Double page spread research

In my prior research I was looking at rock and pop based magazines which in fact did not inform me much about the hip hop genre based magazines. In order to gain the needed knowledge I have decided to look at the current hip hop magazines and their double page spreads. As we can see above I have looked at the XXL Magazine DPS's and I have found some very useful codes and conventions which I will put forward into my double page spread. First of all while visually analysing the double page spreads I have found that all of them are structured into one page text-one page image structure. By this both the text and the image of the model are clearly visible and well spread out, making the article attractive at the same time. I fill follow this code and convention making the magazine follow the Hip Hop genre standards. Furthermore I have found that most of the DPS's that XXL has produced have come with a black heading which spreads across the width of one of the pages. This is a very useful code & convention as by this I clearly present to the audience what the article will be about as it is relatively large and can be clearly seen from a long distance. As of the heading colour, the headings are mainly black therefore I will follow this code and convention and choose my own heading to be black as well. Additionally while looking at the magazines I have found that many of them have used a contrasting colour such as red to play the role of an attention grabber. In some they are used in the heading, in some the text is red. I really feel that this would make my DPS suit the hip hop genre therefore I will use this technique. Looking at the image composition of the magazines, the images of the models have been mainly taken from waist upwards, meaning that they have been captured in a medium shot. This image composition shows a relatively large portion of the model and in most of the images the males are captured in very 'manly' positions, such as showing their muscles or showing hand gestures which are mainly associated with the Hip Hop genre. This has hinted me upon what image I should insert into the DPS from the images which I have already taken. To follow this code and convention I will choose to implement a image which shows some kind of Hip Hop related sign conveying the model in a very masculine view. A last key area which I have found of the magazines visible above is that in all of them the article is sorted into columns. By this the text is placed neatly on the page and gives the page a less crowded look. I will consider sorting my text into such columns, making my article more organised on the page. Additionally in some of the magazines the article is started with a drop cap. I believe that this is a technique which makes the article more eye catching and from looking at the magazines is used in Hip Hop magazines. This means that I will put this idea forward into making.