1. magazines: double page spread conventions
magazine double page spreads usually (be careful!) follow some
common generic conventions:
« often there will be 3 columns per page, though sometimes this will be
increased to 4. Less frequently, there may be 2 per page. What is the
visual impact of the density of the text?
« a dominant image will convey the subject of the article (what
representations are apparent and why?)
« the image (and other smaller images) should have captions which
anchor their meaning for the reader.
« pull quotes may be used to highlight phrases thought particularly
appealing to the target audience. What do these reveal?
« the article title must be intriguing and have visual impact: enigma
codes/ puns/ shock tactics/ font size and style/ colour usage?
2. DPS conventions continued...
« a strap-line under the article header might explain the teaser, or add
further information designed to draw the reader in
« a kicker will usually be used to hook the reader in, often denoted in
larger or bold type-face
« the introduction will be one of a limited number of possibilities (see
types of introduction)
« drop caps are conventional to guide the reader to the start of the text
(another ‘hooking in’ device)
« look for text elements given quirky angles, especially diagonals.
These are effective in injecting dynamism and energy into the layout
3. DPS conventions continued...
«overall composition: how and why does this work? Trace the
narrative flow of the images and text elements of the DPS as a whole:
where are the readers’ eyes being led?
«limited colour palette: often colours within the DPS will be chosen to
be in harmony with the colour of the image, say. Eg, article title often
has the dominant colour of the image applied to it
«primary codes of language use: see voice, tone, stylistics, etc,
«font choice: a display font will be used for titles and strap-lines,
whereas a copy font will be deployed for the main copy (text)
