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

from it to the full product?

The tools I used when producing my YC magazine and the tools I used when producing my final magazine...

YC Magazine

• Text tool – For the masthead and cover lines.•Shape tool – To put a background behind the masthead so it could be seen more clearly. •Free transform - To adjust the image size.

Final Magazine

•Text tool – for masthead, cover lines, and article.•Shape tool – boxes on my contents page.•Free transform – stretch and rotate images.•Drop Shadow – on cover lines and masthead to make them stand out•Stroke – also makes text stand out.•Background eraser – to give images a clear background.•Curves – to make my image look ‘old’ as though it was taken in the 80s.•Gradient tool – to add shadow to my front cover.•Paint bucket tool – to fill areas with colour.

From the lists of tools I used in each magazine, I can see that I used a lot more tools in the making of my final magazine. This shows my progression from my YC magazine to my final magazine and shows how my Photoshop skills have improved.

Improvements since my YC magazine...

1. Bigger Masthead

When designing my final product I decided that my masthead must be much bigger than it was in my YC magazine. I wanted it to stand out so that it would attract my audience.

2.Clear Background behind imageMy final magazine looks much better with a clear background as it makes it look more professional. This is an improvement from my college magazine as for that I didn’t do anything to the background and kept the background from the image. I used the background eraser to make this improvement.

3. Variety of cover lines with different fonts and colours

When I made my YC magazine my cover lines were all written in similar fonts and in black. This looked uninteresting and nothing stood out, therefore when I made my final magazine I used colour and different fonts to make my front cover more interesting. I also used drop shadow to add interest to some of my cover lines.

4. Bar code, price and issue number

My YC magazine did not feature a bar code, price or issue number. Therefore when I made my final magazine I made sure I included these conventions.

From YC magazine to my final product...

My final magazine looks a lot more professional which shows that my Photoshop skills have improved. I know how to use a lot more tools and how to use them more effectively than I did when producing my YC magazine.

Unlike the YC magazine contents page, for my final magazine I have included the text and photos. I have developed my contents page by presenting the information in random boxes instead of columns, to make it more unique and interesting.

I have learnt that in order to successfully produce a magazine, audience research needs to be carried out. This is because you need to know exactly who your audience are and what their wants and needs are in order to attract them and want them to buy the magazine. I have also learnt that planning is essential so that you know exactly what you’re doing and whether it works, this includes creating flat plans, a style sheet and a pitch.