Double-Page Spread Design

This is the design process for the double-page spread of my magazine.

Firstly, I decided to use the 'Line Tool' to clearly divide the double-page spread in half. This way, I can easily work on each page individually without worrying about accidentally crossing over into the other. I decided to use 'drop caps' to start the article, with the large letter 'I' being used to indicate the beginning of the article. As for the 'pull quotes', I have so far followed my plan, and placed the pull quote at the very bottom of the left-hand side page. This way, I can place one of the pictures from my photoshoot behind it, giving an entire page for the image, much like many traditional music magazines include. I have also added the 'warped text' effect in the form of the design 'flag' to give the quote some interesting, stand-out look. I have also included another 'pull quote' which divides the two columns of the right-hand side page. In my opinion, this looks different and unique, but I don't think this looks particularly effective. In my future design, I should perhaps either change or modify the way the right-hand side pull quote looks, or move it's position entirely. Due to wrong measurements, an equal-sized third column could not be added as I would have liked it to have been. Because of this, in my next version, I will try and re-measure the width of the columns to allow a third column to be added just like in traditional music magazines.

I also designed an album cover to feature within this double-page spread. I created an orange background using the fill tool, before creating yellow radial gradients in the center and top-left hand side of the background. I merged all of these layers together before adding an artistic filter to it, creating a 'mosaic' tiled effect. I then inserted justified text on top of the background to give the artist name and album title.

In this version, I added another column to my article (my second draft) and moved the pull quote from the center column so, instead, it splits the page, and the article, into two separate pieces. I also implemented a small preview onto the page, giving the review of the album (in stars) and also guides the reader as to where they can find the full review. In my opinion, this is reminiscent of what you may find in a traditional magazine, with small sections of an article entirely dedicated to pointing the reader in the direction of more information about the article they are reading.

In this version, I added the image which I discussed here to my double-page spread. This looks very effective; however, I decided to change the location of the pull quote accordingly as the Times New Roman, italic, warped text did not fit very well with the image. I have also added a slight drop shadow to the white pull quote underneath the image, which is at the same angle as the shadow of the subject in the image.

In this final version, I added a small piece of text to the lower right hand corner of the image, indicating the page number and the topic featured on the page. I also fixed a few errors within my article after a close proof-read of it, as well as moved the position of the stars in my review preview so they were closer to the center of the black box background. These are all very minor changes, yet all were done to create a polished and overall professional looking double-page spread. In my opinion, I have stuck towards many of the key conventions found in traditional magazines, and still managed to incorporate some semi-original ideas to make this a unique and independent looking publication.