1. Looking back at your preliminary task,
what do you feel you have learnt in the
progression from it to the full product?
I will be talking about my journey
from the preliminary task to my
finished magazine.

2. College magazine(good aspects)
This was the college magazine I produced at the beginning of the course which I made on Adobe
In design. From doing my research into the three magazines I analysed I knew the basics of how a
magazine should look like and what ways is should lure my audiences is.
For example I gave it a big recognisable masthead.
I used a picture of a person directly addressing the audience
as the person is facing you.
I gave it headings informing readers of the contents of the
magazine.
I also used theories I learnt such as Uses and
Gratifications where I placed information on my front
cover I knew my readers would want to know about.
I also added banners as I saw it on one of the magazines I
analysed.
I gave it a bar code, date and price.

3. College magazine (bad aspects)
At the same time looking at my preliminarily tasks I see it has lots of mistakes and aspects left out.
For example I haven't used text to anchor the main image on my
front cover (e.g. “Student pleased at passing exam”). Also I have
photoshoped the image on my front cover too much making
It unclear which is bad as it is used as the main lure in front covers.
I also haven't given my magazine a clear house style (e.g. Q
Magazine which has red and white) which is bad as a house
style gives order to the front cover making look more
professional and memorable for the right reasons.
Furthermore there is no consistency (e.g. font, colour and
layout) in my magazine which is bad as it could make the
magazine look cluttered and not visually appealing thus no
one buying it.
Lastly the overall execution of the magazine is bad as the
photoshopping is poor and some aspects (e.g. plugs) aren’t
laid out properly.

4. College content's page (good aspects)
This is my college magazine contents page I made on In Design again. Furthermore
when doing my research I new the basic’s needed for making the contents page.
For example as seen on some of the other contents
pages I have analysed I have given a clear branding
to my contents page relating it to the college (e.g.
using the colour purple and using the college logo).
Furthermore I have also added picture to my contents
page so that it could act as a visual aid for my readers.
I also added text onto the contents page to
attract audiences as I thought this would appeal
to them. Furthermore I added a caption
underneath different titles as I knew readers
liked it and helped them understand the story
more.
Finally I used safe layout as I wasn't sure how to
make an interesting eye-catching layout.

5. College contents page (bad aspects)
For example I think that all the pictures in my contents
page need a caption underneath them. This is because
they are not self explanatory and can be confusing when
looked at. Furthermore I haven't given them page
numbers to explain where they are and I haven't given
the actual contents page a number.
Furthermore the amount of information in the
contents page is as much as you would see in other
publications contents page which could make my
readers angry. Furthermore I think this is because I
haven't used the font sizes and spacing effectively
enough to add any more information without it
looking too cluttered.
Finally I think that the actual layout of the contents
page is safe and not creative to attract mass
audiences. This is because I haven't really
challenged any ideas from other magazine
publications which makes my contents page blend
in with the others.

6. In-Between the preliminary task and the
finished product
• After making my preliminary task I learnt more and more about the importance of the front cover and
aspects that should be included init. For example I learnt about different theories used to help attract
more readers such as Encoding/Decoding Model and Bricolage. They both showed me that there was a
relationship between text and the audience and that I could use that to my advantage. Furthermore when
comparing existing publications to my own I learnt that less is more in terms of layout and content. For
example when making my college magazine I thought I should use lots of different effects and visual
components to enhance my magazine and gain more readers. I soon learnt just from looking at existing
music magazines that I should just use more thought-out words and a professionally taken picture to
achieve what I wanted to. Furthermore I learnt the importance of using image with a text as the text
anchors the image giving it meaning and making it understood by pretty much everyone.
• Furthermore I also learnt that contents page’s are important as they act as a reference for the readers to
find particular stories. Furthermore without the contents page my readers wouldn’t be able to find the
stories that most interest them which would be the main reason they picked up my magazine. I also learnt
that any pictures placed on the contents page should have a page number on it as it would be pointless to
place the picture there if it didn’t. Furthermore I learnt about interesting layout techniques I should use to
make my magazine more interesting and visually appealing to look at gaining me more audiences. Finally I
also learnt about colour scheme and how that also effected the type of readers I was attracting.
• Even though we didn’t make a double page spread for the college magazine after looking at existing
double page spreads I feel I have learnt more about them in general. For example the most effective layout
of the contents page is an image with text. This is because the image allows me to be creative while the
text allows me to attract the audience I wasn’t (the image dose that too). Furthermore I learnt that when
making the products I have to be much more subjective as what I think is nice and cool wont be shared by
others and that everything placed on my products represent something to someone.

7. Front Cover
For example with this magazine we see that a good picture
anchored with thought-out text in terms of content and
layout can really make an effective attracting front cover
and because of this it doesn't need ‘extreme’ photoshoping
or obvious lures to get to its audiences.
Furthermore the colours scheme (house style) and font work
harmoniously together making the front cover balanced
visually and make the magazine appeal to a more adult
audience.
Furthermore I can use a variety of different techniques to
attract different audiences by using bold ‘out there’ stickers
and skylines to attract more audiences by contain
information in them that would appeal to my audiences.
Furthermore this front cover has showed me that I can
include more than my house style on the front cover as they
have added blue which ties off the whole product making it
stand out more than its previous publications.
Lastly I learnt that using certain people on the front cover can
represent certain things attracting different audiences than
expected. For example when looking at this front cover we can
see they are going for a more adult sexual theme which can
only attract older audiences interested in that rather than lets
say middle aged women.

