Double Page Spread

I opened the image up in photoshop using a preset setting of A3, I then rotated the canvas so that the page was landscape instead of portrait. I opened my image and then re sized it. I used 'Auto Contrast', 'Auto Colour' and 'Auto Levels' so the colours were near to live as possible. I then increased the contrast and brightness slightly to make the image more vibrant and alive.



The next step was to add my font for my double page spread. I got the font from www.dafont.com. It was under the 'type writer' subheading and is called 'Rubberstamp'. I print screened the preview and individually copy and pasted the font onto the photoshop document. I then coloured the white into the same colour purple as used on my front cover for my masthead. I used this colour because I still wanted to continue my colour theme through out my double page spread.

I then flattened the layers and saved the file as a jpeg and opened it up in Adobe InDesign. I have never used InDesign before so using this programme is a new experience for me. I added 3 columns for my text and started writing my interview in a Question and Answer format. I am going to add a pull quote in a bigger font and a different colour in my columns. I am going to do this because it will break down the continuous writing.






In my fourth screen grab I have continued my interview question and added a quote from the interview and made it larger and in brackets to capture the viewers attention. I also included a photo in the bottom to relate to the person who was asking the artist the question. However I do not think that it is finished yet because the other side (the left side) of my double page spread is too empty.

This is a print screen, showing a few changes i have made to my double page spread. I moved my introductory paragraph over to the other page to fill the gap and make it look more conventional. This means that there isn't as much text on the other page. So my next task will be to fill the gap with more questions and answers. I also added the magazines logo at the bottom corner of the pages as well as the page number which matches the appropriate contents page number and finally the issue month.

 After some more tweeking and improvements. This is my music magazine double page spread. I am very happy with my final result. I think it looks conventional and the page looks full and busy enough. To achieve this I moved around the text and also included the title of the artist the article is about. I also changed the font for the page numbers and issue date, again to make it look more conventional. This has worked. However I think I could still improve it.

 To improve on from my last work I wanted to break down how much text was on the page. I was also influenced by Q Magazines Cash for Questions double page spread layout. I created a banner at the top of my page to explain what the double page spread is going to be about. Using Exclusive Interview With... makes it sound and seem like it is/will be a reaccurring theme in my music magazine. So in doing this again has made my magazine look more conventional.

A few more examples of double page spreads...

 My favourite part about this double page spread is how they have included the artists name in the headline but they have done it in a very subtle way. I also like how the member they are talking to/about out of the group is clearly defined and is the main focal point because he has not been faded like the other band members.





 

The best part about this double page spread is the pull quote and how using the style font they have chosen and the size of it exaggerates the 'attention seeker' part of the pull quote. Again I think this is very subtly and cleverly done. I prefer these kinds of double page spreads that havent got columns and columns of lots of text. I think it is more appealing to a reader to have the text broken down. I will bear this in mind when I create my own double page spread.

Task 4

What type of DPS is this?

This is an interview Double Page Spread.

What is conventional about it?

The layout, it follows the Question & Answer format.

How can we tell the genre of music - is it obvious?

Pop style music. You can tell this due to the colours used, they look very young and girly. 

What patterns are repeated?

There is a consistent colour theme - pink and turquoise. 

What's interesting about the layout?

There is a main image covering nearly the whole page and then lots of other little images, doing this breaks down the flow of text.

What colour scheme is there?

Pink and turquoise

Does the font work - why?

Yes, the font matches the target audience age. It works well because it is very simple, young and modern.

Is the main image eye catching - why?

Yes, because the band members take up the majority of the page and they are also making eye contact with you. There are also a well known band for the target age group so if he audience see's the image they should recognize them.

Can you identify how they layout has been created in indesign?

Not particularly.

Will you repeat any of the design or layout for your coursework?

Yes, I will follow the question and answer style format.

Double Page Spread Photoshoot

Task 3

Find an example of a music magazine feature spread and label it with the correct key terms.

 

The masthead

The masthead is bold and done in a 'highlighted' style with the blue around the black text. This makes it easy to see what the article is about. I think that because it is done in a bright colour this attracts peoples eye to the article. It is in a bigger font then anything else on the page because it is the most important part of the magazine that people see instantly. The masthead suggests what the article is going to be about because it is the bands name 'The Teenagers'.

