Final Front Cover

This is my final front cover after I made some changes. I altered the masthead to become bolder and look more similar to the magazine I was focusing on. 

Final Skills Audit

Feature	Yes	No	Comments if yes – where have you completed this skills and to what level
Manual Focus features	*		I frequently took images in manual focus, for example for composition, production and shutter speed images. As well as other occasions for art projects.
Shutter Speed	*		To capture the images we took of the torches in the dark, I changed the camera setting to a slow shutter speed to capture the torch in the process of movement and will result in a continuous line of light in the shape I chose to draw.
Aperture control	*		To change depth of field, if objects/ people are further forward or further back than the other. I used this
ISO Control	*		To allow more light to be captured in the images, I used this for the slow shutter speed images in the dark with the torches.
A tripod	*		I have used a tripod a few times in Fine Art and learnt how to set it up and how to put it away. This is always helpful to use if you are taking a series of images that need to be set at the same height, distance, tilt etc.
External flash		*
Self timer facility		*
Light meter	*		To create the correct lighting for the production images I took for my magazine
Composition grids	*		To arrange the setting of the image specifically in the grid order; this is also helpful for taking depth of field images so you can specifically see which part of the camera objects/ models are in.

Photoshop Skills

Which of the following features of Photoshop have you used before:

Feature	Yes	No	Comments if yes – where have you completed this skills and to what level
Text control	*		To move particular text closer together on my magazine front cover, this helped apply the text that will improve the appearance and so it will all fit in the space of the front cover.
Filters	*		During production, altering the images I took of the model to improve imperfections or achieve certain emotions that could link to the topic of the magazine.
Brushes	*		I downloaded brushes for the Christmas card we created to help it look more advanced and professional.
Layers	*
Opacity control	*		When applying my splash of colour as a bold image, I then altered the opacity amount to make it more transparent to make the front cover look more professional.
Shape creation		*
Brightness and contrast control	*		Images that went into my magazine have been altered on Photoshop by changing the brightness and contrast, to create a “flawless” appearance to the model.
Gradients		*
Load selection features		*
Feathering		*
Colour curves adjustment	*		I chose a random image to change the curves and colours of; this causes it to contain more emotion and consistency or also to make it look like a completely different image.
Resolution setting control		*
Magnetic lasso, polygon lasso tool			I used the lasso tool to change the models teeth to vampire fangs.
Cropping tool	*		I have used the crop tool frequently in Fine Art
Clone tool	*
Retouch tool	*		I used this for
Other skills Stroke tool Warp tool Dodge and burn Margin guides

In Design Skills

Which of the following features of In Design have you used before:

Feature	Yes	No	Comments if yes – where have you completed this skills and to what level
Have you ever used In design ever before?	*		I used In Design to create my magazine front cover and double page spread.
Margin and column guide creation	*
Inserting an image ID	*		Using for DPS
Resizing images in ID	*		Resizing magazine images for frame
Text manipulation – resizing, rotation	*
Text manipulation – controlling kerning and leading		*
Text flow creation		*
Using transparent imagery in ID		*
Shape/line creation In design		*
Exporting to PDF from In-design	*		Saving images or my own productions as JPEGS so it can then be exported on to Blogger.
Text Wrap	*		Enabling the important pieces of text within the article to be separated for the rest of the text.
Other Skills

Christmas Card

I created this christmas card by downloading some fonts from Dafont.com that were christmas related e.g Candy canes, snow flakes etc. I then found this image of Minions from Google that I decided to place as a centre image for my christmas card. Once the fonts were downloaded into Photoshop, I opened brushes and scrolled to the bottom where the brushes were installed. I could then choose which brushes I wanted to use to create a good christmas card. 

Improved DPS

As you can see, I have made some changes to my DPS, as my previous draft didn't really look enough like the magazine I was focusing on. I have changed the centre image by creating a polaroid image frame; I though this would appeal more to my teenage target audience as it is slightly slanted and not neat and perfect. I have also added a lot more colour to the page by making the background a colour from my chosen colour pallet (baby pink) I think this adds a lot more depth to the DPS and makes it look more professional.

I also added some sub headings to the article to make it easy for the reader to know which topic is in  different paragraphs, "anxiety" and "Fight or flight" and i have inserted these in a darker pink. Further more, the "Six steps to a less stressed you" is similar to my last draft, although I have tried to align the sub headings so they look neater as well as the numbers which I have slightly slanted and made a bolder colour. I have inserted a line below the article with the magazine name in the left hand corner. 

Magazine DPS and front cover

Still focusing on the Company magazine layout, I placed the title in the left hand corner so that the images are next to each other in contrast (on one page the model is stressed and on the other she is happy and relaxed) The colours I have used follow my front cover by sticking to the three colour pallet of pink, white and black. I began my article with a few rhetorical questions to engage the audience and get there attention immediately. I have two columns per page making it appeal to the socio economic group C and C1. 

This is my first draft of my DPS as I need to know what changes I could make to improve the appearance for it to help appeal to my target audience. I began by inserting the "Six steps to becoming less stressed" down the right hand side of the right page (so it is kind of similar to a break out box) I kept the colour scheme consistent as I have used a hot pink for the sub headings, furthermore this would only really appeal to girls whereas I would have liked this article to appeal to both males and females. I used text wrap on the centre splash containing "Symptoms of stress overload" Again, this similarly follows the layout of the particular issue of Company magazine I was focusing on. The font I have  used for a lot of sub headings and masthead is Apple Chancery, connoting a positive (quite feminine) appearance to the article. 

I chose to use the Company magazine as inspiration for my front cover as it is aimed at roughly the same age group as mine, therefore including similar fonts, colours and topic choice to help me. Unfortunately, I couldn't find the actual edition of Company that I was looking at so I cant demonstrate changes and similarities I made. The image I used for the front cover posed as a difficult image at first because of the wide variety of colours (white, black and red) which made it difficult to settle on a font colour that would stand out amongst the colourful background. Although, white seemed like a basic and modern colour to use for the text and was also used in Company. I then needed a way to express skills and creativity throughout Photo shop, so used a variety of fonts and colours (then edited with FX) and used the "spot removing tool" to enhance clearer skin on the model. However, I still think some text could be made larger/ smaller to fit in with the rest as well as a smaller colour scheme to make the front cover look less crowded and more basic. The headlines I have included will appeal to the target audience such as, "Spring Special" and "How to love AND have a career"