Skills development
- 1. SKILLS DEVELOPMENT Front Cover, Contents Page and Double Page Spread
- 3. What are the strengths and weaknesses of your production work? Strengths • I used an appropriate model to suit the genre of the magazine using improved camera skills and different angles to add to the stylistics of the genre and make the front cover look professional. • The front cover has a colour theme of blue and white as well as using all of the same fonts to add continuity to the page. • The model has direct mode of address with the reader to entice and address the audience. • I edited the photo using photoshop to make the models head appear in front of the title to make the image stand out more and add impact to the main image. • The cover lines are framed around the models face to draw the readers attention to the central image and keep it as the main focus. • I followed the codes and conventions of a music magazine to ensure it looked professional. Weaknesses • I had to use two different colours for the coverlines instead of just one due to the clashing colours in the background. • The image of the model is too high to the top of the page. If i could do it again I would make sure that I took the picture with more room at the top of the image for a title.
- 4. • I found importing the image easy as you just had to drag the image onto the page and then scale it to the size you wanted it to be. • Writing the text was also fairly easy to do as the site is easy to use and the tools are clearly shown. The symbol to write text was a simple ’T’ so all I had to do what write my cover lines in. What did you find Easy?
- 5. • The most difficult part of this page was making the head of the model appear to be in front of the text. I had never done it before and the fact that the models hair was spiked up makes it harder. This task took a long time to do however I would now know how to do it in the future. • I found taking the picture difficult as I had to find the right angle to make the picture look professional as well as fitting the genre of the music magazine. • I also found finding a way to make the main coverline stand out against the background. Due to the contrasting colours of the background it was difficult to see the blue in front of the black jeans and difficult to see the white infant of the white background. I overcame this by putting the opposite colour outline on the text. • Importing the title was also difficult as it was an image title as opposed to the normal text off photoshop. I found it difficult to scale the title to the correct size so it fitted in the space behind the models head. What did you find difficult?
- 6. • The tool that I used most when I was creating my magazine was the text tool. I used this to put in all of my cover lines and to edit the text to make it fit with the theme of the page. • I also used the quick selection tool to remove the white background from my title and the barcode as they were both imported images. I had to re do this a few times before it looked right as sometimes the wand would select parts of the image that you needed. • I also use the eraser tool a lot to make the models head stand in front of the title. This took a lot of time as I had to go slowly to make sure I went intricately around the spiky hair. What were the main tools you used in photoshop and why?
- 7. How does your use of photoshop compare to the preliminary front cover you produced? Throughout the course of this project my photoshop skills have developed greatly. There is a clear contrast between the preliminary and the main task due to their professionalism. The front cover from the preliminary task is messy with little structure attached to it whereas in the main task, the cover lines and the title were strategically placed so that the main focus is on the model. This reflects on my photoshop skills as it shows that since the beginning of the production, I have learnt how to import new fonts, position images in front of the title by erasing parts of the layer using the eraser tool and position text so it fits with the structure of the cover. I also learned how to use the quick selection tool on the barcode to remove the white background, this makes it look more professional.
- 9. What are the strengths and weaknesses of your production work? Strengths • The page is well organised so that the text and the images fit together nicely, leaving no gaps adding to the professional look of the page. • I used Quarkxpress accurately to split the text into columns of three so the structure of the page is noticeable to the readers. • The Feature, Regular and page titles are all in bold and in different colours to make them stand out so the reader can navigate around the page easily. • The house style is continued through the contents page to make the magazine identifiable and make the page look sleek and organised. • The pictures are appropriate to the content of the magazine and all link to individual articles. Weaknesses • The picture of the recording equipment does not link fully to an article as the equipment is not brand new or innovative whereas the article is talking about how the new equipment will ‘change the way you listen to mucic’ • In my audience feedback I was told that the page had too much of the colour blue in it however I purposely used these colours to create a house style.
- 10. • I found importing the pictures easy as once you had put the box where you wanted the picture to be, all you had to do was import the picture and scale it into the frame. • I found putting in the columns very easy as well. To do this you had to just go on edit page and then choose how many columns you wanted. I chose three becuase it fitted better with the layout of my page. What did you find Easy?
- 11. • I found it difficult to figure out how to use Quark in the first place as I had never used it before so it took some time to get used to the system. • I also found it difficult to remember to add the extra cover page when first making the page so that the work was on the left hand side. • Making all of the numbers and subtitles was not necessarily hard however it was very time consuming as you had to do each number individually. What did you find difficult?
- 12. • The tool I used most whilst producing my contents page was the text tool. I used this to put in all of the text on the page. This was easy to do as i had columns so all of the text fitted in perfectly. • I also used the picture tool to create the space where my pictures would be then imported the picture and cropped and resized it to make sure it fit within the allocated space. • I also used the shape tool to make the heading of the Feature and Regular articles stand out. I used the colour tool to fill them in in black so they were noticeable on the page. What were the main tools you used in Quarkxpress and why?
- 13. How does your use of photoshop compare to the preliminary front cover you produced? The difference between these two pages are drastic. This shows that my knowledge on how to use Quark has improved a lot. When i first made the preliminary task, i did not know what i was doing so spent a lot of the time figuring out how to use the programme. The preliminary task is filled with white empty space and the pictures are not lines up. I also did not insert any columns so the page is not very well structured. My main task looks much more professional as I had learned how to use columns so everything had a set place and lined up. I also experimented more with colours and fonts to make the headings and numbers stand out.
- 15. What are the strengths and weaknesses of your production work? Strengths • I downloaded a wider range of fonts to make the page more exciting and fit better with the genre of the band. • I used my english skills and research of the band to write an article of high quality, pulling out the most interesting points from my interview to create an article that would be engaging to an audience. • I used pull quotes to show some of the key points of the article to entice the reader. • I learned how to use drop caps to make the article look more professional. Weaknesses • The model in the image does not show much expression and looks quite boring on the page. • I had to experiment with the text size to make it all fit in the text box so each column was equal.
- 16. • I found putting in a pull quote easy as there was only one tool I had to use and then Quark moved the text around the quote for me. • Inserting the image was also easy as I used the quark picture tool which created the space for the image and then I just had to import the image. • Making the drop cap was also easy because there was a drop cap tool so all I had to do was decide how many lines I wanted it to take up then Quark did everything else for me. What did you find Easy?
- 17. • I found downloading new text fonts difficult as I had never done it before and there were lots of steps to it. • I found making the text line up with the other columns difficult as I had to make sure the pull quote was in the right place, all the words fitted fully on the line and that no text was missing off the end of the paragraphs. I had to experiment a lot with this before I got it to work • I also found choosing a font that was appropriate to the genre of the band difficult as there were lots to choose from however only a few suited the spread. • Lastly, i found writing the article difficult as I didn’t know which parts would be interesting to the reader What did you find difficult?