FOLLOWING AND CHALLENGING CONVENTIONS:

DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD

MAIN IMAGESMain images on double page spreads conventionally take up at least one whole page, sometimes overlapping onto two pages. Examples from Billboard and Mixmag demonstrate how the images can range from a close up to a long shot. I chose to do a close up in order to show all the painting on her face as it is the main aspect on the image and what the genre is all about. I also used an image that took up only one page as I didn’t want any of it to become less visible within the page when folded.

DROP CAPSDrop caps are mainly used to introduce the article onto the double page spread or even used to promote another paragraph. Here are some examples from Billboard, Mixmag and Q to show different drop caps to introduce new articles. I followed this convention in my article as I thought it was a good theme to follow at the start of the beginning of the article. I didn’t want to use it again because I don’t think it has the same effect if I used it over again. Conventionally , drop caps are a different colour to the font, however, I challenged this because I thought the white colour looks better than being bright green.

PULL QUOTESPull quotes are also another convention of a double page spread and it is often placed in the middle of the article to show real representation and interrupting the column text. I have used examples from Billboard, Q and Mixmag which follows this convention. I followed this convention as I thought it was really inspirational to have a big quote in the middle of the content in a different colour to the white but still following the colour scheme with the green. Some magazines only include pull quotes as the title of the article.

TITLESFor my magazine, I used a big bold title at the bottom of my double page spread covering the full double page spread. This challenges conventional titles as they are mainly found on the top of the double page spread such as examples from Billboard, Q and Mixmag. I chose a different font from the front cover and contents page because I thought it would be a better to realise what the artists article is all about.

PAGE NUMBERSPage numbers are a conventional asset to double page spreads and also a necessity so the reader is able to find where the double page spread is by easily finding articles using the contents page. Most magazines print the page numbers on the bottom corner so that it doesn’t interfere with the article. These are shown from examples such as Mixmag, Q and Billboard. I challenged this as I also wrote “page” with the number in bright green to make it stand out because the background colour of the magazine was black and easy to find.

COLUMNSThese examples from Q, Billboard and Mixmag show that columned text is a convention that all magazines use when producing double page spreads. Therefore I used this convention in my own magazine. It makes the article clearer and easier to read as well as making the page look more interesting. I chose to use two columns rather than three columns as some magazines opt for.