Tuesday, 22 November 2011

Double Page Spread Analysis

The double page spread of a magazine, is the main feature, what people mainly buy the magazine for, this means there has to be enough information which will interest the reader, and keep there attention, but not to much so it over powers the page and the information which is been given, i.e. a double page spread would never have two pages full of writing on it, and many of the time it doesn’t even have one page, the section will be split up. With a 3rd of the page only having text included, and the text wont be just placed randomly on the page, it will be included in the overall design and flow of the double page spread, with the image incorporating the text and not showing as its a random layer, as text may flow around the image, or the image could incorporate space for the text to be put, a clear area with no image noise to disturb the writing.
The image wont just be randomly placed it will have to be included in the feature which its about, but also express the character of the artist, without wasting text and time explaining who they are and what their about. The image should portray this, but as it would be the main feature of a magazine, the reader should already know who they are and for that reason buying the magazine in the first place, because with a feature, the artist would also be placed on the front cover as well, as a selling scheme to attract the attention of the customer/target audience.
The first magazine which i will be analysing  will be from the source, and the article is about T.I. this is clearly shown by the image which has been used but also with the large tag line which incorporates this into it, ‘T.I.me’  the large tag line is used to express what the text is going to be about, and with the small overview bubble explaining, if readers don’t already know. This sets the reader up for what the text is going to be about. The colours which are also used are also within the theme of summer time, with the bright blue, green and reds used because with the simple white background, there has o be more than the image and the text included, so the colours brighten and liven the double page spread up.
With the image having a plain white canvas, it has to stand out and adequate for filling in the space, and instead of a simple standing pose, the artist is in a different, not normally seen stance, which means  mores going on, and the space filled is larger, and with the white background it is used as a minimal effects look and works well.
The second double page spread is completely different to the first, how the image and text are used together but still how it works, with this double page spread, the image and text are separate as in they are not on top or involved with each other.
With the image been a very urban image with dark colours and next been unable to be included in the image without creating problems and mess on the page,  the text has its own white background , it is still seen as a part of the magazine, because of the cut of the image been jagged (not a clean cut) which also adds a urban feel to the spread, this continues with the minimal use of straight use of lines and sharp corners. This continues at the end of the white section, where graffiti style pain splatter is been used  to break away from the average flow of a magazine, the gold colour used also flows with the gold font of the tag line.
The text which is included is also in columns which makes it easy to read and connect with the writing, it also makes the image very clean and manageable,  the only text which goes against the grain is the extract from the interview, where the text is a different style, size and colour to the rest, showing its importance but also basing this around the interview, and gives a understanding of his personality.
The final double page spread used is different from all the rest, not in a good way, but in a individual way of showing text and a spread, the articles from the magazine black & gold,  about john legend, this is clearly showing in the title, ‘john legend’ which is simple and it works, because the font colour isn’t a colour is a image of him transferred into the text, so while showing the readers who the article is about, it also gives a visual image of him at the same time, which is a good way of visual interpretation. This is done twice in the double page spread, with the track list been show with another image of him behind it,  these are the only two images in the magazine, which creates a boring spread, and with the background colour been back the white writing doesn’t have the same effect  just with ‘boring’ columns been used, there is the slight use of red in the text which is used to emphasise the importance of that text, i.e. grabbing the readers attention for been different.  But as the simplicity of the magazine, even though it is different, doesn’t work for me and doesn’t come across interesting.
With the 3 double page spreads analysed I will incorporate some of the styles used to create my double page spread.


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