Preliminary Task/Magazine Analysis

Here is the preliminary task that I completed for my AS Media coursework portfolio. From looking at this, there are a severe amount of lacking elements that would be universally found throughout publications. This is due to the fact that the text used is very unappealing because of appearing in the position that it is in. Another problem with this piece of work is that the title uses WordArt which is known for its unprofessional look and doesn't fit in with the rest of the newsletter.The background of this work uses the gradient tool which is too known for being unprofessional, as you can see it doesn't blend well at all with any other features on the page. The final part of this work that makes it unappealing is the photograph used, since it does not adhere to the rule of thirds, and is too large for the page thus making it look in all honest very abhorrent.

Despite the major flaws in the design and layout of this work, some aspects can be acknowledged such as the use of issue number and date, which are general features of all publications. The last good thing I could say about this newsletter is that the image is somewhat school related.

This is the finished music magazine front cover that I had completed. From looking at this in comparison with the previous task, there are many differences. Notably, the professional look of this magazine is very good because of the many features that this front cover utilizes. This can be seen from the puffs and pugs used, the barcode and different (but not random) styles of text I think the colours blend well in terms of both the photos and text colour as they are synonymous with the style of a Heavy Metal music magazine. It gives information to the reader such as what bands are featured in the magazine, as well as major articles that are included. Other details that are used are issue numbers/price, a distinctive header and a tagline.
What I didn't like about this magazine is the placing of the text, looking back on this project I would have placed the font somewhere else on the page. I would also like to change some of the fonts and font colours as I feel they are a little out of place on the magazine.

Other than those few small details, I believe I utilized in using many features that are present on Adobe Photoshop. These features include the lasso tool, magnetic lasso, layer transparency filter, shadow, bevel & emboss and gradient tools.