Double page spread

For the double page spread I used for inspiration, I used an interview with Mark Ronson as pictured below.

For the main image, I used instead a close up shot of my “rock star” of him looking down and straight into the camera. I also swapped the sides of the photo and the test putting my image on the right whereas the photo of mark was on the left. This relates to Neale’s theory of challenge as I am taking the inspiration cover and changing it in mine in order to relate more to the audience of the specific genre.

For the headline in particular, I again changed some of the aspects. The most noticeable being placing a picture of Callum (my cover star) lying down on top of the head line “WILSON” in order to create the illusion is physically lying on the letters. I also added a very brief introduction underneath unlike the NME page, again linking back to the theory of challenge.

The text can also be related to this as I have changed the colour alternating between the actual questions and answers, this is also to help the reader to read the interview more clearly. Another added feature is a “pull quote”. This is where I have added a very small piece of text from the interview and placed it over the main image in order to give the audience a bit of insight from the interview and what it’s like. One feature I have repeated from the front cover is an enlarged first letter. Adding to this is another challenging feature which is an enlarged, opaque W in the background, with the W standing for Wilson. I also lowered the opacity so the text is still clearly read.

For the front cover, I used an example of a Q magazine front cover for inspiration, again pictured below.

As shown, again there are several repeated and challenged factors about the two magazine covers. For example, repeated factors include the cover star being centred, the stars name positioned over the image, additional stories around the star, the barcode on the side and a banner on the top. In the case of the banner however, mine contains added names of bands that have a feature inside the magazine whereas Q magazine places the strapline on the banner whereas mine is placed below the headline. The challenges I have made vastly outweigh the repetitions. These include changing the photo to a mid shot of Callum, making the masthead spread across the page and adding a photo shopped background of a concert to make the cover look more immersive. The added picture of the Callum also conveys star appeal, as it will appeal to his fans making them more likely to buy the product. I have also added convergence and synergy in the form of adding social media links meaning I have expanded the product over a multi-media service. The pricing on both has also been added although the colour schemes are polar opposites. Following from my point the Q magazine follows a very bright colour scheme including colours such as white and bright red. My colour scheme is a lot darker as the dominant colour is black with added purple to highlight the cover stories.

The inspiration I used for the contents page is again a page from Q magazine.

The repetitions and challenges are again present in both contents pages. First I’ll go over the repeated assets. Both images are placed on the right and feature the presumed cover star. The contents word and also the logo of the magazine are also both positioned in the top right of the magazine. Of course every article is also positioned on the left with numbers to guide you to the correct pages. Again, the challenges are more present in the form of my photo covering the whole of the page. I have also used a full length body shot of callum facing away from the camera. My stories are also contained in purple patches to emphasize on the continuity from the front cover and the double page spread, and also to help them stand out and more clearly visible. I have also added an editorial and subscription box in order to make the reader feel more welcome and to thank them for buying the magazine, this would have a positive effect on them.