Double-page spread- What I did

After analysing the two other products I decided to create a mock-up on paper of the layout of my own spread. I decided that I would stick to the conventions that I observed in the two spreads that I looked at. Firstly I chose a colour scheme, initially it was going to be a beige, white and blue; I thought that the brown would reflect the colour of books and the shop. However I later decided that this would not prove interesting enough to the eye, and may look boring. Instead I used the themes; blue, white, red and black. These colours compliment each other well, and the blue background proved interesting accompanied by striking colours such as red. I decided that I would follow the idea of placing the title and text on the left and the pictures on the right. This idea is because the human eye looks from left to right, so first we would see the title of the article, then the pictures on the right page. After looking at the photo’s that I took on shoot, I decided that rather than having one large picture spread across the page and interlinking with the text I would use two smaller pictures with borders. This was mainly due to the lower quality of the image as it was not taken on a professional camera. When I tried to stretch the image, the pixels looked too stretched and grainy, so I left them their original size. This would be something to take into consideration if I were to perform the task again. In relation to the photo’s I also changed the brightness levels on the top-right hand photo, as it appeared too dark. This was a relatively easy process. Initially I was going to use the programme quark for my double-page spread as it is what professional magazine editors use; however I decided to use the programme Photoshop cs4 in the end, because of its ability to change picture quality, and I also didn’t feel I’d be able to familiarise myself with a programme such as quark in my time-limit. I had never used this software before, so it was a large learning curve. After familiarising myself with the product I opened a new document and set it to the size that a double-page spread would be. I then applied my background colour, navy blue. I dragged some guidelines on to the product, so that I had a visual aid to show me where things like text boxes should be placed. Next I toyed with some fonts to use for my main header, and the sub-text beneath, I decided on Lucinda Calligraphy as it gives the impression of old handwriting and therefore the old bookshop that I am advertising. I chose white as the colour for this text, and also for the article itself. I then imported four photos that I had chosen from the shoot. One was of the outside of the bookshop, another, my subject conversing with a customer, one of her smiling and the last of a row of books. The row of books was essential to my spread, I placed the image at the top, and moved the text over the top, I then pasted the image all the way across the top of the spread. Both of my subject seemed very intimate, this was what I hoped for as I wanted it to catch the readers eye and make them feel a connection with this woman from the page. The idea of layering causes some difficulties when creating a spread such as this, because after placing my photos in their desired places, I decided that I wanted a white border around each. This meant creating white boxes of the right size as a new layer, then moving each photo up the list of layers, so that it would be on top of the shapes. I then created three boxes of the colours white red and black, merged them together and placed text inside them, giving programme information. This was extremely necessary for my double-page spread to work, as otherwise the reader would have difficulty finding show time and would probably not bother watching the programme. I decided on the placement of the circular photo of the front of the bookshop to be in the centre of the text, a commonly used technique, because it brakes up the text itself, and makes it appear more interesting. The last task was to create three text boxes as the final layer, and fill them with text about the programme. I wrote the text in a word document, so as to avoid spelling errors, and copied it into the boxes. I then created a forth in the top right hand corner over the images of books and entered the name of my magazine ‘TV LIFE’ to appear as a logo. This was in red.

Mock-up newspaper advertisement

Analysis of previous newspaper advertisements.

The first advertisement that I decided to look at was for students. The company were advertising 20% off of salon services for all students with valid ID. Although it is unrelated to what I wish to advertise, I found it hard to find something similar to what I wanted to do. It appears that newspaper advertising is not very popular for TV programmes and films. I believe they tend to stick to magazines, adverts around public transport, television and billboards. The advert that I am analysing is very simplistic, this is why I chose it. The background is black and there is a picture of a young woman on the right hand side. This immediately advertises it to any student, and we quickly learn their target audience. The text is all in white and there is not too much, so it does not over power us. It gives the basics of the offer and contact numbers. What I particularly liked about this advert was its simple colour theme of black and white; I think I will follow this through to my own advert.

