Double Page Spread Deconstruction: Olly Murs

This is a double page spread from a music magazine featuring Olly Murs. In this post I am going to be deconstructing this double page spread and looking at the conventions of a double page spread. When I am doing this I will be looking to see if there are any particular conventions that this magazine has used that I would or would not like to use when it comes to making my own double page spread for my music magazine.
This magazine isn't of the genre of magazine I am going to be creating, however I am going to be using it to look at the different layouts and styes of different genres of music magazine and see if there are any particular conventions that I would like to try and incorporate within my magazine. 

This particular double page spread is from a christmas issue of this magazine so they have decided to go with the theme of christmas and winter. Therefor the magazine has used imagery of snowflakes within the background of the page. They have also titled the article "Merry Christmurs!" which is obviously a play on words with christmas and Murs, which is the last name of the feature artist. The images that they have used on this page are appropriate to the theme as they are of the feature artist, Olly Murs, and they show him in winter clothing and with christmas related items. 
I don't think that using a theme would fit with the genre of my magazine. I think that if I were to use a theme similar to the one used on this double page spread it wouldn't appeal to my target audience; I think using a theme is more appropriate for younger people who like the pop genre. So therefor I wont be using a theme within my magazine.

Within the text they have used both pull quotes and drop caps. The pull quote that they have used reads "Rylan walked around naked most of the time", this pull quote is designed to intrigue the readers into reading the rest of the article as they may find it funny and they also might find some gossip. They have used a drop cap at the start of the article, this lets the reader know where to start the article. For this drop cap they have used a slightly different font to the rest of the text in the article and they have made it look as though it has been highlighted by using the yellow behind it, this makes it stand out even more.
I think that I might use both of these conventions within my magazine as I think it both looks good on the page and it makes the article easier for the reader to understand. 

The strap line uses a lot of slang, you can tell the sort of accent that they would have. The accent is similar to the one which Olly Murs actually has, so it does tie in with the rest of the article. You can see this where it reads "its a jolly 'holiday". I think this is quite clever and I might consider doing something similar in my magazine.

This double page spread has used quite a lot of fonts, which I personally don't like as I think that it makes the page look too busy, however it does suit this particular magazine genre. They have used a big, bold font for the title of the article, this font hasn't been used anywhere else on the page, so this helps the title stand out even more. I will be doing this for my double page dread as I want my title to stand out from the rest of the article/interview. They have again used a different font for the strap line, the pull quote, the picture captions, the drop cap and the article/interview. 
When I am making my double page spread I want to stick to a minimalistic font for my article and have a bigger, bolder font for my title. I want my page to look good but I don't want it to look busy with too many fonts like this double page spread.

I like how this article has used multiple images, yet you can still see which is the main image they want you to focus on, as it fills a full page. I think I might do something similar with my magazine as I want to use more than one image (but not too many) and I want to have one main image out of the ones I choose to use and I want it to be pregnant on the page. However I will have my images a bit more organized than this page as I don't want to make my double page spread look cluttered with different conventions.

This double page spread has used four main colours, yellow, red, blue and black. I think that this makes the page look too busy and I won't be using similar colours together in my magazine as I don't think they go together very well. However I think that having these sort of colours together suits the pop, childish genre of this particular magazine. When making my double page spread I want to have a maximum of three main colours as I don't think that it matches the genre of my magazine if I have too many colours. 

Double Page Spread Deconstruction: Rita Ora

This is a double page spread from a music magazine featuring Rita Ora. In this post I am going to be deconstructing this double page spread and looking at the conventions of a double page spread. When I am doing this I will be looking to see if there are any particular conventions that this magazine has used that I would or would not like to use when it comes to making my own double page spread for my music magazine.

For this double page spread they have only used one image of the main feature (Rita Ora) on the page, this is unusual for a double page spread on the feature artist as they tend to use other images of the artist on the page. I like how they have done this however as the image fills both of the pages as a background and I think it makes the magazine its self look like a well put together, professional magazine. I might do something similar when it comes to my magazine as I like how they have used the main image as the background. However I think I might use more than one image on my double page spread as I think that makes the page look more put together and interesting, and it is more appropriate for my target age group as they are teenagers so they don't like to have too much to read and they will probably get bored if the page is mainly writing. 

This double page spread does have a particular color scheme of mainly three colors, red, black and grey. I like how they have done this as I think that it looks simplistic yet it is effective and it does look good. I am going to try to stick to three main colors when doing my double page spread as I don't want my page to look to busy as it will be, not only hard for the reader to look at, but also hard for them to read and understand. 

I think that it looks good how they have used the most bold color of the three, red, as the color for the headline, the kicker and the questions from the interviewer. This helps the reader know where to start reading and it overall makes the pages easier to navigate. When it comes to making my double page spread I will use the boldest color for the questions (if I decide to do an interview), the kicker and the title. I will do this because I want my page to be as easy for my reader to navigate as possible and I also want it too look good. I am using this double page spread as inspiration for my magazine as I do like the color scheme and I want to use a similar color scheme for my music magazine.

On this double page spread the headline is just the name of the artist it is featuring, this isn't a typical thing for a magazine to do on an article as they usually include a short, snappy headline that they think will draw people into reading it. This double page spread also doesn't have a strap line under the title, but it does have a kicker which gives a brief description of the article that will persuade the reader to read on as they think that they might hear some good gossip as it reads 'plus what is really going on with her and Rihanna...'. I think when it comes to making my magazine double page spread I will have design my headline to try and intrigue my readers, although this idea of just using the artists name as the headline is simple and effective I personally don't think I will be using it. however I will be using something similar when it comes to the kicker.