The sub-heading

The sub-heading says 'Young, dumb and full of...filthy tunes' It relates to the main heading because it is still about the band. Using the words young and dumb are immediately linked to teenagers hence why they have used these words. The font is not 'highlighted' and in the same font like the masthead because it is not the main text on the page.

Drop capital

The drop capital is used because it creates a nice visual effect. Sometimes they are used more then one time in an article to break up the blocks of writing. They are also used to show the start of the text. It is in black because this follows the colour theme on the page.

The first two paragraphs

Although the first two paragraphs are not readable. They are often there to introduce the band/artist and give you some background information on them. It also introduces what they may be interviewing the band about. I think this is a good idea to do because if someone reads the article who doesn't know the band, they may come to like them and want to carry on reading.

The questions

Again you cannot read what has been written, but normally in an interview with a band or artist the interview is set out in a Question and Answer style. It is done like this because it is neat, tidy and easy to read. Depended upon who the magazine are interviewing they may use formal or informal tones. However I found after looking at music magazines in shops, the majority of interviews are done in a informal and conversational style. I think they do this because you want an interview to be relaxed and as a reader you feel more comfortable reading this style of writing rather then formal writing. I also think that if you as the interviewer and are more relaxed and informal you are more likely to have a better interview and get more answers form the band/artist. The questions are often either in a different colour, bold or underlined, this is done so that the layout format is easier to understand. The questions are often to relevant to the target audience the magazine company are trying to attract.

Images
The main image is of the band featured, 'The Teenagers'. Personally I think the main image suits the bands name and the article. They are all laying on a bed, looking lazy which is what teenagers do, they don't have any sort of facial expression and are sat there 'lazying' about which again are what teenagers are known to act like. The posters stuck on the wall are not put up straight, the way they are angled are done in a clever way so that the lines of the pages draw you into the band members on the bed. Overall it is one of five images on the page but is by far the biggest image covering the whole of one page.

Pull quotes
The pull quote used says "Of course we're a sexual band. We're The Teenagers and that's all they think about" it is said by one of the band members called Quentin. It is positioned in the middle of the page again 'highlighted' like the masthead to draw your attention in. I think it proves that although the band are serious about their music they are also out just to have fun like any other teenagers.

Layout
The layout is very tidy and organised. It is not overcrowded with text and is broken down by a number of images used. On the right hand side they have a column about other band which are like the feature band 'The Teenagers'. They also in the bottom left hand corner have what looks like a ripped out note page, how it is layed out reminds me of a shopping list. With the things you need to know being listed.

Colours
One of the colours used is blue, i think they have used blue because it is stereotypically associated with boys and the band is all boys. However really blue is a colour for both genders so I think it will interest both male and female readers. The other two colours are the simple colours black and white. Using a mixture of these 3 colours creates a good contrast and all the colour looks well together and layered together. However for the advertorial NME still use their colour they are associated with which is red.

Task 2 - Planning your double page spread - Proposal

What type of double page spread do you intend to create
After researching into the different types of double page spreads there are and looking at what each type of spread includes and as well as looking at music magazines in shops. It has become apparent to me that the most used and obvious choice would be to use a Interview styled double page spread.

Explanation of how this is appropriate and relevant for your target audience and your genre of music magazine
I think doing an Interview style double page spread is appropriate and relevant for my target audience because my target audience are teenagers and young adults. I think and believe that people of this age aspire to be like someone especially if they are their role model/idol, and having a question and answer interview style double page spread helps the reader find out information about the artist or band. I think an Interview style will also suit my chosen genre of music which is Indie because Indie kids really aspire to become famous and well known or at least stereotypically people think this.

How you intend to incorporate original images
I think the best way to incoporate my images and have enough space for text would be to have one image covering one page with a possible smaller image included on the other page of the double page spread. As I am doing an interview I could use pictures instead of intitals or names of the band memebers just to make the interview and layout look a bit more interesting.

How will you obtain information and images for your feature spread
To obtain information for my spread I will do some research into other double page spreads, especially Interview styled double page spreads as this is the style I have chosen to follow. I will arrange another photoshoot with the same model who was on my front cover and will do another shoot for my double page spread.

