Double Page Spread Research

This is a conventional double page spread. Most double page spreads have a large image of the featured artist and an article around it. In this case though the image is especially large taking a whole page, this means that it dominates the two pages and draws your attentions to it, I think they have done it this way because the band featured isn’t very well known or main stream. As the image is so big it is key to setting the tone of the double page spread, the image is usually related to what the subject of the text is about. In this case the image shows the band members in a bedroom, this suggests that they are letting you in on their personal life and the article is about getting to know the band members. It uses a simple colour scheme black, white and blue. They use the blue to highlight things to make them stand out, this is effective because there is quite a lot of content on the two pages and the blue highlights the important bits for the reader. A column dedicated to different lesser known bands is included to add variety to the double page spread and they separate it by having it on a black background, where as the rest has a white background. I like the use of colour in this double page spread and the fact that it is dominated by a large image but I think the layout is too simple for my style of magazine and in order to carry on my alternative punk rock theme, mine will need to have a more unusual style.

This double page spread has an unusual layout, the image covers the whole page and the Paramore text is on an angle, it has little text compared to other magazines. The main difference in style to other magazines is the way they have used the image, the guys in the band are in black and white and act as the background, where as Hayley Williams the lead singer is in colour, this portrays that she has a higher status than the other members, it highlights the fact that she is the lead singer and that she is the only girl in the band. The Paramore text is yellow which ties in with the lead singer’s hair which is blond and ginger, this also helps to display here dominance as they use her colours for the bands title. The edgy, different style is used to reflects the nature of the band and their style, I want to try and create a similar style in my double page spread maybe use some text on an angle and use a small amount of text. 

This double page spread has an unusual layout it has one main image in the centre of the lead singer of one bands and then dotted around it separate pictures of other artist, usually the double page spread includes an image of all the member is one band . This double page spread is about a live performance where as normally the article would include an interview of an artist. The colour scheme is very dark, black, dark green and dark red this is because the featured band is a metal band so it is representative of the genre. There a small amount of writing compared to most articles, a reason for this may be that they haven’t interviewed the artist so they haven’t got that content to use and talk about in the article, just the information about the live performance. The right hand column has reactions from some of the crowd members and the picture in the bottom right hand corner shows the crowd having a good time these features are important in promoting the artists who performed and allows the reader to relate to the event. I like the idea of having lots of different images in the double page spread but as I am probably only having one artist features on my double page spread I will just us the generic one picture group shot format and have the text around it. 

This double page spread stands out because, the title text is really big compared to the rest of the page and is in a contrasting fancy font, the rest of the magazine is pretty plain and simple. The colour scheme is quite boring, only black, white and greys are used, this helps give the double page spread a professional, clean and modern look. The group’s picture takes up a lot of the page but the big title “the Joshua code” still dominates the page, the picture has a its own separate colour scheme all the band members are wearing blue, this makes them stand out from the plain grey background. The reading and Leeds advertisement in the top left corner draws your attention because it is completely contrasting colours to the rest of the magazine. The title itself “The Joshua Code” draws your attention because it is none descriptive and makes you want to read the article to find out what it means. Overall this double page spread looks very professional but it isn’t unique apart from the unusual format of the title. I think I want my double page spread to look less mainstream, keep it simple and use brighter colours. I like the idea of the large title standing out and may use incorporate this idea in to my double page spread design.

Contents Page Final Stages

This is the final version of my contents page. I copied the way in which the features section is formatted from one of the contents pages I researched.This means putting the features at the bottom of the page in a continuous list, in a block paragraph. It took me a little while to find the right font. I tried to using the ones from my front cover but they didn't look right because they weren't clear enough so I had to use a different font to make the block paragragh style work. I decided to use this layout because  it is a bit different and I thought to carry on the theme of my front cover it would have to look a bit edgy and different. The way in which the features section is formatted helps achieve this look.

I came up with the idea of having the Fatality down the side of the image and using the first two letters as an acrostic because I wanted the Fatality contents to be separate from the rest of the features at the bottom of the page. I also think it makes the page look more professional and neat as well as edgy and a bit different.

Overall I am really pleased with my contents page I think is looks simple and effective with a couple of unusual twists which makes it stand out from other contents pages.





This is the first stage of my contents page. Like most contents pages the image is the main focus of the page. I was planning to have text at the bottom of the page so I had to leave a space for that. I used the same flux graphics as my front cover, magazines do this to make their magazine logo become iconic. I decided to use a plain white background because the version where I have used a pink and black background didn't work and didn't look proffessional so I decided to copy most other well known magazine contents pages such as Q and Kerrang and use a simple colour scheme; black, white and red this colour scheme also compliments the picture because the graphiti is black and white and the heart is red. I used the eyedropper tool to copy the red of the heart in the graphiti and then use it for the title, this means that the it ties in with the image.

Photo Decision for Contents Page

This is the edited version of my contents page image. It was cropped to remove some of the background on the right hand side which wasn't useful. I then quick selected the piece of background that wasnt interesting behind the band members and use a filter called box blur, this brought the band memberst o the foreground in the photo giving them a type of blurred glow. I liked the angle it was shot at, it looks a bit different to the standard main stream contents page image.The graffiti is a strange image, it reflects the images of the
two band members, black and white,wild and the unique style. The red heart stands out in contradicts the rest of the image, this helps give it an edgy look.

First drafts and layout experiments

 This was my first attempt at a cover page before I went and took some new images. I thought that the best thing to do was follow the generic layout tha tmost magazines have and continue the colour scheme of the cover page. As I began to put this together it started to become obvious that this layout and choice of colours wasn't going to work. The colours were too bright and the amount of black and pink didn't look good, the image didnt look right becuase the editing I had done made the image look too heavy. This is when I started to research and look in to alternatives.

On this contents page I was experimenting with the idea of having the picture on an angle. I got this idea form a smaller image in my research of a Q magazine it does look quite quirky and funky but I  realised that this idea wouldn't be functional and the tilted image would just look a bit strange and not proffessional.

Contents page photo edits

 I quick selected the backround on this image again, I felt this way I could make the band members stand out from the backgorund and by using a filter give the image a certain feel. The artistic filter I used was underpainting this gave the image a distorted, blurred look that worked well with the bleakness of the image.

 On this image I used a technique called colour popping, this means turning the image blakc and white and a sepereate layer to the original and then rubbing any colour that you want back in to the photo. I thought this would work because the original image of the face was black and white anyway and the band member on the right (Dan) was wearing bright blue trousers and spongebob on his top. However the other band member on the left (Rich) was completely faded out of the image giving it an unbalanced look.

I liked the colours in the background of this photo. I used the quick selection tool to select the background so that I could apply a filter to it and not the band members. I experimented with the different artistic filters and made a decision on one calle drough pastels. The filter makes the image look more graphic and the colours have merged together a bit adding to the affect and feel of the graffiti.