‘MOJO, ‘Vibe’ and ‘Reggae Report’.

The Pages…

MOJO

Vibe

Reggae Report

Consistent Features…

All three of these double page spreads allow for the reader to enter the text as far down the page as they want will still understand. The MOJO page is mainly 4 sections: The main header article title, the short clarification of the article (below the title), the main article and the caption on the right hand side of the dominant image. All of these entrance points obviously give varying levels of detail, but they all allow for the reader to endure information from the page, even if they don’t want to sit and read a whole article. The Reggae Report page also has various entrance points, but each of these would probably give completely different information/topics. When a reader opens the page, they will be able to pick up reading in multiple places, such as the title, the article or the advert down the right hand side. The Vibe page has the clearest array of entrance points, the article is clearly split up into questions and answers, and the reader will be aware that they could pick up reading at any of the orange lines of text as this clearly indicates a new question, and therefore a new topic of which would assumingly require no prior knowledge. These entrance points conform with the audience’s desires as a lot of people do not have the time to read an entire article and buy magazines to briefly flick through and pick up on minor topics, but not all of the details.

Various Entrance Points

2 out of these 3 double page spreads clearly follow the rule of thirds. The most obvious of these is Reggae Report. It is split up into three sections horizontally across the double page spread. On the left hand side is the article’s title with a supporting image being anchored by a short tagline. In the middle of the double page spread (split up slightly to stay visible between the two pages) is the main article, and to the right hand side is an advert above the final few paragraphs of the article. The Vibe double page spread is also split up into three main columns, although in this case, there are a few overlaps between the columns. The columns are: the ‘Jamelia’ article in the black box, the image of the artist and the questions/answers in the black box down the right. Although these sections/columns are unevenly slip up, and the sections get smaller as they move to the right, this rule of thirds creates a sense of order and pattern on, and between the pages. Despite this, the red text in the center of the two pages and the image of the artist do run over more than one of these segments. Due to this, they do look slightly out of place, but this could be normal for this magazine as it could be a part of their consistent house style. MOJO have not really conformed with the rule of thirds for this double page spread and so the page looks slightly spontaneously put together. Again, this could be a consistent house style for MOJO magazine and so the rule of thirds may have held no significance in the construction of this double page spread.

Conforming With The Rule Of Thirds

After reading these three double page spreads, and seeing the page style and furniture, it has become apparent that one of the most vital parts of a double page spread for most magazines (or at least three, and they each represent a different genre) is to anchor their imagery. There is rarely an image on a double page spread (besides very small images) of which are not reinforced by text to give clarification and reasoning. The most abrupt yet archetypal example of this from these three double page spreads can be seen on the MOJO page. In the bottom right corner, appropriately layered directly on top of the photo of famous artist Neil Young is a caption used to anchor down the appropriateness of the photo. The first line is “Neil Young confounds them all”. As a reader flicks through this magazine, they are going to first see the photo. If this photo interests them, they are then going to want to know more about the context. This is a prime example as the article is actually negatively portraying Neil Young, and so by anchoring this image, they are making it clear to Young’s fans that the article will not be singing his praises. As well, anchorage can be used purely to inform. In Reggae Report, the various images around the double page spread are anchored by one or two words, mainly the name of the people in the photo. This gives basic clarification and ensures that the reader will have full knowledge around what they are talking about.

Anchorage

Bylines are text basically informing who an article is written by. They are a very minute part of a double page spread, as a few words does not make much of a visual impact across two full pages, but they are still important in the iconography of these double page spreads. If a byline is not clearly visible, then the reader will have no idea who wrote the article, and this is often a large factor in people reading an article (fans of Charlie Brooker’s style of writing may read an article of which they have no interest him purely because of the writer). Reggae Report has very visible bylines for their articles. On this double page spread, there are two consistent examples of bylines, the main article’s byline – “By Diane Gurwitz and Stafford Ashani”. This gives clarification for the article. The other example can be seen actually anchoring the photos across the two photos. Every visible photo is being anchored by a byline, informing the reader of who took the photo. This gives an idea of target audience of the magazine as they believe that their readers will be interested in who took the photos, giving the idea that they would be mature and older. These bylines could also be for legal reasons, and so that the magazine can use external photographs without legal action. This may seem a useless piece of research, but it is very important for the iconography and realism of the magazine double page spread.

Bylines

Two out of three of these double page spreads begin their articles with a stand first. This is the article’s very first paragraph and is used to summarise the whole article without giving away any details of which may spoil it. I believe that the reason for Reggae Weekly not having a stand first is due to the time the magazine was released, and this wasn’t part of a music magazine’s iconography yet (although this is one of only a very small number of things separating this magazine from modern day magazines – this is why I chose to still use it despite its age). The stand first in the Vibe magazine summarises what the magazine will be about. It gives an overview of who Amelia is and makes it clear to the reader that a prior knowledge is not required to understand the article. The MOJO stand first requires a bit more prior knowledge, and is written as though the reader would already know who Neil Young is. This gives an indication to the older target audience of the magazine as Neil Young is an older artist and the assumption that he will automatically be know denotes an older demographic.

The Stand First

Drop cap

One page text, one page photo

Anchorage

One dominant image, pre-taken, no pose, non-direct gaze

Long stand first, uses comedic language to entice the reader instantaneously

Skyline used to make double page spread look full and complete

Dark colour palette, other than one line of text.

MOJO Furniture…

Strongly conforms with the rule of thirds

2 images across the 2 pages

Multiple entrance points

Primary colour palette

Article stretches across both sides of the double page spread

Photo overlay

Mixture of colour and monochrome

Vibe Furniture…

Various small photos

Drop caps

Main article copy split up by various photos but do not create entrance points

Many bylines

More than one header on the double page spread

Old style design, similar to newspaper

Basic colour palette, conforms with target audience

Reggae Vibes Furniture…