NME Double Page Spread Research

The first double page spread I am analysing is from NME, and concerns Pete Doherty. One page is occupied by a photograph of the subject of the article, while the other is used for the story about the subject. However, the text in this spread is broken up by a large pull-out quote in the centre, and a small picture in the bottom right corner. This adds a more playful and less serious tone to the article which reflects the personality of Pete Doherty. Like I've said I want to put the whole focus of the article on the main artist so designing the page to fit their personality will help this idea to work. They use a simple colour scheme of orange, white and black. the orange was likely chosen because Pete Doherty's jumper and beer being that colour. This would suggest that NME is flexible with the overall design which makes the magazine more adaptable. It concentrates on being innovative instead of having a lasting design theme which will fit the idea of my magazine. Again it gives me the idea to focus the design of the double page spread on the artist. The quote in the centre of the text grabs the attention of the reader and gives away the subject of the article Pete Doherty’s role in his band. His tenuous role is emphasised by the way he is holding two glasses of alcohol in the photograph. Readers who want more information on Pete Doherty’s struggles with drugs and alcohol would want to read this feature, as would fans of his music, as there is a picture of him performing in the bottom right of the text. This helps to broaden the audience of the article as it targets existing fans and new readers. Using features that reach all audiences is useful when designing and established magazine so I want to concentrate on features like this when doing my photography. Props and location will also help to make the story more relevant and appealing. I like the use of text on top of the image as it sort of gives a title to the article and plays with the photography at the same time. Only a small amount of text us used on top of the image to stop any difficulties reading, I want to use this feature with my double page spread so I will stick to the same code. I have noticed they have used a lot of punctuation to reinforce the expression and personality of the artist. It also helps to bring the interview alive as the reader can almost hear the emotions being expressed. This makes the article much more exciting and interesting to read so I may use this when talking about certain topics. 

A Quick Lesson On Double Page Spreads

Today I had a lesson on how to analyse double page spreads to help understand how to construct one in order to fit my target audience. I learnt how to analyse the design features including lighting, positioning, graphology and colouring. I spent 15 minutes practising how to analyse the double page spread, and took notes which are shown on the left. After I looked at the appearance I went onto study the language used in articles. I was given an example from NME which was an article written about Lily Allen. The main feature I noticed was the sophisticated language used mixed with some informal qualities of the artist. They use technical terms and drop names to let the reader know what they are talking about, but to add character to the article they use qualities from Lily Allen's language such as swear words. Not only does this add variation to the article but it helps the reader to understand the artist more which is the basis of the article. This is the type of style that I want to use so I will look at this further when doing my double page spread research. I am now going to do research into the same five magazines as last time, NME, Q, Kerrang!, The Source and Vibe. Again I will point out features from the same design sections and then say how it will effect my design, however this time I will be including the article and doing the same for that.

Double Page Spread Introduction

The final area I now need to study is the double page spread.  I am going to conduct research into 5 established double page spreads, because of my new idea changing the plan of my overall research I will be researching one edition of each magazine I have studied. Again I will study all key areas of the magazine, including lighting, positioning, graphology, text/language and colouring. I am going to concentrate on how they use the text and how colouring is used to give it extra effect. As I have seen the rap magazines are image dominated so if this convention follows through to the double page spread I want to see how they allow the text to fit around it and still be clear and simple to view. Like last time I will highlight all I have influenced from this research in red font to be able to go back when creating my own double page spread.

Vibe Contents Page Research

This is the Vibe Contents page that I have chosen to analyse, this edition is based around Eminem. The overall lighting and colouring of the contents page gives a dark and eerie appearance which reflects the personality of Eminem (The main article.) This shows they have focused on bringing all the attention to the Eminem article, however unlike the source contents page they have put the main article along with the rest in the page listing. This is a better idea than what I was thinking about doing in the last analysis. I want to put attention on the main article but also want to put a bit of focus on the others, this technique by Vibe does it well. It has became clear that graphology is a key convention to play around with in rap magazines, so I will have to express my ideas strongly in this section. After reading the text I have noticed they use much more Standard English than The Source used. This is because they are going for a much more sophisticated approach to fit with their more serious style. I noticed they touch on more serious matters to do with the artists over the release of a new album or tour. I think a style like this would fit the purpose of my magazine well and I am almost certain I will use it. However as I am focusing on dark music, which could be Eminem, I want to use some slang and dialect that would fit the audience, this makes it much more appealing and interesting to read when talking about certain matters. Like The Source contents page the actual text is positioned by the side of the image in a small font size, again this is to support the image dominated layout. They have used a white text on top of the dark background so it's clear to read. For the subheadings they have used yellow font which is a primary colour, this helps them to stand out from the rest and become appealing to the reader as well as being readable on the dark background. As well as being appealing to the reader this also gives a sophisticated look because it is plain and serious. This is the type of appearance I want to give my magazine so I will use this technique on my contents page.

