Evaluation Of Finished Preliminary Task

I am very pleased with the effect of my magazine cover and contents page and personally feel they both went better than expected.
I mainly used Photoshop but included Word and DaFont. In Photoshop i used the brightness/contrast and hue/saturation tool to make my picture look less dull and more colourful. I also used the text tool a lot, as well as word. DaFont was very helpful for interesting titles and the bar code image. I feel that i have learnt a lot about how to use photoshop over the past few weeks and that i have improved a lot. I think i am now ready to move on to the next big task (a music magazine) and execute it well, knowing many new techniques on photoshop.
I studied and researched many magazines before drafting my own, and decided to make a magazine with a similar style to vogue, because i liked the curly typography and striking layout, although i didnt want to make it so expensive looking. As this is a school magazine, I thought that this would appeal to female college/6th form students because it is focused on fashion at school (you can tell this from the picture on the front cover). Also i decided to make the colours on both the cover and contents page quite feminine to fit with the target audience, and made the contents page fit with the cover by using brick on both. This adds a sense of continuity in the magazine.
I think the strengths of the magazine include the main picture, as it shows it is a fashion magazine and the fonts because they stand out and add interest. Also on the contents page the images are relatable. The weaknesses could include the background  of the front coveras i feel it is too busy. This means its hard to focus on the text/images. As a result of this i attempted to darken/dull the background but could not make it less distracting. Another weakness could be that the contents page is very plain, although i believe it holds all the necessary information.
Overall i am happy that my magazine is suitable for teens at school/college and would sell because it can relate to them. It looks interesting and is the kind of magazine that would stand out in a shop. In future, i can take the skills i have learnt (from mistakes as well as strengths) and make sure i use the knowledge i have gained positively.

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Finished Contents Page

This is my finished Contents Page. I am quite pleased with the overall effect because i was influenced by my front cover. I like the way the two are linked together and am happy with my finished design.

HOW DID I DO IT?
-The background was found online as a border, but i edited the brightness/contrast so it looked similar to my own on the front cover. I made the fonts the same as on my front cover too, which means the two link and are similar.
-I used two pictures, but instead of using unrelatable ones i tried to take pictures that would relate to the magazines audience. I think these two pictures do that well.
-Down the left hand side I have placed the titles of articles, and their page numbers. I made the font of the page numbers slightly smaller so the articles stand out.I also added a 'NEXT TIME' in a puff which will attract the reader and make the important details stand out, and an 'EXCLUSIVE' written in a different colour which also makes the reader attracted to that section.
Overall i am pleasantly suprised at how my contents page has turned out, and have taken in to account the strengths and weaknesses of the task for the future.

Finished Magazine Front Cover

This is my finished magazine front cover.I am really pleased with the overall effect. To finish off I added text detail all over it in blue, purple and black to add interest and make the reader want to buy the magazine. I used the colours i did because i feel they stand out against the brick wall. I also slightly edited the brightness and contrast because i thought that the bricks were detracting from the image and writing.

The 'Fashion!' subtitle was produced on Word because i wanted it in colour to make it stand out more, and all the other writing was done on photoshop. I decided to use the colour white for the 'school fashion special' because the colour stands out against the busy brick wall. i thought that i would focus on 'Fashion' because that is my target audience and  it also fits with the model.

 I got my main title from DaFont online, and i chose this one because it looks like it has been printed on to the wall and i also think it looks fun and interesing. I also used the bar code from DaFont because it was small and makes the magazine look more realistic. I then edited my magazines brightness and contrast because i thought it would make the magazine look more realistic.

I added the price, date, website and bar code to make the magazine look proffesional. i got the bar code from DaFont. I also edited the brightness/contrast and hue/saturation some more at this stage, to make the magazine even more proffesional and 'glossy'.

I took the original picture on a good quality digital camera, and although I was worried the final image would be pixilated, it was not. I rotated the image once it was in photoshop, and i chose this image because it seemed to go well with the target audience and i liked the background because it stood out.

LAYOUT

I made a layout of how i wanted my magazine to be on Microsoft Word and then took a screenshot. This was just a brief plan so i knew vaugly what i wanted to do when i was working in photoshop. This has helped me massively when creating my magazine in photoshop because i was able to see what to do and where to go next. I now know for future that planning will help me and a layout will be extremely useful for me.

Photoshoot For Magazine + Research

 I have taken many photos for my magazine front cover and contents page.I was influenced by many magazines including Elle, especially for the front cover, and think that most of my pictures go with the theme and target audience (teenagers- in to fashion). Here are just a few (un-edited:

RESEARCH

I would call this a 'trashy' magazine which publishes celebrity gossip and entertaintment, as well as fashion. It is popular and cheap. I do not like the design of these types of magazine because i think they are too busy and dont look so expensive. Something i do like however, is the eye catching fonts that are used. White is a popular colour, and is in Cheryls dress, the information and the title of the magazine. I like the way one colour is used throughout and will consider this whilst making my magazine.

However, Elle comes across as an upmarket, expensive, maybe even upper class magazine. It looks posh and 'clean' because of the glossy white background, and the gold fonts make it look even more classy. I like the way the information is written, as well as the layout of it. I also like that a lot of it is in capital letters, and may consider this for my magazine.

Introduction to Photoshop

When using Photoshop for the first time i practiced changing some of my pictures.

I took these picture for my magazine but haven't used them for anything yet. In picture #1 i adjusted the brightness and also added text and channged the font/colour. For picture #2 I adjusted the brightness and contrast, and also hue and saturation. As well as this i turned the photo to black and white using the grayscale tool.