Preliminary Task

In the brief i was told that i was required to create a front cover and a contents page of a school magazine as a introduction of Adobe Photoshop. Below are my documents that i have created thus far.

How well does your preliminary task fulfill the brief?

I feel that my documents fulfill to the brief i was provided with as i am clearly using a medium close up that was taken by myself  and by first glance the magazine is easily established as being based around school. My contents page is simple yet shows a basic layout of a contents page as stated in the brief.

What obstacles did you overcome in order to complete the preliminary task?

None as far as i am aware of on the Photoshop side of things as i knew how to use basic tools and features of the program in order for me to complete the task, however when coming to taking the main image for the front cover i found my skills were a little absent.

How could you have improved the production values of your preliminary task?

I could have taken a better main image that was professionally lit rather than a shot that just used natural lighting, i could have also considered using different fonts that were clearer and bolder and making the banner more subtle but yet to stand out more as on my preliminary task it looks like i have not put much thought into the style of it. I had also carried over the color schemes onto the contents page by using plain black writing however i feel i could have used a different color to add more value.Overall i feel that i could have used more advanced techniques in Photoshop to create a more professional and cleaner looking magazine however for my first try at creating a magazine front cover i am almost satisfied. 

What tutorials did you use to create the preliminary task?

I did not use any tutorials what so ever to help me with this task as i felt i would like to see what i can do with my current skill level of Photoshop despite not being 100% competent with version CS6 and this was the only program i used during production.

What important lessons have you learnt in preparation for completing your main task?

After completing this task i have found out now that i will need to think about lighting the main image on the front cover and also that i could have used more advanced techniques in Photoshop to improve the outcome of my main task, i have also come to the conclusion that i will need to plan out my design more thinking about font styles and the colors of fonts to tie in with the magazine as a whole. 

I have also asked three non media students to comment on my magazine and these are as follows :

"The front cover looks good especially with the use of the slightly 3D title, although the main image does look more like a 'mug' shot than a picture i would expect to see on the cover of a magazine. The title page is simple yet effective, the one image takes over the whole page and i quite like that"

"The blue writing that is present stands out from the front cover but not for the right reasons, the blue that has been chosen for me doesn't look professional, i would have liked to see a bit more Character in the photo on the front cover as this is what i expect from magazines"

"I really like how the front cover is laid out, there is no overcrowding but some of the fonts on the front page are hard to read compared to those on the contents page"