Analysing Double Page Spreads

Double Page Spread

            The two magazines that I have chosen to analyse for their double page spread are Q magazine and We Love Pop. There are many difference between these two magazines in general, for example genre and target audience and this is shown throughout the magazine in things like their double spread pages.

            The target audience for the ‘We love pop’ magazine is obviously young/teenage girls that are most probably more interested in the person as opposed to the music; this is shown through the layout, the images and the language used. First of all, the language used reflects the target audience of the magazine as it uses simple language for the questions, but picks out the most interesting words to draw attention to the article, for example, the second biggest writing on the page says “There was nothing creepy about Harry and Caroline at all.”. The word ‘creepy’ will attract attention, and make the readers want to know what was creepy. This quote also mentions two other celebrities, which means that readers who are a fan of those celebrities might be more inclined to read the article. A lot of the double page spread is also about Tulisa’s career on ‘X Factor’, which means there might be a lot of gossip in the article and maybe not so much about her music career. The layout and pictures used for this article also reflect what their target audience is. The first page of the article, has two quotes are the top, to show what might be included in the article, but it also has a picture in the middle and writing around the edges. With their target audience being teenage girls, they might acknowledge that they might be more interested in the pictures than the article itself, this could be why although it looks like there is a lot of writing, and the main points from most of the questions have been pointed out so the reader can just skip to the next page. This is also shown by the next few pages, as the second page is just a big picture of Tulisa, and the next two pages have picture taking up a majority of the page and a few questions down the sides, showing that the pictures are the main focus of the page. The pictures used in this article clearly show that their main target audience is young/teenage girls as all of the pictures show Tulisa is bright colours, smiling and usually with one or more other celebrities that will attract the readers’ attention even more.

            However the target audience for the ‘Q’ double page spread is very different and is also shown through the layout, pictures and language used. The target audience for the ‘Q’ magazine article might been either sex aged between 16-30 who are interested in rock music, or people who are particularly interested in the band ‘Biffy Clyro’. There is only one picture used in this double page spread, which takes up one whole page. The picture shows the band, topless, drinking and sat at a messy table, filled with beer cans; this picture reflects the nature of the interview and implies that the band like to party. The caption for this picture says “Biffy Clyro: another quiet night in front of The X Factor” and it is obvious from the picture and the genre of the magazine that this is mocking the TV show and probably people who watch it. The picture links to the article, as the first line of the article reads “It’s Q’s round? What are you having?” After which the band continue to order alcoholic drinks. This shows that they obviously have an older target audience. This article contains random questions such as ‘which board game are you best at’ which shows that this is very laid back interview, but also has nothing to do with their music, just the personality of the band.

The layout also reflects the target audience/genre of the magazine, as on the page with the article itself, there are no pictures and only two different colours in writing, showing that their readers are more likely to read and pay attention to the questions and answers in the interview.

As I am making an indie/rock magazine, I will be using features from the ‘Q’ double page spread to help when creating my magazine. For my double page spread, I will have one picture taking up a whole page, and then the article on the next page, with maybe one or two picture on the page. I will include questions and answers about their career, but from the two articles, I can tell that readers of most genres of music like to read about the musician’s lives away from their music too.