The Source Contents Page Research

This is a contents page from The Source that I have found, it features Kendrick Lamar as the main article. The whole contents page bases around an image of Kendrick Lamar which fits the conventions of hip/hop, the everybody look at me idea. This would be a key convention of my magazine, however I do want to feature a few more artists on the contents page so I would include a couple smaller images out the way of the main image. All the font on the page is in black apart from the main article page number which is red. Again this helps the main artist stand out from the rest. So far it has all been presented as a competition which helps reinforce the rap ideas of everyone against everyone. I will use the same code while designing my magazine to fit the conventions of rap/hip hop. The listing for the page numbers has been placed in the left third in a small font size. This has been done to put more attention on the image, however they have arranged the text in front of the image. This means it can still be read and spotted, as well as adding a 3D effect to the graphology. It is placed freely on the page with no borders or banners, the only thing that separates the text is the shade and size. This is a good effect to work with the white background but I want to use more than one image. This means I'll have to use something to separate the text and the various images. I have the idea of using black lines to separate the information for each page and boxes for the additional images, however I will allow the main image to the main photo to add importance in order to stick to the conventions. The language used is different from all the other magazines that I have analysed. They all converge to language used by rappers, probably ones they are featuring. I will have to used a distinct language when writing in my contents page, when it comes to some of the more important text they have used standard English so I may do this as well. I will have to focus on using slang and creating an idiolect around rappers language.

Kerrang! Contents Page Research

I have found a Kerrang! contents page from January 2012. There isn't much information as the page is mostly dominated by one photo which I assume is the main story. As I want to put a lot of attention on my main article I may use the same idea. However I still want to put a bit of attention on other articles so the image won't be as big to give room for other images. The image matches the conventions of the genre well and it reaches the demands of the audience as it is typical from a gig they would attend, it also includes some fans in the photo. I think making sure the magazine reaches the demands of the audience is key so I will focus on photography that has the same effect on my audience. I might make a small setup of a gig where I get a few people playing the part of the fans and one person playing the role of a musician. Instead of listing every article and page they have separated them into their categories, feedback, win, news, live reviews, posters, features, reviews, gig guide and the ultimate rock test. I would like to do something similar for my contents page. It makes it more simple for the reader to find what they want as well as seeing what the overall contents is. However I want to give it a more exciting appearance, like the NME and Q contents pages, and put more focus on it instead of pushing it to the left third. I noticed that Kerrang! have used a separate font for the title of the magazine consistently throughout the magazine. The font has an effect which makes it look like it's breaking or about to explode, these have connotations of the genre which help to reach the needs of the target audience. However for the rest of the page they haven't used this font, instead they have used a range of different fonts for different text types, sub headers, normal, headers etc. The idea of using different font types helps each bit of text stand out in a different way. They have used an effect on the important text which helps to add significance to it. I want to use a variation of fonts throughout my magazine as it adds extra effect to the articles and can reinforce conventions of the genre. Where they have placed detailed text they have used a white background and black font, but too much black and white can be boring to look at. To solve this they have used their colour scheme for banners and headers/sub headers. This will help me to fill in any blank space meaning my magazine will be more appealing to the reader. I can also use colours to fit the conventions of the genre and to highlight important sections.

Q Contents Page Research

This is a contents page from Q Magazine published February 2013. The contents page is image dominated focusing on the artists from the main articles in the magazine. This seems to be a consistent theme through contents pages as NME did the same. I like the idea and want to do this when creating my contents page. It helps to bring focus on these articles and artists as well as making the page more exciting and appealing to view. They haven't singled out a main article, instead they have placed them around a centre circle using images of each artist with a small preview of the article. Again this seems to be a consistent convention throughout the design of contents pages so I will use the same idea when designing mine. The images each have a different layout, some are in boxes with a border and others aren't in boxes and are arranged in front of everything else to stand out. Giving each individual article preview a different layout makes them all interesting in a different way. The Biffy Clyro and the David Bowie articles stand out from the rest as they are arranged at the front. This is done as they are the most famous artists on the contents page making it more appealing to a larger audience. However the centre circle is on top of the Biffy Clyro preview but behind the David Bowie, making the David Bowie image stand out the most. The image is also placed exactly in the middle third, reaching the viewers eye sight immediately. I want to give my contents page image previews a unique layout design as it helps to make each article appeal interesting and different. My idea is to take this further and make the layout design match each artists unique style by playing with colouring and lighting. This will help each article to stand out further as different and unique. The individual layout has meant they have had to play around with the house style, especially the colouring. The colour scheme for Q is red and white, they have kept to the colour scheme well while designing each preview. Some of them use a white box behind red and black font while others just use white font on top of the image. All the text is easy to read and again backs the idea of each article being unique. Although this is done well I want my text to be separate from the image, this will make the images clearer to see and add more attention to them. It also means I can keep my font style consistent throughout the contents page.