Research into similar products - double page spreads

After my First draft I identified that the weakest part of my magazine was the double page spread because I feel as if I lack knowledge into how to create a double page spread that both looks authentic and holds some cohesion between the artist and the text. More so, I felt that I was not completely sure on what I was aiming for my page and to ensure the double page spread is equally as good as my other two sections I feel as if I need to solidify my ideas by researching into other music magazines to look at how the approach double page spreads and what style is suggested through them. Back In October when most of the research for our magazine was completed I looked into double page spreads (another example is available here) as well as front covers and contents pages of music magazines and analysed the effectiveness and of the house style, photography and layout of the pages and what aesthetic the magazine aimed for and whether they achieved it. From this I was given a basic understanding of what I may need to include within my double page spread E.G drop capitols, 1 or two photos of your main cover star and pull quotes. On the other hand, I also learnt that there is a wide variety of ways to approach double page spreads since the two posts I analysed had quite different double page spreads in my opinion.

This double page spread includes quite a few magazine conventions and features that are quite appealing and may include into my own double page spread such as the use of several images of the artist instead of just one which may reflect the different parts to the artist's personality or the different inspirations in her music while also looking very aesthetically pleasing. More so, there is a very strong sense of a house style within this double page spread with colours such as blue, grey and white mainly consisting throughout the page which is dominated by the fluorescent orange dress the star is wearing to immediately grab the audience's attention. I feel as if I have too done this to some degree as I have a house style of black and white for my double page spread but is dominated by the different tints of blue in my artist Tristan's outfit and so lures the audience's attention to him more so than anything else on the page.

I decided to also look into another double page spread to compare the two and see what features I found most effective from both. From this double page spread I feel that a distance is formed between the artist and the audience as a lack of symbiosis with the title and the photograph slightly hides the artist which I think may be the drawback to the title of the double page spread as I do find the font type used creates this rebellious and wild ethos the magazine is aiming for due to the graffiti style font used against a brick wall. Furthermore, the quite original and unique structure of the double page spread by having the article itself quite insignificant in comparison to the rest of the page allows the audiences focus to be drawn to Rita Ora immediately.