Research - Music Magazine Double Page Spread - Similar Product Research

By Emma Hall

 

The photograph on this DPS spreads across both pages and dominated the spread, leaving only a third for text, and so really stands out. The colour scheme overall is very limited, using black, white and pink to highlight things. The use of a black and white photo reflects the fact the album being discussed is not new, but is being re-released. The photo is of the four band members, with boys on the outside, turned inwards to push the focus onto the two girls in the middle. They are all in direct mode of address which makes the reader feel slightly unsettled, as if outnumbered, especially as the band members all have expressions of almost-smiles that are almost unnerving.

They are all wearing regular, casual clothed, and have hair in a scruffy style, which ties in with the use of the word ‘nightmare’ in the title. The band shows both men and women in equal measure, shown through how one girl and boy are in the foreground, and one girl and boy are in the background. The women, however, are represented as quite tom-boy in style, with one having a short masculine hairstyle, nose-stud and a single earring, whilst the other girl has longer hair, that is all tasselled and doesn’t look taken care of. This image does not follow the media tradition of dressing women in glamorous, figure-complementing clothing. The men do not look particularly well-dressed either, nor is there physique highlighted. Instead, they have quite long hair, for men, which makes them look youthful and unruly. The leather jacket, crossed arms, piercings, scruffy clothes and defiant expressions are all indexical signs for a group of young people who are quite rebellious and up to no good, who want to defy the rules of society and live their own way. These are used in conjuncture with the language sign in the title “F**king”, which is also very defiant of good society, although the magazine shows itself to be of a politer nature, and masks the swear word using stars.

This hard-edged image is contrasted by a softer title, which uses a pink, serif, curled italic font to introduce the article, and a pulled quote in bold white, which creates intrigue and is the biggest  pull to read the article as the swear word is very blunt and in your face. The italic font is part of the magazine’s house style, and the use of this and the pink colour scheme tones down the rebellious tone of the article for the target audience, who having listened to the music when it was first released ten years ago, will have grown up since then, and be in their late 20s now, and be out of that teenage faze. The white background is slightly more sophisticated, as is the use of pulled quotes and drop capitals in pink to separate the text into sections. The use of pulled quotes in this fashion, as crossheads, is a code becoming more and more frequent in magazines in recent eras, and is something I could take forward into my own design ideas. The pink colour also links with the image of the album featured in the middle with another pulled quote, which the text wraps around neatly, creating guttering. At the bottom is also a small, related paragraph from another artist concerning the album, and is backed on a coloured rectangle in a similarly patterned pink. This gives the page consistency, and it is headed by yet another pulled quote.

The article is written in a consultative register, and is quite sophisticated in both its vocabulary and domain; expecting the reader to be intelligent enough to keep up with topics varying from the financials of record production to the emotions behind instrumentation. One particular section, where the author gives his particular view on the album, uses a series of symbolic signs that require a certain sense of humour to understand. It begins with a string of similes “It is like an angel snorkelling in marshmallow”, ”like a nuclear winter”, “the aurora borealis exploding”, “a serene suicide cult ascending to the mother ship”, before following with “in other words, it’s like nothing ever heard before”. This is intended to be interpreted as a long-winded joke that basically means the music is entirely unique. However not all readers may be able to see this, or be able to pick up on the paradoxes used in the similes which indicate this meaning. The similes themselves also have a sci-fi theme running through them with words like “inter-dimensional wormhole”, “cult” and “mother ship” being used, which signify that the music has an outer space, other worldly quality to it, enhanced by words like “vibe”, “psych-noise” and “sonic” being used elsewhere in the article. All of this gives the reader more of an impression of how the music would sound than in most articles, and reinforces the theme of uniqueness and individuality that was stimulated by the photograph.

The page is split into three vertical columns, with a short introductory paragraph to the left, a large photograph in the centre, and a Q&A to the right. The photograph features a mid-shot of Noel from below looking up, making him seem both powerful and yet lonely, as he is quite small in comparison to the large ceiling of the atrium behind him. He looks up with his hands in his pockets, making him seem hopeful, and yet sad, with his grey hair and leather jacket contrasting the grandeur of the marble columns and the golden sheen of the backdrop. This makes him seem like a fish out of water, reflecting his new journey on his own into a new world. This is also signified by the fact he is stood in a building at Liverpool Port, symbolising his journey out from his home, where he’s comfortable, and out into the new. This is a typical representation of a man, being tough on his own, though his loneliness also makes him seem vulnerable, and his grey hair also emphasises his age.

The rest of the article uses only black and white, which also reflects the fact Noel has been in the business a while, though it is also quite a modern look. Drop capitals are used to show the start of paragraphs, whilst the questions in the Q&A are bold to differentiate them from the answers. A pulled quote is backed on a banner which is quite elegant, and the black with white text really makes this section stand out. The serif font used throughout also makes the page look quite sophisticated and expensive, and this links also with the aspirations of the singer.

The register used by the interviewer is consultative and polite, as Noel is quite famous, while Mr Gallagher’s register is quite casual and comfortable, swearing and laughing. The language from Noel is less formal and is simple, reflecting his common background, compared to the interviewer, whose profession demands a formal more complex vocabulary. This is evident in the introductory section, where the language is tailored for the older readership, but the interviewer also used signs like ‘Mo Farah’ and ‘Man City’ to prepare the reader for the common language used by Noel. These signs are quite iconic and would be easily recognised by British readers; however they would not be identifiable for an American audience. However a British audience would be able to immediately connect with the ideas and their inclusion brings the famous Noel down onto a human level.