House Style

The house style for this double page spread is very dark and the colours which are mostly being used are reds, blacks and whites. This has been done to help set the scene of the specific genre which the story is about in the magazine. As you can see the headline is ‘American Horror Story’ which is scary and dark, so this is why these colours are used. This is also a very popular T.V show, which relates to the target audience. If the colours were bights and pretty it would go with the story.

Main Image

The main image of the double page spreads is very bold and big to grab the reader’s attention. The clothing they are wearing is very dark and again it sticks with the house style using mostly red and black, this helps set a scene in the reader’s mind of what the text is going to be about. One of the people in the picture looks like he has a mask on which also is scary and strange to help go with the story.

The Guttenberg Principle Design

Instantly when looking at this double page spread magazine the viewer’s eyes are directed to the top left hand corner which is the primary optical area. This is done on purpose so the reader gets a feel for the type of magazine it is. Then you look at the bottom right corner which is the terminal area, next you’re drawn to the top right corner which is strong fallow area and the last part you look at is the bottom left corner which is called weak fallow area.

Headline

The Headline is American Horror Story and calling it this indicates that the band are American and maybe they are talking about all the bad things they have done in their past due to it saying ‘Horror’ and ‘story’. The headline also helps to connote genre because it indicates it is going to be about something bad which could suggest the genre is horror or thriller. Also this specific headline is also the name of a very popular TV show which could suggest that people who watch the show are now fans of the band because it is similar to the show.

Text

There is a drop down caps at the beginning of the text. This is a convention of a double page spread. The example of this is where the T at the beginning of the paragraph is made bigger so it stands out. There are many pull quotes from the text. The writing if quite informal because there is some taboo language used throughout.

Design Balance

In this double page spread the design balance is very informal because this image is filling a full page and then going onto the next page and there is only writing on the right hand side which means there is no symmetry. Informed design balance is achieved because of this. However in the image the design balance is formal because it is symmetrical.