LOOKING BACK AT YOUR PRELIMINARY TASK, WHAT DO YOU FEEL YOU HAVE LEARNT IN THE PROGRESSION FROM IT TO

THE FULL PRODUCT?From The College Mag to Zing…

Front cover

Before (College Mag) After (Zing)

Contents Page

Before (College Mag) After (Zing)

Four Photoshop features I have learnt

1. I have used the “Add Noise” filter in Photoshop to create a speckled effect that I have used throughout the magazine. The audience appeal of this is that it adds to the whole grunge style of the magazine.

2. I have used the “Redefine Edge” feature when using the Quick Selection Tool. This is extremely useful for accurately cutting out models from a background, particular their hair.

3. I have used the “Drop Shadow” affect for Pull Quotes on my double-page spread to add depth to the design.

4. I have reduced the opacity of one of my duplicated and flipped layers to crate the affect of a reflection

Audience appeal

• Despite already having some basic knowledge of Photoshop (knowing how to use layers, for example), I used the preliminary task to advance my skills and knowledge of Photoshop

• Audience appeal was therefore not top of my priorities in the preliminary task. In my main task, I questioned whether every single detail would add to audience appeal or not

• My college magazine had a fairly broad audience to appeal to. My target audience were all students aged 16 – 19 but their psychographics varied greatly. My main task taught me to narrow my audience down more to make it easier to appeal to them

Research• For my preliminary task, I carried out

very little research into existing magazines. The only research I carried out was an audience questionnaire.

• For my main task, I had to carry out a lot more research to give me more background knowledge about the magazine and to prepare myself to construct the magazine

• I was not a regular reader of magazines and so this required some extra research to read several music magazines before and whilst I worked on my main task.

• The research I carried out for my main task also included reading online tutorials on Photoshop

Feedback

• During my preliminary task, I gained feedback from my teacher and used this feedback to think about which ideas I would take forward to my main task and which ideas did not work

• An example of this is that my teacher liked the use of the red and yellow in my preliminary task so I used a similar theme for my main task

• During my main task, I continued to get feedback from my teacher and teaching assistant and used their opinions to help me make decisions

Attention to detail

• Due to time constraints and lack of knowledge in Photoshop, in my preliminary task I did not pay much attention to detail which I feel I have corrected in the main task. An example of this is trying to make the angles of anything that wasn’t straight looking right

Written and journalistic skills

• I did not produce a double-page spread as part of my preliminary task as it was not required. Therefore my preliminary task did not involve much journalistic skills, apart from the coverlines on the front cover

• When it came to write the article for my double-page spread for the main task, I found a number of articles online that taught me some of the skills journalist use to make an article interesting. For instance, the skill of writing a great ‘kicker’ or lead, the introduction to a story.