Q MUSE Double Page Spread Analysis

This article is reporting the recent interview that the Q reporters had with the alternative rock band, MUSE. This article featured in the October 2009 issue of Q and was just the two sides long. The first thing that catches the reader’s attention is the large picture used to fill the whole of the right hand page. The picture is of the entire band which is different to the front cover that just showed the lead singer. However the picture still gives us a feeling that Matt Bellamy is more important. We see this because the other two members are positioned behind him and aren’t staring at the camera and seem distracted by other things. They are all wearing fairly smart but all black clothing; the colour could link to the band genre of quite dark and heavy rock. The background is just an empty blue scene telling us that they wanted all attention from the reader to be focused on the band. The use of the big picture draws in the reader who would hopefully then spot a band they like and then want to read through the article.

As with other pages shown in Q magazine, this one also follows the house style by using a colour pallet of red, black and white. The use of the same font throughout the pages can also be included. All of this gives the magazine a very professional and consistent look making it easily recognisable to regular or off on readers that may just see one article and would instantly know what magazine it was.

In the very top left hand corner is the band’s name. This acts as almost a page number section for the magazine and tells the reader exactly what band the current page is about. This is a useful tool for a reader who is just skipping through looking for bands that they know or are interested in. At the very middle of this page is another picture of the band but from there earlier years. The creator has used the rule of third to place this in the very middle, knowing that having it in the middle will draw in the reader’s attention and hopefully interest them in the article.

Then the article begins with an enlarge letter, again this is used to draw in the reader and encourage them to read on through the article. Its layout is in the standard form of rows; however these rows are interrupted by the picture halfway through the article. This and the quote underneath in big red writing are used to mix it up in the article and stop the reader from losing interest. By adding a picture they keep the reader interested and they would then continue with the second half of the article.

As two magazines I analysed now have both had a picture filling a page I think this is a very useful idea I could add to my double page spread. However I feel that a second picture isn’t need but I do think adding larger quotes through the article so the reader doesn’t lose interest is a very good and useful idea to make my magazine good to read and interesting throughout.