What visual style you would like to achieve
I would like to achieve a simple yet affective style. I want it to look modern because it needs to attract the younger audience, I will do this by using a san-serif font.

What style of writing you intend to use
I intend to use colloquial, chatty and informal styled writing. I have chosen to do this because as a reader I enjoy reading magazines when you can understand what they say because they use simple words. Also because it's in a informal style you feel you can connect with the person who they are interviewing.

Double Page Spread Flatplan

Double Page Spread

This is a flat plan for my double page spread. After looking up into double page spreads from music magazine it has become clear that there often is one big picture which covers one page of the double page spread.
The album review will be of the band that will be on the double page spread. The text within my double page spread will be general background on the band and an interview style question and answer.
I chose to add a puff to the page because readers scam through and if anything catches their eye they are more likely to read what is on the page.
In the top left I included a tab because if people where to pick up the magazine and flip through they may see this and it will interest them in buying the magazine. It will say 'Interview' with the bands name underneath. I also included the page numbers because this is basic practice.

Task 1

What is a double page spread?
Exactly what it sounds like! It is two facing pages containing appropriate material which is intended to be viewed together ( so there should be a consistent design statement) It is often abbreviated to DPS. It could also be referred to as a 'feature spread'.

There are many different types of double page spreads or feature spreads. These are examples of a few of them:

• A poster styled double page spread. The key features of this style would be who the poster is of or something relating to the story.A poster normally covers one page of a double page spread or the whole double page spread. Could be very suitable for my music magazine if the photograph was of a relevant indie artist or band.
• An interview where an individual or group are questioned and responses could be written up in a question and answer format or as a continuous prose. Could be highly suitable if interview subject is from a band who are popular with my target audience.
• An album review with a star rating, a picture of the album and comments about the album. Could be written up as bullet points or separate paragraphs. You could have a spread on one band on their many albums or perhaps a variety of album reviews from different indie artists or bands. This type of double page spread would go well with my magazine genre - indie. But if I chose this type of double page spread I think I would use a variety of different work by indie artists.
• You could use the same idea as the album review but this time concentrate on one album with a song-by-song review. Each song could be sectioned off from each other, you could include comments people have made about the chosen song. You could also include the lyrics for the song. This would work well if you also had written why the chosen indie band/artist wrote this song and what the deeper meaning of the song is. Where they got influence from etc possibly also done in a question and answer style format.
•  A Photo shoot type double page spread. Where a band/group or artist have many photos of them spread across two pages. I don't think it would be very suitable for my music magazine double page spread because I think it needs text included, especially because of the pull quote "She ruined my life" written on my front cover. I think there needs to be reference to this visable.
• A gig/festival double page spread. This is a feature page that advertises the different concerts by different bands that are on. These include the bands name, dates, places, where to get tickets from and band websites and their information.

Change 2

The final change I made was changing the image in the top corner because I changed my front cover. I also included the date of the issue because this is a conventional aspect that continues through out magazines.

Change 1

Here are two screen grabs including my before and after the changes I had made to my contents page. My original looked unconventional because of the large open space under the contents. So to fix this problem I moved the white box and the font to under the contents page. This has worked well in two ways. The first being that it fills the empty looking gap and the second being that the white border breaks down the continuous list of writing. I then moved the You Me At Six cover line down so I could fit in a screen grab of my front cover. As written in my diary this was influenced by Q magazine. The fact that there is another image on the page alone makes it more conventional. Personally I think the change has worked.

Original                                                                                                          Changed

Diary

What I have done today 28/01/2011...
Today I started work on my contents page, I used the image I uploaded and included the appropriate cover line that I mentioned. I am very happy with how my contents page is coming on. It has all the conventions of a music magazine contents page and it has followed my flat plan and looks correct and appropriatly layed out.

What I have done today 04/02/2011...
Today I have continued work with my contents page. I completed my final contents page. But after looking at it and thinking of ways to improve it. I have slightly changed the layout of my contents page. I moved the issue date to under the contents page to fill the gap and I included a screen grab of my front cover. This again was influenced by Q. Here is an example from a Q magazine...