Looking back at your preliminary task (the college magazine task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?

Now that I have completed my preliminary task I feel that I had started to understand how Photoshop works. As it is my first time using it, I originally had no idea what I was doing. I opened a picture and played around with different tools to help myself to find my way around, and it really helped me out. After completing my preliminary task, I feel that I have learnt some valuable skills which will come in extremely useful when designing my final magazine product. I have decided that I will edit my final images before I put them on my magazine, this way I will be able to play around with my picture without messing up the layers, as I am still getting used to these.

Comparing my preliminary task to my final music magazine, you can clearly see that my skills have developed really well. The difference between my two magazines is clear. Unlike my preliminary task, I obviously went over my final magazine a lot more and made sure that I felt everything was perfect. During my preliminary task, I didn’t do half as much research, which shows how effective my main task planning work has been. I think as I didn’t research as much for my preliminary task, the finish to my college magazine looked unprofessional and boring. This could be to do with me having no exterior knowledge about the industry, or any other magazines. Once I researched other music magazines, I started to realise what kinds of things I had to include, what types of pictures were popular and how I should lay things out. When using Photoshop, Flickr and Blogger, I learnt lots of different techniques that could be used not only for my magazine but may come in handing in other subjects or projects. I feel that due to this, my knowledge of technology has dramatically increased. This was shown in my work when I used techniques such as; text alignment, rulers, the softening tool, colour picking, quick selection tool and correctly using the layers. I found that one of my favourite features was the blending and softening tool. This helped me to manipulate and soften the edges of my images giving them a professional, smooth finish.

I defiantly put a lot more effort and concentration into my final music magazine. I researched a lot more, I experimented with the editing tools and played about with colours so as my magazine would appeal to my target audience. I feel that my progression and new skills when using Photoshop defiantly made my final music magazine what it is (a success!) Without learning new skills and experimenting, I wouldn’t have been able to give such a professional looking finish.