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?

From the preliminary task (college magazine), to the main task (music magazine), I learnt a variety of techniques and tools on 'Adobe Photoshop CS6'.

When doing my preliminary task, I had no skills with Photoshop what so ever so only had some very basic skills when making it such as the concept of layers. Throughout the process of designing my music magazine, I frequently watched 'Photoshop advanced tutorials' on YouTube, which taught me some advanced skills which allowed me to be more creative when creating the task. These skills ranged from a a basic understanding of the manipulation tools, plus 'rasterizing layers' etc which were founded in the preliminary task.

3 particular Photoshop tools of which had a good effect were as follows: The 'stroke' tool I used this sub-option after stumbling across it. The tool made it possible for me to add a rim around certain text. This was important to help make it stand out off the page. I could alter the width of the stroke for example, giving me alot of freedom in how I presented my text. The 'gradient' tool This was very useful to me as it add a professional feel to the cover. I learnt how to alter the gradient with colors and perspective and used it as a background for the magazine cover. A variety of 'Blending options' This allowed me to do a variety of methods on the magazine which helped to shape it into looking more like a magazine. It allowed me to add an overlay on certain images.

In my preliminary task, I addressed my audience in a way that would be suited to variety of cultures within the college. Therefore, with the knowledge of the age range, I spoke in a way that I knew they did in able to help them relate. The tone of my music magazine is very similar due to the fact of the vast differences that can be found in the audience. Before my preliminary task I didn't study many magazines on the market and my lack of knowledge showed in the pieces I created. After heavily analyzing a large variety of music magazines I began to pick up some techniques and methods which would make my main task even more professional. I took feedback from my preliminary task (rom fellow students and my tutor) and made improvements on that when cr
eating my music magazine.