Final Major Project

1. As this is a project that I wanted to do, I believe my final product does look good.
Album Cover: I think the product I like the most is the album cover and back because I
haven’t made an album cover before so it was interesting to put together. I used the curves
tool to edit the colour of the background which has the red, blue, green colours to change
certain areas of the image. On the original image, Mimi’s lips were very dark and I wanted to
brighten them. For this, I used the same colour as the text for the lips and turned the
opacity down and drew over the lips with the paint brush. I turned the opacity down so then
you could still see Mimi’s natural lip cracks.
In the feedback, they said to change the text and the background as both were dark. A
gradient tool was added to the side of the image as you couldn’t see the text because of the
background was busy with green leaves. I wanted both of the texts to stand out, to do this I
have used a colour overlay and a drop shadow. For the back cover, the brick wall was
originally white, I used a colour overlay and turned it to the same red as the text but toned
it down slightly as it was bright. Some feedback for this was the add more songs onto it as
there are more than 5 songs on an album cover so I took on this and added a few more
songs. All 7 songs have a stroke on which may not be as obvious but it makes it bolder.
When I compare, my album cover to Dua Lipa’s album cover, you can see a clear difference.
The main difference is the background. I have used an outside scenery whereas Dua Lipa’s is
a studio. I used an outside scenery as I liked how the photos came out at the end. Next, Dua
Lipa’s name is in bold and transparent so you can still see the background behind it. There is
nothing else written on this cover to show the simplicity. With my cover, there is the album
name which gives the audience an indication about the album.
On the back cover, the same background has been used whereas I have used a different
image to show a link to the tour date poster. The background is plain on Dua Lipa’s but has
two lines going down one each side with her name going down which looks good. My cover
has a graffiti wall as it looked boring plain. They have used the same outfit and hairstyle but
in a different position. The font is sans whereas I have used a funky font which looks
handwritten (this was the look I was going for.)
After many improvements from a simple front cover to a front and a back-album cover, I’m
not particularly sure what I would improve. However, I think I would do another album
cover such as a single to show her work more.
Magazine Cover: I followed conventions and downloaded a font so I could manipulate it for
how I wanted it to be. This included spacing in between the letters and using the colour
picker to fill the font and applying a stroke. This created a bold masthead to stand out on
the cover. For the ’18 Music Quiz Question’ subheading, I had four separate layers so then I
could change the sizes for each and put them on top of each other evenly. On the ‘Best
Albums of 2019 so far!’ is five separate layers that all have a stroke effect on it. I have
enlarged the words ’Best’ and ’2019’ so then they would stand out more.
The main attraction to this magazine cover is the name ‘Lola’ which is in the same font as
the rest of my work as it looks handwritten. I have taken the words ‘fun, fresh and fiery’

2. from the article to link it together. An aspect of my product visual is the magazine cover
looks eye-catching, the image work really well with how everything is laid out and because
Mimi is looking away with her hand mushing up her hair makes the image look different as
most magazines have the main cover looking directly into the camera.
It took many improvements and feedback for this cover for it to look like this. I started off
with the masthead being red so I changed the whole colour scheme to different shades of
blue as it links in with Mimi’s dress.
If I was to compare my magazine cover to NME Dua Lipa’s magazine cover, there are quite a
lot of differences starting with the background. I have used an outside scenery whereas
NME have used a studio, the NME background colour is very similar to Dua Lipa’s album
cover. There aren’t any subheadings on NME magazine to show the simplicity and to make
Dua Lipa stand out more, this is why they have put the mast head behind her head instead
of in front. The mast head on mine has been put on the front as not many people will know
what it would say and because it wouldn’t look right as it would be most of the mast head
behind. Another aspect that is different is their names. NME have spread out Dua Lipa’s
name all around the cover and is in a bold sans font and in capitals whereas I have put ‘Lola’
next her cheek in a big size text.
Double Page Spread: The double page spread had quite a lot of improvements to do. At first
the background was white and the image of Mimi was grey. I decided to change the colour
and it looked better. From my feedback, it was the unfinished spread they looked at and
they said the background was simple, needed brighter colours and needed some images to
fill the space. So, I took the feedback on board and changed the colour of the font to the
same red from the album cover and used this colour for the dates on the polaroid’s and on
the quote at the bottom of the article.
The aspects I added to the spread were the polaroid’s in the middle to take up the empty
space and put random dates on them with the flowers in the corner too. The flowers were
the last thing I added with the name on the background too. I got this idea after the graffiti
wall on my album cover so I added this to the spread and filled up the rest of the empty
spaces. However, the good feedback I got was the images I have used are good and
professional.
There wasn’t that much editing to do for this piece of work expect trying to get it align with
the article which was InDesign so I kept having to change it. As a final product, I think the
spread is a very attractive piece of work and something I’d definitely read. It’s nicely laid out
and it looks snazzy. All the images were edited beforehand and then added to this.
When I compare this to a Dua Lipa double page spread which I could only find one half of,
there a lot of differences.
Again, NME has used the same colour for the background as her album cover and the front
cover of the NME magazine. The article has been laid out differently and an image has been
added to NME article to show her album cover. We both have different type of images and
different positions they are standing in. The NME spread looks more of a review as it has a
yellow box with coloured stars in to show a rating. There is no website address for the

