DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD OVERVIEW TOP OF THE POPS

INTRODUCTION

The double page spreads within ‘Top Of The Pops’ magazine have all been designed to attract the target audience of the magazine to wanting to read to article related to artists within the pop genre. Through carrying out an investigation of them and by comparing them to each other, it is possible to identify shared features within them and to establish repeated patterns.

CONVENTIONS

The double page spread for this magazine all share many similarities in conventions, for example the feature artist is always placed on the right hand page, so that without the audience even needing to read anything they can clearly see who the spread is dedicated to. The heading for the page frequently appears to be a quote used from the interview which tends to be quite daring or personal, for example one of the headings used for the double page spread is ‘Girls give me a headache!’ which would entice the reader into wanting to know what Justin Bieber doesn’t like about girls. Though the double page spread with Jessie J breaks this convention, as the headline for the page is ‘Judge Jessie’ rather than a quote which shows that sometimes the magazine will slightly change the presentation in order to keep the readership interested.

ARTISTS

Interestingly enough, almost all of the artists featured are female; Justin Bieber is the only male artist which has a double page spread in Top Of The Pops. This serves to reflect the fact that the genre of pop is a fun and feminine genre, and is dominated by females. The fact that it is mainly female artists who are interviewed in this magazine could be because young girls find them easier to relate to and understand, and they read their articles in order to be more like them. Despite this the fact that males are still used in their double page spreads could show the attraction the readership has towards male artists, and could therefore be interested in finding out more about them.

SIMILARITIESThe four double page spreads all feature typical magazine spread conventions. We see expected general and layout conventions, such as the inclusion of a main image that dominates the one page, quotations written out in bold alongside the article, feature article photographs that relate to content inside the article and a heading designed in an appropriate font. In addition to this, we see other repeated patterns. Most of the double page spreads heading is a quotation taken from the article. Obviously, we expect to see some kind of quotation written out in bold, but by using it as the heading indicates the interest the readers have in it. This is likely to be due to the quotes being somewhat revealing about the artist and therefore enticing the reader to want to know more. In each of the spreads, we can see that the feature artist is always located on the right hand side of the page, indicating exactly who the article is on. This is, of course, a powerful and clever way of attracting the magazine’s target audience, as the singer is likely to be the recognisable and popular among pop fans. This idea is slightly different with the double page spread of Leona Lewis since it was a less recent design, and from here we can see how the double page spread has been updated to become more appealing to the reader.

FONT

The font used is serif which is a fun yet sophisticated style to use in the magazine. The main text is written in black, though the interviewers questions are in a contrasting colour making them stand out more and making it clearer and easier for the audience to read. The heading is usually in a more curvy, bold font which adds creativity to the page and also indicates exactly what the pages following are about. The font style and colour have been used effectively in not making the page appear busy but instead making it look feminine, bright and fun to look at which would appeal to the target audience.

COLOUR

Colour-wise, Top Of The Pops tends to stick to a similar colour scheme in each issue which helps achieve strong brand identity. Purple and pink feature most consistently as these two colours are stereotypically female colours, which would be representative of the target audience and therefore make it more appealing to them. Being quite fun, uplifting colours they help the magazine look more positive and relate to the type of music which pop is.

LAYOUT

Layout is consistent across the four double page spreads too. As mentioned earlier, the placement of the artists featured is similar in each. In all of the four spreads, the headline is placed in the top left of the frame, above the whole interview, immediately indicating the content. This is a key area where the audience’s eye will go to. In three out of four of the spreads the background is white which could represent the purity and youth of the audience, and also make the text stand out more and give the page an overall cleaner, brighter look. The remaining double page spread has a black background which makes the pages appear bolder, and the difference could be due to the fact that the magazine had a makeover and changed it’s layout. Feature article photographs, meanwhile, are generally placed in the top middle of the interview underneath the heading, which breaks up the text with a more visual element and also goes alongside the heading to explain the content without having to read much.

CONCLUSION

Having carried out this overview, it is obvious that Top Of The Pops has its own brand identity and signature look that can be easily recognized by its target audience. This is maintained through the repetition of stylistic and layout features from issue to issue and is an effective way of helping the magazine to sell and succeed.