8. Contents page.
Another idea I learnt from analysing other publications is the
use of branding. For example NME have incorporated their
masthead in the contents page so that it reminded the readers
they were reading NME. Furthermore by doing this it also
makes the magazine more memorable as you are reminding
the reader what they are reading.
Furthermore we can see a clear house style (red, black
and white) in the contents page which also acts as a
branding tool and makes the contents page looks more
balanced and professional. This I feel gives the
magazine a reputation of being reliable and good in-
terms of content and layout.
I also learnt that different, creative layouts of images make
the contents page look much more interesting and eye-
catching. Furthermore by using the layout effectively they
have made lots of information in the contents page seem
balanced and not overwhelming.
I also realised that I can put promotions about other aspects
of my magazine in my contents page attracting more readers
as some of them could be interested in it.

9. Double page spread
When looking at this double page spread I
learnt that an image coupled with text laid out
well can make a very interesting double page
spread. This is because the person in the
double page spread is attracting your attention
as well as the text and the background.
Furthermore I leant about the
significance of using a person looking
straight at the audience as it makes it
more personal to them and is addressing
them attracting your attention.
Furthermore a good colour scheme with a
theme can also make the double page
spread interesting as adding too many
different colours will take away from the
important bits and make the product look
cluttered.
Furthermore I learnt that everything placed
on the magazine has a meaning and
everything is done deliberately. For
example we could say that this artists has
connections with America as her red hair
matches the red in the flag.

10. Photoshop VS Adobe In design
When comparing both programme's I can safely say that I should use Photoshop
solely in making my products. This is because In Design doesn't have the image
manipulation facilities that Photoshop has and it doesn't allow me to be more
creative which Photoshop is really good at.

11. Practice products (Front Cover)
When making this front cover I
used adobe in design which was a
mistake as it is more for newspaper
rather than music magazine which
are more creative. This is because
even though I have used lots of
different effects the effects on the
front cover was done on Photoshop
then placed on adobe In design. I
did find adobe in design good for
making the text even on my front
cover. Furthermore it didn’t allow
me to make stickers or have as
skyline which I would have been
able to do with photoshop.

12. Contents page.
With this contents page I made it on
photoshop which I found much easier. This
is because it allowed to add effects onto my
contents page which I would have found
hard with Adobe In Design. Furthermore it
allowed me to be more creative with my
layout as I could resize objects to my
requirements and place everything exactly
where I wanted it to be. Furthermore the
layering tools involved in photoshop are
much easier to use that Adobe In design
which made the outcome of my products
much cleaner and professional. After
looking at this contents page I felt that it
was empty and needed information in it to
fill it out (like my college magazine)

13. Double page spread.
I also used Photoshop to
make this practice double
page spread. I found it
really easy and fun to use as
it allowed me to be as
creative as I wanted to.
Furthermore in my opinion
the photoshopping in my
double page spread will
hopefully attract my right
audience as it is colourful
and youthful. At the same
time I decided to make a
different double page
spread as I was unsure if
this had too much effects
on it and I didn’t like the
layout of the text which I
leant was important.

14. Final products
After considering it for a long time I decided to use Photoshop to make all three of my products. This is because it allowed
me to be as creative as I wanted to which was good as I was making a music magazine. I feel from the preliminary task to
know I have learnt so much. For example I have learnt that everything put on the magazine is there on purpose. For
example when looking at my front cover and double page spread we can say that the picture of the teenager brings
representations of partying and having fun. Furthermore I learnt that the colour scheme and fonts are as important as any
aspect as they influence your audience reaction towards the magazine. For example if I had a bland magazine with Times
New roman font and no colour what so ever my target audiences (young people) would not even buy it as they judge it
straight away and think it’s a magazine for old people. Furthermore I learnt that the text (information) inside the magazine
influences the audience a lot. For example if I had written about a computer game then my target audience would not want
to buy my magazine as it has nothing to do with music and also I learnt that the text can influences the readers in terms of

15. Final products
What they prioritise and what they think is important which then showed me that I could make them prioritise my
magazine and think its important. I also learnt that Photoshop should be used for creative projects while In design should be used for
formal projects (such as making a newspaper etc…). This is because Photoshop has a variety of tools such as filters, layering, crop and
gradient tools that can make or break a music magazine. Furthermore this experience has taught me about different theories involved in
making the magazine and how they can be used to influence audiences. Overall I think that from the beginning of the task to the end I have
learnt loads of stuff. Furthermore the most important lesson I think I learnt was the significance of the different aspects of a music
magazine and how well they all work together. Also I learnt that making a music magazine has a lot behind it and that I should not
underestimate what goes in making these products and I have a much bigger appreciation for them.