3. company and the page number is in the bottom right corner. The NME spread is quite plain.
Also, at the bottom of NME spread there are little facts about Dua Lipa.
Tour Date Poster: This poster took four different designs to figure out which one looked
better which meant I got loads of feedback on how to change it and make it look better. At
the beginning, I was going to do a poster in a similar lay out as Dua Lipa’s poster but I
changed the layout as everything seemed to fit and work better.
When I compare my poster to Dua Lipa’s tour date poster, they are very similar as I have
taken aspects from the professional tour poster and used them on my own. However, the
background is completely different as I have used a brick wall which also links in with the
back of the album cover. On the Dua Lip poster they have used the same type of font for the
name as her album cover and used a baby pink colour as the colour scheme which is also in
the colour gradient on her album cover. This is similar to mine as I have used the same font
for her name and colour, same with ‘the you and I plan’ text. I have used a gradient to get
rid of bottom bit of the poster so then I could add in the text.
The image Dua Lipa has used is a close up from shoulders up so then you can still see her
sparkly top. I have also used a close-up image which has taken up most of the poster which
Dua Lipa’s has to. Another similarity would be the location and where it is, is the same as
mine as they have put the location such as ‘Dublin’ bigger than where it is. Also, the
informative part is in a similar place to where I’ve placed mine.
On my poster, I made sure the spacing in between the letters was together as it looked
better because of the font being joint up with the flicks and using the colour picker to fill the
font and applying a stroke to it. I have enlarged the locations more than the rest of the text.
I have done this on purpose as when I was researching, I used the same tour poster as
layouts. The last aspect I added was the flowers which link everything together as all my
work has it on.
Photography Portfolio: For this portfolio, I have used four different outfits, three different
locations and added the photos to a website called ’Portfolio Box.’ There is a clear theme of
brick walls and nature. However, I wanted the last photoshoot to look completely different,
this is why I have used the white brick wall where you can see the outline of the brick
because the outline looked good in the sun and went well with the models (Mimi) outfit.
This made the images look better and easier for Mimi to position herself. I have added a
variety of photographs that have been edited in their own way. I have mostly used the
curves tool on Photoshop to adjust the red, green and blue in the image.
Other effects I’ve changed on the image are lightness, brush tool to add more colour to the
lips and nails, the spot healing brush tool to take any little marks off. I was very lucky to use
Mimi’s back garden and the front of her house so I could take a mixture of portraits and
landscapes. In most of the images, Mimi has her eyes shut which was something I couldn’t
control. I have tried to capture the sun in some of the close ups because her face just went
into a natural expression. The first photoshoot, she wore two different blue dresses which
meant the second photoshoot I needed a different colour. Both colours go well as they
contrast which carries on with the colour scheme for my final products. If I had to improve

4. on my work, I don’t think I would improve on my photography portfolio as this is better than
the last portfolio that I created and edited.