The following are deconstructions of double page spreads from music magazines.
This is a double page spread from Pop music magazine We Love Pop
Layout
Columns are used in this double page spread, five in total which is quite a lot compared to the usual three, but I think they have five because of the picture of Olly at the bottom of the page, it takes up quite lot of room.
Many of the images are in the column space, but they do overlap on some of the borders, maybe this is to represent the target audience, the teenagers tend to step over the boundaries of their parents, but I also think they do this to make the double page spread look more artsy and fun, not just all text and a huge effort to read.
This is an interview, there isn't a main headline, but loads of little subheadings-which are the questions being asked and are a different colour to the rest of the font. There is also two other subheadings in a larger white font, which lets the reader realise they are different parts of the page, they are not included in the interview.
Yes, there are straplines used, underneath the white subheadings, this gives the reader a brief description about what the subheading was trying to tell the reader without giving too much away.
There is a lot of layering in the double page spread, they are mainly the images that are layered over the column borders and the large Olly image is layered over a large space of the page, this makes it actually quite appealing to see so many images, it lets the reader know they aren't actually going to have to read a lot, again, being a younger target audience, this works well.
Colour is vital in an interview, all questions are in red, so the reader realises what is the question and what is the answer. To break up the red/black theme of the interview, the magazine uses red and white for the smaller parts of the page that aren't involved with the interview, for e.g. Olly's book advertisement. The blue behind Olly's image kind of sets off the whole page, but in a good way. Compared to the contents page, this is a nice three coded colour scheme, so it has that fun feeling without it being too in your face.
I think the main connotation of all this, is that the design really links into the younger target audience, it is colourful, not too boring, and is beneficial. Unlike if you tried to do this in an older generation magazine, I don't think it would go down too well. Also, I think it symbolises the fun character Olly is himself, he's young and vibrant, just like the colour scheme.
Images
All the images on this page are photographs, no illustrations whatsoever, I think this matches the age range perfectly, they don't really want to be patronised with little illustrations. The photographs are used to advertise Olly's success since the X Factor, probably to help him get noticed more easily off people-if not fans- who are already reading this magazine. Olly himself is the celebrity in this article, yet the images are pretty fun and basic, so this could show that he is just an average guy like anyone else, and doesn't want to be noticed just for his fame, but for himself as a person.
There are captions used for the images, because the images are a mixture of Olly doing activities and just sitting there, captions are needed to help describe what it is that he is doing, if not, the reader would probably have no idea.
This article is most definitely image led, because it is trying to get fans of Olly to buy this and read it, but also try and advertise him, however again not a lot of teens are going to be wanting to read big heavy articles, they are most likely going to buy this for the images.
The PoV the article assumes is the interviewer themselves, but when reading it, it makes the reader feel as if they are the one interviewing Olly, because the answers that Olly will be giving back will include "you." so it will be like he is talking to the reader directly.
Language
The typeface of this is mainly normal ariel font, maybe size 11, so its not too small but not too big either for the main interview, whereas you see larger font in the selected boxes around the article, in a different colour, showing the diversity between contexts. However, the font that is used underneath Olly's larger image is in a lovely italic handwritten script, this makes it look much more personal and appropriate, because this is a personal statement from Olly himself.
Punctuation is very basic, used correctly, including quotation marks when Olly uses his personal statement.
There are puns and witty remarks in the baubles section for obvious reasons, which will probably no doubt get the readers attention, especially being teen girls. Olly himself makes some jokes during the interview that will entertain the reader, its good of the magazine to include this so it doesn't sound too monotone and boring.
Layout
Three columns are used in the double page spread, this is a normal convention/number of columns magazines use when creating double page spreads, the images on this page are very organised, not like the We Love Pop one, there is only two and they are clearly separated across the pages. Maybe this is because of the slightly older target audience? Or maybe the magazine prefers its articles to be well organised, because to be honest, a cluttered double page spread is kind of annoying, your eyes are constantly getting distracted.
Heading is placed on the top right hand corner, which again follows conventions as this will be the first thing that people will read when opening this page, there isn't a subheading as such, but a brief description that tells the reader what the double page spread is about.
The main image is layered over the next page, but I think that is to break up the writing a little, so the page doesn't look too boring and plain.
The background colour is plain white, but this is good because then the magazine can then use basically any colour and it won't look bad, it looks quite nice and pristine, which is a difference from its front cover and contents page. Maybe to symbolise how quirky the genre is?
Images
There is only two images on this page, and they are both photographs, which are better, it makes the colours in the images stand out more against the white background, they are both images of males since it is a band that are all male. This article is text led, unlike We Love Pop, the readers of this magazine are more likely to read about the band other than just want to see pictures, the smaller image does have a caption to go along with it, probably to describe what they are doing because if you didn't you wouldn't know and would think they are just standing there for the fun of it.
The article presumes a first person PoV, so it is the band member telling you about his life, or whatever event. He says "We, me, I" etc.
Language
The font is very small, I would say about 10, and has a basic Roman font, however the article does use larger drop caps to help guide the reader to the start of the text. The font used in the heading is handwritten, but boyish and in uppercase, it stands out and completely disobeys the rules of "capital letters at the start of the sentence" so this could be used to symbolise the genre itself, it breaks the rules and stands out from all other music genres. It contrasts with the rest of the article because it looks so clean, mature and accurate, but this font seems to spruce it up a little-to attract the younger audience perhaps?
The register of the whole text is quite informal, for e.g. "its the goddamn..." since it is someone talking about their own personal experiences, they are going to talk like they would on a day-to-day basis, maybe this is better and suits the genre more, because I couldn't really picture a very formal use of language in a rock magazine.
This is a double page spread from Rock music magazine NME
Layout
This double page spread is really...small. Well, the text part is, only featuring two columns which is quite different as the norm is about three. The heading of the article is split up onto two different pages in two different colours-probably down to the colour on the background. There are no subheadings, there is quite a lengthy description underneath the heading on the right page.
There is a drop cap at the start of the first column though. A little layering is involves, the second part of the heading is placed on top of the second image, and the image goes onto the right page a little.
Again there is a strict three colour code, and it goes together perfectly, again because this magazine has an older target audience, the colours are sophisticated yet still have the element of rock in them.
Images
There are two photographs used, as if he is looking in the mirror, I think they have used a real photograph to make the pragmatics of the image stick into the readers head and make them think about the meaning more, the heading "always different, always the same" links into how the images are placed. They are different because they are facing different directions, but they are both of the same person.
The image is of a male, David Bowie himself. I would say this article is image led, purely because of the lack of text. There are no captions used, and the article presumes a first person's PoV again, as David is talking about himself to the reader freely, it isn't an interview. Or it was and the magazine has simply printed out his long-winded answer.
Language
The heading is bold and a huge size around 42 at least, it is in ariel rounded font, but in two different colours, linking into the heading's meaning again. The punctuation is good and used in a correct manner, again probably because the audience is older and will "know their stuff" about punctuation. The register is fairly formal, this might be because David is quite high-spoken, so the rest of the article has tried to have the same high level of register, so it didn't make the magazine look too "rough" or "slang ridden". Sadly, I couldn't find anything that was actually entertaining about the article, I purely think that it is because my own age isn't in the target audience, I'm not particularly well known of David Bowie, so his life doesn't interest me, but there wasn't any aspects of humour in the text to make it more appealing, so this leads me back to my interpretation that this magazine has a very set audience, so they know what to print, they know what their audience wants, but it doesn't really focus on achieving any new audiences. NME is for quite an older rock audience than Kerrang! and a much older audience that We Love Pop.
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