Main Task: Double Page Spread Textual Analysis

Within this assignment I am going to analyse this double page spread from a music magazine.

By looking at this double page spread I can connote that it’s from a hip-hop/rap magazine because of the popular artist photo on the left side of the double page. The background of this spread is simple, plain white and then words are in black so it’s easily visible. The website link to find out more for this is at the bottom of the right page with the photographer’s name on top and the story producer’s name on the other side.

The colour scheme of this DPS is simple, plain white. Even for the photograph on the left side of the page the back ground is white; the colours are kept to the bare minimum, giving it a strong, important look to what this DPS has to offer. The large image in the left side of the page is the main image which DPS usually contain. It shows a man standing in his smart expensive tuxedo holding a bottle of expensive alcohol and a glass in his other hand possibly containing some drink in. From this the reader can denote that this artist earns a fortune, he is wealthy and although a bit big in size he is an idol for hip-hop. The background of the artist is plain but contains several balloons which gets the reader thinking that he’s a party guy or likes to throw expensive flashy parties to show off his riches. The subject holds several props on him such as; an alcohol bottle in his hand and a glass in the other, showing that he likes to drink, he also has tattoos over the back of his hands which you can see if you look closely and he has a diamond ring on his pinky finger along with an expensive watch on his wrist. The subject also has a napkin tucked in a front pocket of his tuxedo neatly and huge black sunglasses on to match his style and clothing.

The subject of the photo does not have a direct address; it’s rather like showing off, rich look to showcase what he has and what he likes. There is no text over the image except for the small by-line at the bottom right of the left page, showing that the main focus of the page is obviously the artist. The subject’s name ‘Rick Ross’ is placed under the main subject at a beginning of the strap line to indicate this whole article is about him. The strap line is clearly separated from the main subject which is mirrored symmetrically on top and underneath border lines which have boxed in the strap line. The small paragraph strap line is in cold and the font is bigger than the article below. The Subject of this DPS creates an interesting different kind of effect because of how it is mirrored around the words. The subject reads ‘MAN MADE’ which could possibly be a play with words from one of his songs; Made Man. The subject could mean that hip-hop/rap finally has what it’s looking for or the next big thing to a legend.

The huge Drop Capital/Stand first indicates the begging of the article and adds a more interesting look to it rather than making the letter just in bold. Stand first’s are good for catching the reader’s eye because the letter is big and bold and usually in a more bolder font to indicate it’s importance of the beginning of this article.