The text that is seen on this double page spread is in columns, I think this is a good way of organizing the page and making it easier for the reader to understand. Usually in magazines when they use columns for organizing the text they align them so they all have the start and finish line of the columns in the same place, but in this magazine they haven't put the starting line in the same place. When making my double page spread I will be using columns for my text but I will align them properly as I think that it looks better.

The font that it see for the article is very simple in comparison to the font used for the headline. The headline is in a bold font in a much bigger size than the rest of the text on the page. I think this is a good idea as it makes it stand out from the rest of the page and it is recognizable as the headline. I will be making my headline a different font and color to the rest of the text as I want it to stand out as much as possible. The font is more simplistic in the article because it needs to be easy for the readers to read, I will do this for my article as I actually want my readers to be able to read my article. 
However the questions from the interviewer are in a different font to the rest of the text and it is in italics, this is a good way of getting the questions to stand out, apart from the color. I think it would have looked better if the kicker would have been in the same font as the questions as it would haver tied the article together more.

Font research

This is  the mood-board that I have created whilst researching fonts.

I looked on line on http://www.dafont.com/ at a lot of different fonts. I was looking at fonts for both my masthead on the front cover of my magazine, cover lines, my main sell-line and the text inside the magazine.

I looked at a wide variety of fonts from fonts with and without serifs and decorative fonts. For my masthead I want a bold font so it stands out on the cover, however I do want a font that will fit the genre of my magazine and the image I want to create. I want to have a font for my masthead that will be unique and not too similar to any other music magazines masthead. I want my masthead to be recognisable as it is the first thing that readers see on the shelf.

I want to have a font that is different to the one used for the masthead  for the font that I will use for my main sell-line. I want to have a font that isn't as bold as the masthead but I want a font that will still stand out on the page and not blend in with the main image.

For my cover lines I want the font to be similar if not the same to the one that I have used for my main sell line as I don't want the cover to have too many fonts on it as I don't want it too look too cluttered/tacky. If I use the same font as my main sell-line I will make the text size smaller and have the main sell line bold as I want the main sell-line to be bigger than the cover lines as the main sell-line is the main feature in the magazine.

When creating my double page spread I will have a big bold font that will stand out from the page as the main headline for that article, however for the article/interview its self I will have a simplistic font in a smaller size. I will do this not only so the headline stands out but so the article is easy for the reader to understand and see. 

Colour Scheme Mood Board

I have created a mood board displaying the research that I have done regarding the colour scheme I will be using on my music magazine front cover and inside the magazine its self.

When doing my research on colour schemes I looked at different magazine front covers and I looked to see if there were any particular colour scheme on the front covers. I took some of the front covers that I thought had either interesting or similar colour schemes to what I want to have for my music magazine. I took these images and added them to my mood board.

I also looked at some colour charts to see what colored went well together and then I decided whether or not they would go with the genre of magazine I am going to create. 

I have decided that when designing my magazine that I want to stick to three or four main colours. I will have three or four main colors on the front cover, contents page and double page spread. For example I might have red, black and grey on the front cover of my magazine butt on the double page spread I might make it be black, grey, white and lilac. I am only going to use three or four main colors because I don't my magazine to look too busy and tacky, I also want it to look good and be easy for my readers to look at and understand.

I will have a certain colour scheme for my double page spread which will be different to the rest of the magazine as I want my colour choices to reflect the artists style and genre and I want it to be obvious that this is the main article within the magazine.

Top Of The Pops Contents Page Deconstruction

 This is the contents page deconstruction that i did for one of the issues of Top Of The Pops music magazine.

In this deconstruction I have looked at the conventions that this magazine has used when making this particular contents page. I have looked at different things that the magazine has done, and whilst I have been doing this I have been deciding which conventions I like, and may use in my magazine, and I have decided which conventions I don't like as much and won't be using in my magazine contents page.

In this particular contents page I liked how they had taken the image of the front cover of this issue of the magazine and it shows you where the articles featured on the front cover are within the magazine. I might do something similar in my magazine. However I don't like how brightly coloured this contents page is and I won't be using similar colors within my magazine. I won't be doing this because it doesn't fit in with the target audience for my magazine (16-20 years old) as it looks like it is targeted at young teenagers (11-14 years old) and genre of my music magazine.

NME Magazine Contents Page Deconstruction

 This is the contents page deconstruction that i did for one of the issues of NME magazine.

In this deconstruction I have looked at the conventions that this magazine has used when making this particular contents page. I have looked at different things that the magazine has done, and whilst I have been doing this I have been deciding which conventions I like, and may use in my magazine, and I have decided which conventions I don't like as much and won't be using in my magazine contents page. 

In this particular contents page I liked the layout of the page, I also liked how they had used a variety of different images. However I didn't like how the page looked slightly cramped. I will keep these things in mind when making my magazines contents page.

Billboard Magazine Contents Page Deconstruction

 This is the contents page deconstruction that i did for one of the issues of Billboard music magazine.

In this deconstruction I have looked at the conventions that this magazine has used when making this particular contents page. I have looked at different things that the magazine has done, and whilst I have been doing this I have been deciding which conventions I like, and may use in my magazine, and I have decided which conventions I don't like as much and won't be using in my magazine contents page. 

In this particular contents page I didn't like how sparse the layout was and I didn't like the images used. I personally thought that I wouldn't be able to tell that it was a music magazine if it didn't have the music charts at the side of the page.