Terminology
12.02.09
Vocab Lesson 12: Spread
A spread is two facing pages of a publication. Open up a magazine ... there, you're looking at a spread!
A spread can contain one page of editorial content and one advertising page. Or it can be 2 pages of editorial or 2 pages of ads. The content doesn't matter, it's still a spread.
Your design will be different if you're designing the whole spread as compared to a single page: obviously you'll have double the space, but it also should be designed as one unit rather than 2 individual pages. (And as we discussed earlier, you also have to consider the gutter.)
Sometimes, due to the nature of the publishing schedule and when advertisements come in or drop out at the last minute, 2 pages that you designed as single pages will have to combine to become a spread. Or a spread you designed as one unit, will have to become 2 single pages. So that possibility is something you have to keep in the back of your mind. It's also something you have to seriously consider when you're designing (or redesigning) a magazine from scratch: you have to make sure your overall design and recurring elements work on single pages as well as spreads.
If you've checked out our Student Design Competition categories, you'll see that you have to submit two spreads for each entry. Typically in a feature story like our categories, your first spread will be an opening spread that introduces us to the story. Sometimes the only text it contains is the headline/deck/byline package. Other times it might contain the first few paragraphs of the body copy as well. This spread is usually more image or design-heavy rather than text-heavy. The second spread, however, usually contains more body copy than imagery. It should relate to the opening spread in appearance to continue the design scheme, but in a way that can handle more text.
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"Vocab Lesson" is a recurring feature on our SPD Student Blog. Tune in every Wednesday for a new word of the week. And if you come across a term you can't quite figure out, email it to us at spdstudentoutreach@gmail.com and we'll define it in a future post.
Want more? Check out our previous Vocab Lessons here.
And look for more competition tips and suggestions in the coming months as our March 8 deadline gets closer.
"Vocab Lesson" is a recurring feature on our SPD Student Blog. Tune in every Wednesday for a new word of the week. And if you come across a term you can't quite figure out, email it to us at spdstudentoutreach@gmail.com and we'll define it in a future post.
