Aims:

• To explore how to use Photoshop
• To develop editing skills using Photoshop
• To create a simple front cover for your school magazine

Firstly I choose my photo. I felt as though this one had the most potential and really showed the true environment in a sixth form. This a long shot, action shot and has space around the model to add cover lines and headings.

I then added a heading “The Sixth Special” which had an effect known as the drop shadow, this makes the heading stand out and seem important and attractive which is exactly what I would want as the producer of the magazine. In order to create this effect I had to adjust the setting of the drop shadow’s picture element (Px) to distance 19 and size 16 in order for it to stand out but also look quite subtle to the naked eye.

Next, I added the date of the issue “Autumn 2023”. For this I  added another drop shadow at the same distance and size as the heading. This was also aligned correctly beneath the heading to make it seem formal and eye catchy. Also I made the colour of the issue Orange, so that I could enhance the seasonal aspects of Autumn and Halloween.

Next, I added my first cover line “STUDENT VIEWS, What the heads have to say”. I had the first part in bold as it is the heading followed by the second part in lowercase writing combined with the word “heads” in bold as they are the most important. for this cover line I chose the colour blue to match the school colours however i made the blue a bit lighter so it would show up of the magazine clearer. For the editing I went for Bevel and Emboss to enhance the view of this cover line.

Further, I added my next cover line “Building Remarkable People”. This is the schools slogan as well as other cover lines which are used later on. For this cover line I added another drop shadow effect, Distance 9, spread 60 and size 7. This is different to the other words as the spread is larger. This means that it looks bolder and stands out more.

For my final cover line I spoke about fears and overcoming them. As for this cover line I varied the different features I used. For example I had a bold heading, followed by a more italic subheading/context underneath. This was all followed with a page number to help the audience to find the information quickly. I also added another drop shadow with a distance of 11, spread of 16 and size of 7. This made the cover line stand out but not too much. enough to make an impact but subtle enough to not overload it.

Finally, I added the last cover lines which were the other school slogans “Be Adventurous, Serving Others and Aim high with Integrity”. for this I filled the open space at the bottom of the page then edited them so that they were all the same with a drop shadow. Distance 3, spread 86 and size 7. this made them very bold and stand out on the page.