Magazine Analysis: Music Magazine Double Spreads

The coursework for this subject includes creating a double page spread for our music magazines. In order to get a better perspective on music magazine double page spread for magazines, I analyzed some by looking at the key conventions.

Q:

This text 'The Most Exciting People In Music' being larger than the rest and placed at the top means that it is posing at the title of this double page spread. The black text shows the reoccurring theme through this certain magazine and the red text below tells the reader the name of the artist.

Overlapping the entire page of text is a giant ‘J’. It is a J as that is the first letter of the artists name. This is used to make the page look more interesting and appealing to the readers. Also, the red colouring gives the page a dash of colour, and it a common colour associated with music magazines. This is one of the things that this magazine is well-known for doing. I like this but as it is associated with Q magazine, I won't use it for my magazine.

Drop capitals are used, yet same colour as rest of text. This is used to attract attention to the writing and also to break it up rather that it being a block text;  makes the reader know where new, important paragraphs begin. I like this technique as it looks interesting and this may inspire my magazine.

A large, interesting quote is extracted from the text and added on top of the main and only image on the left. This is used to give the reader something other that then image to look at on this page. Also to make the reader want to read to the text in order to find an explanation of the quote.

The entire left page is dominated by a picture of the artist the article is focusing on.  This is used to give clear indication who this particular article is about.  The black glasses paired with a close up imagine give both an inviting fell and an air of mystery. This contradicting message is there to make attract the readers to read the text. Also, as he is a well known artist, this will attract people who like him or want to know more about him.

In small text in the corner of the image, there is the name of the photo, the person who the photo is of and the place and date it was taken is all included. This is here to answer any unasked questions about the picture that the reader may want to know. However, this isn’t important information so it is in a small font size. This makes the page look more professional and is something that I like and may inspire my magazine.

 

NME:

 

The title of this double page spread isn't actually the name of the artist. Instead it is a reference to her song 'You've Got The Love', but changed to relate to the article. I like this idea as it makes the title more interesting. Two different fonts are used for the title. I think that magazine pulls that off but not many others would. There is also a few lines above the main interview text that is used to attract the readers to read the article. I like this idea and will let it inspire my magazine.

The colours used are grey and black for the text against a white background. This would look boring if the main and only image on the spread didn't have the large amount of red in it. This colour pallet gives the page a touch of class as it doesn't look overloaded with colour or like it is trying too hard. The other colour used is blue for the artist name in the text above the actual article interview text. This is so her name stands out for anyone who doesn't know who the artist is to find out. I really like this idea. Not only does it add more colour to the page subtly but it's good for the audience to find out who the artist is.

This spread also uses block capitals but only uses one on the first word of the block text. The text is split into three columns which are all different sizes. I like this idea also as the text doesn't look overwhelming in the first two columns. However, the third column is rather long, especially in comparison to all the other texts, so I don't like that.
The main image is the only image on the page. I like the simplicity of this. There is also a prop being used: the table with the red striped fabric over laying it.

Kerrang:




This double page spread is different to the others I have looked at as there are multiple pictures. I really like this idea as it makes the page look way more interesting. The colours used are white text on black background and black text on white background and occasionally red text on both. This is a common thing that music magazines do. I like the amount of red they have used: strictly for the text. I also like how the pictures are all black and white. I'm not sure if I will use this for my magazine but it will be an idea I experiment with.

The biggest piece of text on the page is a quote from the interview with the band. This is used to attract readers to read the rest of the interview. I like the idea of this also. I also like the use of two colours in the title. This makes it stand out more and look more interesting.

This spread, like the others, uses drop capitals for the first word of the text on the interview. The rest of that text is in two columns, both the same size. I like this as it doesn't look an overwhelming amount of text to read. There is a small piece of text in the corner of each photo that explains who it is and a quirky comment.

Another unique thing about this spread is the white vertical banner on the left side which goes into detail about the artists tracks. I like this idea but I think it's too out there for me to use in my magazine. There is also a small piece of advertising for the magazines website in the top left. I think this looks good on this spread but wouldn't look good with most other magazines.