Double Page Spread Analysis



After looking at several examples of double page spreads in music magazines I have noticed many techniques and methods to insure that it is used successfully and makes an enjoyable experience reading and viewing the spread for the magazines target audience. After looking at a few spreads I noticed a large resemblance in how the double page spread effectively juggles both image and text throughout. I have noticed how most spreads dedicate one page for an image and another for text, I feel that by doing this it makes sure that spread remains enjoyable and consistent throughout and avoids the content from getting boring. This is also reinforced by how most spreads use a pretty informal format and house style this also insures that the content remains consistent. Most high quality music magazine company's use a very formal and thorough spread this makes sure that it goes in depth regarding the spreads contents. The simple house style high quality music magazines use also allow for a really plain but effective spread as it avoids the reader form becoming distracted by small images and captions which is why the mainstream company's stick strong to the simple plain house style. The key magazine company that I have noticed that does this is Q. I have noticed that within most of there spreads they stick to the simple house style as well as the large image on one page. Q also uses the first letter in the artists name as a background which is a useful technique as it ensures that the text doesn't get boring and irritatingly long.



Positives of Photoshop

Positives of Photoshop

There are many reasons why you may want to learn and fully use Photoshop towards a very good standard and get the most from the hue range of things you can accomplish with Photoshop whether its being creative and expressing your creativity through Photoshop or using it as a source of profit in your life, these are just some of the things you can accomplish through Photoshop.
Here are a few of the main things you can accomplish through Photoshop:

• Create professional, beautiful graphic works
• Grow ability and even express your creativity
• An enjoyable profession and even burgeoning a career or hobby
• Enhance your portfolio
• An investment that will pay of in time through financial and personal fulfilment
• Increase proficiency and performance
• Seeing visual ideas and dreams come to life through your own work
• Becoming a creative graphics professional or image editor
• Meeting and exceeding certain job requirements
• Pride in your work and even self accomplishment
• Higher pay for higher quality
• Mastery of the software
• Being able to share the work you have made

This list shows a large number of life changing affects Photoshop can have on someone, even dramatic effects on someone's lifestyle and even future as it opens new doorways to go through in their life.

my college magazine contents

THE ROCK

Ideology of a music magazine

Ideology

An ideology is a set of beliefs or opinions that we have against someone or something. Ideology is very important in advertising and definitely throughout music magazines. Magazines rely on ideology throughout there sales as it is show through groups and genres. In the NME it has a really large range and group allowing it to make more sales compared to other magazines. The ideology behind the NME magazine is a rock/pop attitude which stands out to other magazines such as kerrang which stands out due to its rebellious attitude. The ideology is used to make a specific genre or band stand out against others. For example we have a portrayal that rap music contains artists that are always associated with drugs etc. My ideology about the NME magazine is that because of its large fan base it really focuses on there audience through the genre they specialise in.

NME Cover Analysis

I chose to analyse a NME magazine cover as I am aiming towards a magazine that doesn't focus on one specific genre of music , which is something NME does well as it well mixes rock and pop music. Although I am not too interested in pop music I feel its a good idea to use a blend of 2 or more genres.

The codes and conventions of this magazine cover show the lead singer from the killers (Brandon flowers) express 3 different emotions through image. Each image portrays a separate emotion emphasising the text which says "I'm having a personal crisis right now..." Each image also has a ripped paper effect showing the confusion and again reinforcing the fact that he's having a personal crisis. The  main codes and conventions are through the image as it is the main picture and story of the magazine.

The house style of this NME cover shows a red black and yellow theme towards the top of the page, this allows the text to reflect from the background and allow it to stand out to the reader. Also the cover uses a strong reflection of white and uses the image as a background colour. This makes for an interesting theme and effect. This is a technique a lot of music magazines use so I will have to take this in consideration when making my cover.

The pragmatics and underline meaning of this cover is all about Brandon flowers and how he is currently having a personal crisis and the story will go more into depth about how this effects him and even the killers as a band. I feel that the image well portrays this as it reveals a lot of facial expressions the he might use and show his confusion and personal problems. The text portrays this as it uses a good reflection of black and white showing the darks and lights about the artist.

This magazine is targeted towards a rock/pop genre. This cover emphasises this as it uses the killers as the headline story who are a very well know and popular band which really represent the pop/rock genre the NME is aimed at. The cover uses large font saying "the killers" to allow it to stand out to the reader. The cover uses a lot of yellow and red to make it stand out to the reader, also on the cover it advertises reviews and festivals which may be vital to certain magazine buyers.

The Mise En Scene of this image portrays a positive story about Brandon flowers, this is the first thing we notice. This is due to the high key lighting that is used as well as the white background. The image also represents the band as it shows what Brandon, because he is dressed casually it doesn't fit him into a specific genre, where as if it was metal he may wear a lot of black clothes. Each image also shows a specific emotion of Brandon flowers, this is well presented through the mise en scene as in one of the images we see him wearing glasses and being happy showing the simple effect from a small accessory such as sunglasses.

The masthead in this image is in the top left of the page, this is because it is where you read first on a page. It is also large and red and uses a black background to allow it to stand out, The black is only on a banner so it doesn't affect the key image of the cover.

The cover uses a lot of text towards the top of the page and bottom to advertise small things inside the magazine such as a festival review, but towards the middle of the page there is near to no text. The only text that is used shows the killers and a small section of what's inside the magazine. This allows the cover to be simple and unique as not many covers do this although I feel it is a good effect. Also the font that is used is very standard allowing the cover to be informal.

As seen in many other blog posts I have been experimenting with a lot of photo manipulation to enhance my Photoshop skills for when it comes to making my own magazine cover. In this cover Photoshop has probably been used on Brandon flowers himself as well as the ripped effect that has been given.