Double-page spread conventions

A double page spread needs to have many conventions to make the magazine a success and eye-catching to the reader of the magazine.

The main conventions include:

• The two pages usually work together to appear as one unit so the magazine flows more.
• Theupper parts of the magazine should be more eye-catching as that is where the reader would look first to decide whether to read the article or not.
• The outer part of the pages need to be bright and contain th best content as that is the part that they will see when they flick throught the magazine to decide what to read.
• The bottom part of the spread and the inner corners are less important so there isnt as interesting content in those parts of the magazine.
• Text should read from one page to the other to make it flow more.
• There should be a running head which indicates to the reader what section of the magazine they are reading e.g. features.
• There should be an image caption to describe what is in the image that relates to the story/article.
• There is usually a pull quote which is said in the article if it is an interview, this is usually something interesting or contraversial to draw the reader in to read it.
• There needs to be a bold masthead/headline which is to be placed at the top of the page to draw people in to reading the article.
• There is a 'kicker' at the beginning of the article which summarises what it is about so the reader can decide whether they want to read it or not. This should be near or underneath the headline as they work together to draw readers in.
• There are also sometimes subheads which give the reader insight into what they will be reading about next.
• Bylines and credits
• Page numbers

Below is an annotated double page spread: