lines through my title but lowered the capacity to make it see through, to create a more of a professional standard of work. Finally looking at image 4 is the finish design of my contents page. There is a lot more information and everything fits in well together and is clear. I like the idea of using a lot of red as it stands out well against the black background; then how a lot of words wrote on the red are white to highlight and stand out grabbing the readers attention .

In these 4 images they are representing my double page spread about Tom. I decided to get more creative by taking photos of my acoustic guitar at different angles. I then applied effects; I was able to bring the image to a new level on Photoshop. I was also able to make it black and white and position it in different angles, onto the pages. In the second image, I started to try out positioning my titles. Furthermore you can see I've also turned the pitcher round clockwise and stands out better. My progress, grew much stronger by image 3, I started to add in a lot of text and images and titles. However I still had a long way to go as I was not happy leaving it like this. Finally moving onto image 4 I was able to take my double spread to the next level. I started by changing the white boxes to looking very transparent. I then played around and thought having a slogan in bold black writing; with a blue cloud around it. This would bring the article to life making it complete and jump out at you; giving a little of the story away. In conclusion I again changed the image of Tom to black and white; though this time changing the brown acoustic guitar to a aqua blue. This makes the magazine again very stylish and modern. It also appeals to my targeted audience. Not only this I am pleased with the layout and how my experience using Photoshop grew so much it is demonstrated on the finial two pages of my product.