Evaluation Draft 7Looking back at your preliminary task (the school

magazine task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?

Preliminary Cover

Looking back at my preliminary work to create a school magazine I believe my overall use of image and Photoshop has improved drastically. My masthead on my preliminary cover is a fine thin font, the title is in a large photo so attention is instantly drew to it, however the font itself isn't very eye grabbing and affective. Along with this I don’t feel the overall colour scheme works well, for example in my final cover the colour scheme the title is in blue and it is extremely clear, whereas in my preliminary cover it is in plain black which looks uncreative and isn't eye catchy.

The cover lines in my preliminary task are extremely plain, also they aren’t lined up correctly, this can give off an unprofessional look. However I like the use of my colour scheme to highlight specific words like damaged. In contrast to this the overall look of my cover lines for my final piece are a lot more affective. Attention is instantly drew to ‘the everything’ efficiently.

On the other hand I like the overall look of my image, the mid shot is very sharp and the use of the magic wand tool is creative. Along with this model breaks the fourth wall by looking into the camera, this is a useful affect for luring people into buying.

I believe I have progressed a lot since designing my preliminary cover in every aspect, however the preliminary task helped me get a better understanding on how to use Photoshop before I started my drafts.

Preliminary Contents My contents page is extremely poor and of a low standard. The overall skill and look gone into the piece is very limited. There is very little font accompanying each image used. I could have spent more time on the contents page to have a more affective look. Furthermore the use of images are very poor. The positioning of each image doesn’t align and along with this the sizing of each image is stretched which gives off an unprofessional look. The overall page is very simple, there is no use of date and headings for each feature. Along with this there are isn't a page number which is something a magazine wouldn’t miss out.

Although the target audience where different to my final piece, the overall look isn't aesthetically pleasing. It features the same person throughout which isn't what would be seen in conventional magazines.

The obvious uneven sizing of my images is very poor and I should have put more care into making it look neat. The overall improvement between both pages is evidently clear, this can be seen by the amount of information and the professional overall look and layout used in my final cover in comparison to my prelim.

Overall ProgressComparing my preliminary work to my final coursework I can see the overall improvements in my ability in Photoshop. In progression I have learnt a lot in the actual application and elements to use to help improve specific features of my magazine, for instance sharpness of the photo. This allowed my image to give off a more vibrant feeling, also altering brightness complimented this. Furthermore I improved in alignment skills in Photoshop, I learnt how to perfectly line up textboxes and pictures etc. to give off the most professional look, this was extremely important in keep a neat finish because it allowed me to make such vast improvements. In the preliminary task I have only shown the basics of literally inserting an image and writing around it, showing only the use of colour schemes and image positioning, however in my final magazine covers I have show a wide variety of skills, including professional positioning of images and a lot more effort put into the overall looks and layouts, including the higher affective colour scheme.

I have also improved in the image sizing and positioning on my final covers, this makes the magazine look a lot higher in quality and professionalism. Furthermore I have improved in my ability to alter photos, for example I can now successfully change the contrast and brightness in my images to make them fit the overall look of the cover whereas before I had little understanding.

In addition I have also improved a lot in the aspect of cover lines, my final covers cover lines had more thought and work gone into them to make them affective linking in different uses of colour schemes. This leads me to explain my use of colour schemes, and I have learnt a lot about affective overall looks and how important the colour scheme is when designing the magazines as it draws a huge amount of attention. My overall awareness of fonts has also increased as the fonts in my final coursework are more professional and suitable to the audience. Along with this I have learnt how to use the fonts in order to gain attention, for example my masthead ‘BASIC’.

Overall I extensively prefer the look and layouts in my final pieces compared to my preliminary work. I believe I have progressed in every aspect when designing every specific detail in my magazine, ranging from fonts and cover lines to image positioning and colour schemes.