Double Page Spread Analysis

The double page spread above is from "Q" magazine, and is about Lana Del ray, the centre of visual interest across these two pages is the full page picture on the left hand side. The picture is a close-up slightly out of focus, partially obscured by some blue lights on the left of her face. In the picture she is being slightly sexualised, with eyes closed, mouth slightly parted and with her hand at her chest, more than likely it is implicative of sexual pleasure. 

In terms of actual content in the article, for the majority, it is praise for the artist and some biographical information. Which is what would be expected of a magazine doing an article on a musician. The majority of the right hand side is occupied by a large "S", however it is not a drop cap as the first letter in the writing is still present. However there is a drop cap further in to the article, nearer the bottom right hand corner. 

The general look is of elegant simplicity, with the picture being fairly sparse in terms of mise en scene and the actual article lacking any extra "features" such as cutlines. I like the style of picture, but think the article side of the page could be improved visually, either through a less generic layout, or by using some cutlines or a larger more artistic title.

This double page spread is also from "Q" mag, and is about Jay-Z, the picture is a close-up of Jay-Z, split down the middle by the lighting, the left side red, the right side blue. He is wearing sunglasses and a chain, which is stereotypical dress for a rap artist, and his facial expression is pretty serious. The two different colours create a dichotomy between the two half's of the picture, which could be saying something about Jay-Z as a person, or his style of music. The picture has some text overlayed which is a significant quote from his interview, it also has a little tagline and information about the photograph in the bottom left.

The actual article contains, as in the case of the first DPS, mostly praise and biographical information about the artist and extracts from an interview. The whole text is overlayed by a huge transparent "J", emphasising the fact you are reading an interview about Jay-Z. After the first paragraph they all begin with a drop cap, other than that, the font remains small throughout.

Overall, much like the last DPS, the article is clearly split down the page divider, one page showing a picture, the other text. I prefer the visual style of this article over the last, as it has more colour to it, and has a more eye-pleasing header and graphics.

This DPS is about Katy Perry, and is from Rolling Stone. Since it is from a different magazine to the firs two, the layout and style of the magazine is very different. Instead of having the picture on the left and article on the right, it has been inverted to be the other way round. In the picture, instead of it just been a close up, it shows her from the knees up. She is dressed, and has the facial expression, of someone trying to be provocative, with her top off and bra strap partially off and shorts partially undone. Her face is fairly heavily made up, and she is staring directly at the camera. She is juicing a lemon in the picture, which to be honest is a bit random.

The article's layout is in three columns, split down the middle horizontally by a cross-head. The font is small throughout with the exception of the drop cap, and the tone of the article starts almost satirical with the way it does the occasional poke of fun at her or her ex-boyfriend Russell Brand. However it basically goes on to generally big her up, and offer basic biographical information, as most music magazines do.

In summary, all three double page spreads were fairly similar in the fact one page was a large picture, and the other page was the bulk of the article, with maybe a few drop caps and/or a crosshead. Since all of the DPS's were taken from popular magazines, I can learn that by setting my DPS in a similar way it has a good chance of looking good.