Analyse of Doble Page spread

This double page spread is by the Rnb magazine Vibe. What we have on the whole of the left page is Bruno Mars the famous singer. They have taken up the full page to attract our attention and so we know the article next to him is based on Bruno himself. I may use a large image like this so my audience instantly knows who the article is about as its clear going off the large image.

They follow the classic convention of using the grid system set into 3 columns. This is the way most magazines like to display there texts as it looks professional and presentable. I may use 3 columns for my article because it’s a main convention of double page spreads, most magazines use it and it looks smart.

The size of the text they use seems to be pt 8 – pt 12, in comparison with the large “When Mars Attacks”, it makes the title really stand out especially with the dark blue and black font. What also significant about the title font is the fact the colours fit in with the colours used on the image. It works really well and becomes clear this is the house style of Vibe. I may take this technique of using lighting and colours to fit in with my house style because it works really well and makes the audience know this is our house style, our identity nobody else.

Including the title Vibe use 3 different font sizes – the title – main body text – sub headings/sentences. They seemed to have bolded and increased the size of their sub headings/sentences. This is clever because they basically summaries’ that paragraph and that it’s the most imorportant section so they have bolded it to make this clear to the reader. I may use different font sizes to show importance as it does work as bolded font makes the reader feel look at me I’m important. This is a great technique and sections out different bits of text.

This double page spread is a sample from the NME music magazine. The first thing I see with this double page spread is the fact it’s one massive picture behind all of the text. I notice straight away if you take away the text is this not basically a poster? This large image vastly sticks out in comparison with the text around it, I do think they have the right balance as there is a lot of text surrounding it. I believe this is the other approach magazines take when making a double page spread with the image domination. I do like this approach and it is a hard decision whether I use a centre line spread or one massive image covering both pages because both approaches are appealing to me, depending if I get the right photo or not and whether it ties in with my house style, which is when I will make my decision.

Another feature I like about this layout is that each column of text is clearly broken down into different sections all with their own sub/heading. These sub headings make it clear what each column of text is about. They have bolded and enlarged this text so we see each sub heading more clear and gives us an insight whether we will like this column of text or not. This layout o the columns does appeal to me because it looks sharp and quirky, if I display my double page spread in a similar way I will most likely take the idea of breaking each column down and giving them their own sub heading.

We can see on the first column of text they have used the large drop down letter of ‘W’ covering six sentences. There is no real purpose for this it is only used because it’s a classic convention of a magazine and it looks good. Because I want to great ideas from this magazine I will insert a drop down letter in my first column of text because it is a main convention that most magazines do and I want mine to be as good as there’s so this is why I will use this technique.

This is a double page spread issued by the magazine ‘Kerrang’ The first thing that stands out is the large predominant image. Due to the slanting of his head and sort of leant back we get the idea he’s quite rebellious. Due to his clothing, jewelry, tattoos and the t shirt he’s wearing we get the feeling Kerrang is gothic/punk sort of genre. I did some extra research and this is the genre, I like how I knew this straight away by just looking at this image. With my main image I would like the audience to know instantly what genre it is just by going off the way my artist will look.

I like the house style they have used with the grey, dull background, with white and black text. It goes with their genre of being quite dark but mysterious. With my mise en scene I will think carefully about it and what colours, font I will use as I want it to tell a story within itself.

A very clever technique they have done is link the huge word ‘ABSOLOUTELY’ and its colours to link up with the artist’s t shirt with the white and black. Its not something that stands out to me straight away but once analyzed closely I noticed it. It’s actually a good idea because it makes the whole page link in with each other better and suits the house style. I would take away from this point that everything on my page should fit in, nothing should look out of place because it just look stupid, I would obviously prefer my work to loom more professional and presentable.

I like how in the top left hand corner they have inserted a box saying ‘News’, below that word is the Kerrang web address. This promotes there magazine even more as their audience will go visit this website and find out the latest ‘News’. I may insert quirky little futures such as this just to add some variety, and if people are interested enough they can look elsewhere for some more on their favorite artists.

I look at this and the first thing I notice is that the image takes up  one and a half pages, and one column of text to fill up the rest. Personally I believe they don’t have the correct balance as there should be more text than this because it’s supposed to be an article so it should have 3 but a minimum of 2 columns. Looking at this I just don’t believe there is enough text, with my double page spread I wont be taking the same approach and I will insert more text than this.

We see they have thought carefully about the mise en scene because in the background we see gym equipment, mainly boxing as we see pads, bags mats etc. We know boxing is a violent sport so we get this idea that this article is about him arguing or maybe even being violent towards someone. I like how the mise en scene has told us a story before we have even read the article; I will do something similar as location is very important as it can describe a person before you have even read about them.

At the top we see an introduction to this article which is a main convention and we also see a quote he said while being interviewed. I like these little features as it makes it more interesting and actually uses evidence of what the artists Nas has said. I may include a quote from my artist because it makes it more personal to the reader as it came directly out of his mouth.

This double page spread is by the magazine Q. We see the main picture is the famous hip hop artist Jay – Z. We can clearly see the main colour scheme to be red with the photo, some of the text and the gigantic ‘J’ that covers the whole article page. Red has connotations of love or danger, so we get the feeling this article maybe on his love life or an argument with someone? I want the colour scheme I use to reflect the article I am talking about so my audience instantly gets connotations in their head, of what this article may be about, along as I get the audience thinking, that is my main objective.

As you can see the big red J covers the whole of the article. This J is one of Q’s unique selling points and when people see this J they know instantly this is by Q. It creates individuality and is there little thing no other music magazines. This is a good idea; individuality is a key thing when there is so much competition so for me to take this idea and run with it is exactly what I might do. On the other hand I don’t particularly like this specific design of a huge J as it does complicate text and make it harder to read.

As we see they use Serif type font with the little flourishes at the edges. This font can be seen as more fancy and glamorous compared to Sans-serif font without the little flourishes at the edges. This portrays hip hop to be a lot of glamour, show off and look at me. We know it is like this and this font portrays it in the correct way. I want my font to match with my genre as it does work really well, for example if I decide to go for punk rock I may decide to choose Sans – Serif as it fits the genre better.

One thing I don’t like about this column layout is how blocky and formal each column looks. I believe it should be quirky and jumping out at me so I want to read, but I don’t because it looks too much and formal. I want my text to invite the reader in and make them want to read it, not put them off. So I world maybe use a different font or change the font colours to something a but more quirky and out there. There target audience is young people who aren’t going to want to read this much text, they have made a bad move here.