Double Page Spread Analysis

For the same reasons as below, I also analysed the feature article from the same issue of Mixmag - to allow me to identify and understand the conventions used.

The person featured in the article is a famous electronic dance music artist and DJ, so it makes sense that she would be the focus of an article in a dance music and clubbing magazine. She is also around the age of the target audience, being twenty-six, the same age as the median target audience.

The main colours used for the article are black, white and red. Black is a colour used to make most others stand out in comparison – in this case, it does that with white, which contrasts with it. This creates a strong contrast and makes the text stand out more. The same effect is made with black and red, with the latter looking even stronger than usual because of the contrasting colours. The use of black to make other colours stand out was also used on the front cover of the magazine. The model is also dressed in black and red, wearing the same colours as makeup to stay with the theme. Pictures that feature her in other clothes are in grayscale, as so not to disrupt the colour scheme.

Her costume heavily features red, a colour that can be used to symbolise power or passion. This could reflect on her passion for her work as an artist. It could also make her look like a powerful figure – at least, in the world of dance music. It can also represent energy, and energetic music is considered a staple of electronic dance music. Black can also be associated with power, but may have a darker atmosphere to it. Those that read the article or are familiar with the work of Maya Jane Coles will know that her music has a somewhat gothic style to it, so her costume also reflects her music.

The language used is descriptive and gives a very positive outlook on Maya Jane Coles’ life and music. There is a lot of information about her that doesn’t necessarily need to be known about her – such as her height and the makeup she had on whilst being interviewed. This has the effect, however, of making the reader feel like they know her more and so are closer to her. This could encourage them to look into her music, or buy more of the magazine to find out more about her. The magazine also uses jargon that might not be known to people that aren’t music fans, such as LP (long playing, such as an album) and mentioning the names of various labels and dance artists (Real Tone, Tricky, Kim Ann Foxman etc). This shows that the magazine assumes that its readers will already be familiar with dance music artists and music labels, identifying them as intelligent fans being reintroduced to an old friend. This can be confusing for a new reader, however, as they may not know any of the names or words, which can put them off reading further. The text is also quite informal but still descriptive.

Text on the page is restricted to one of the two pages, with one quote and the name of the featured artist on the other. The remaining space is taken up by some pictures, but there is still a lot of empty space left on the page. Almost all of the second page, for example, is taken up by a large image of MJC, whilst the other page holds the main body of text, which takes up about half of the page. There is a small picture next to the text of Maya to take up some of the remaining space, and also to remind readers what the subject of the article looks like.

MJC is shown looking off to the side on both pictures, as opposed to her looking directly at the audience on the cover. This gives the impression that there is something more important that has her attention, although in one of the pictures we can clearly see she is focused on using a DJ booth. There is nothing that we can see drawing her attention in the other picture, however, making her appear distant. At the same time, this could also give us the impression that she is very focused on and passionate about her music. The shot type – a mid-shot – may have been used to draw attention to this, and the same can be said for the colour’s image – or lack of it. That picture is the only one that is in greyscale. If the image was in colour, the bright colours that are usually seen in a club would have broken the article’s colour scheme and generally distracted the body of text. It also has the added advantage of giving the impression that the artist is very serious about her work as a DJ.