The next advertisement that I looked at was very similar to the first. It was advertising a sale in a shop. It used the same colour scheme as the first, black background and white text. The two colours seem a convention of newspaper advertisements. There is an image of a woman on the left hand side, rather than colour as above this image is in black and white. I think that the placing of this image, on the left as a pose to the right works better than on the right. Because of the limited space for information, I think it is important to draw the eye to the picture first, capturing the audience’s attention primarily, and then they can move on to looking at the text. I think that there is a little too much text on this advert though, and readers may find this boring. The placing of the picture I particularly like, and I may decide to carry this convention in my own work.

The last advert that I looked at was for Falcon Ford car. This was my favourite ad of the three. I liked the use of the picture as the background and the text over laying it. I think that this causes the advert to be very eye catching. It uses only one image, and quickly sums up the subject of the advert, the new car. Again the picture dominates our eye primarily, and we are then drawn to the text. The use of text is also minimal, so that the reader stores this information quickly in their short term memory. I liked the use of the important details in the text being in bold, so that they capture our attention quickly. They have Photo shopped in stars to the passenger seat, implying that the car is of star quality. This is reinforced beneath with the use of 5 images of stars between the words ‘FALCON, AWARDED….FOR SAFETY.’ From this we see that the advert really plays on the safety aspects of the car, making it ideal for families. The use of an image as the entire background of the advert worked really well, and I think I will use this in my own work. This will also save me the time consuming element of cutting the image of my subject away from the background of the photo.

Rough draft of double-page spread

Analysis of double-page spread

For the analysis of my double-page spread I bought two TV listings magazines, that featured spreads of the same topic. Both were on the new series of doctor who. I thought that this would be a good idea as it would give me a comparison between the differences and similarities that the two magazines used; TV & Satellite, and TV Times. The first thing that I noticed was that both placed the title on the left hand top corner of the page. This is because our eyes look from left to right, so the title would be the first thing that a reader sees, therefore advertising the article and product to them. Both also had a large picture dominating the right hand side of the talent in the TV programme. The colour scheme of this photo, dark blue, is used as a general colour theme. Underneath the main title, is a sub-heading telling us a little about the programme, and the article.

Both of the listings magazines used a text box in the left hand top corner above the title, the TV Times advertise their logo, which is a bold colour red, and next to this in white writing is ‘TALKS TO MATT SMITH’ they use this as advertising space, in comparison the TV & Satellite magazine uses a bold yellow text box to tell the reader what it is a ‘Cover story’ in black writing.

One element that stands out in the TV Times magazine, is that the text is broken up by red headings, telling the reader what each section of writing is about. It also draws our attention to the writing, ensuring that it captivates our interest and that we go on to read the article.

Above the article both advertise the programme in a text box, telling us genre, programme name, channel and the time that it begins. I will use this in my own work as it is important for the reader to know the details about the programme. This way, if the article interests them they will know when to watch.

When analysing both, I noticed that they each have a set colour scheme. The TV Times uses blue for the background and black, white and red for any text or text boxes. Whereas TV & Satellite uses yellow, red, white and black for text and text boxes, but the same blue for the background. Although the TV & Satellite magazine stands out to the reader, I feel that the colours are slightly overwhelming to the eye; the other is more simplistic and conventional. It would be the conventional magazine that I will follow with my own work.

A factor in the TV Times magazine that I particularly liked was the quote underneath the picture in bold white writing from the actor of the programme. I think that this gave the spread a more personal feel. It allowed the reader an insight into the mind of the actor, and spoke directly to them. Although it would possibly be the thing that we see last on the page as it is in the right hand lower corner of the page. I think that when creating my double page spread I will try to include a memorable quote from the programme, that will speak directly to my audience.

Another important feature in both magazines are the picture inserts. They are small and break up the text. All of the pictures are bordered with a white line, so that they do not merge into the page.

Risk Assesment