Contents Page Analysis
The contents page of my magazine is on
the first page when you open it. These pages consist of the same house style as
the cover of the magazine. The house colours, red, black and white, are
constant throughout being the same on the contents page and the front cover.
The fonts are also constant, still being serif. The use of these colours will
appeal to the target audience of the magazine, teens to 30's, as the colour red
is bold and the other colours are very simplistic. This look is modern and up
to date, also die to the simplistic style it will make the magazine easier to
navigate as the minimal colours help to keep it looking clean. This is good for
the target audience as many people this age will not want to search around for
information and instead would prefer to be able to see what they want straight
away. The serif font keeps in style with the magazine as it is an indie rock
magazine and even though the font isn’t sans serif which would be expected on a
rock magazine, the serif font is slightly more harsh then usual serif fonts
which are very flowing and contain loops and curves. This style of font helps
to appeal to the target market for the magazine as it further emphasises that
it is an indie magazine as the font style is quite expressive, just like how
indie music is.
In
the top left hand corner of the page is a mast head. This is repeated in order
to reinforce the brand and to establish it further. The logo denotes a red
square with a white “Q” in it, the font used for this is serif which again is
up-keeping with the house style. The use of the house style in the logo
develops the brand. The colour red connotes energy and danger, these are two things
that we could relate to indie music especially indie rock music as when rock is
thought about, so is the idea of hazard and danger. The logo is written in the
top left as this is the first place that you look, this is because we read from
left to right so it is where the eye is automatically drawn to. Across the top
of the magazine there is also "contents" written in large text. This
is also in serif font like the cover of the magazine. This continues with the
house style. It is large so that it stands out and is at the top so that we, as
readers, see it straight away. This helps the audience to know what the page is
about. There is also the issue date, "October 2017" so that we know
when that issue of the magazine was released. This means that collectors of the
magazine know when each copy was released. This also denotes whether the
information, especially some news in music, is relevant or not as the reader
will know when it was released.
Underneath
the mast head is the magazines "month highlight". This summaries the
best parts of the month in one sentence which will further entire the reader to
buy the magazine. This information isn't something that is shown in the
magazine however it gives the audience a further idea of the genre of the
magazine. The highlight is also something that most people of the target
audience will know as this will have been some kind of “big news” during the
month which the audience for the magazine will follow due to many of them
wanting to follow bands in the magazine. That being a reason why they would be
enticed to buy it.
There
is the main image on the contents page. This is the largest image on the
page and links/relates to the articles in the magazine.The image denotes a red
background which fits with the house style of the magazine, matching the colour
of the logo. The people picture in the image are the band “Wolf Alice”, these
are all dressed in clothing that we would relate to an indie band. When indie
musicians are thought about we connote the type of clothing that they are wearing,
that to be found in a thrift store or something of the likes. The style is very
alternative and individual, which is where the term indie comes from. The red
background contrasted with the concrete floor also connotes the theme of danger
and rebellion which helps to emphasis the theme of rock in the magazine however
the emotions and expressions shown on the bands faces denote a relaxed and
happy feeling due to them smiling and laughing at each other. This stops the
magazine from seeming too much like a rock magazine and shows the individual,
different style of music. The red however is also very eye catching so the
audience of teens to thirties who are interested in the theme of music ill open the
magazine and automatically have their eyes drawn to the main image.
There
is also anchorage, this is shown in the top left of the main image and it
includes a quote said in the article along with the page number where you can
find it. This means that the reader has a bit more information about the article
and it also makes it easier to find where that particular thing is written so
that the magazine is a lot easier to navigate. There is anchorage shown in
many places on the contents page. This also allows the magazine still to
have a minimalist feeling to is as many of the pictures are explained by a
caption and keeping this text and images together helps keep the layout of the
magazine looking neater.
There
are subheadings which also further organised the articles so that it is easier
for the readers to navigate and choose what articles they are interested in and
want to read. This gives the readers a choice of how they can use the magazine
and means that they aren't restricted to flicking through every page until they
find the one that they are looking for. The Q magazine contents is split into 4
sections which is denoted by the subheadings, “feature”, “incoming”,
“regular”and “Q review”. The subheadings however are in different
colours. These are not in keeping with the house style of the magazine which
uses the colours white, black and red. Blue and green have now also been
incorporated. Even though this isn't how many conventional magazines look, it
makes sense for the target audience as it gives the magazine a pop of different
colour and it also colour co-ordinates the different sections, this is a
convention for Q magazines as it means that readers will know that if they are
looking for a regular piece that is in the magazine then they need to look at
the page numbers below the blue subheading. This is just adding another
dimension to the magazine as the colours used are bold colours however these
are not untasteful, they are playful but darker than a normal “primary” colour
would be seen so that it appeals more to people who are aged 15-30.
In bold underneath the subheadings are
the names of the artist or band that the article is written about. These are
written in black however the text is bold so that is stands out to the reader
of the magazine. This needs to stand out because it the main thing that the
person who is reading the magazine is looking for as this will help them to use
the magazine in the way they want to and improve navigation further. This is
written in uppercase to make it jump off of the page at the reader. This also
makes the information seem important. Written in red uppercase letters is “cover
story” which can be found underneath the subheading of “The Killers”. This
makes it easier for the readers to find the page that the cover story is on as
this is the piece in the magazine which is deemed to be the biggest and most
important story as it is what is being advertised on the cover of the magazine
to make you want to buy it The use of red for the text makes it stand out as
red is a colour that connotes importance and a signal for someone to look at.
A description of what each article is
written about is underneath each of the subheadings. This is short in the way
that it is written as it cuts down on space used but also makes the cover page
look neater and more minimal which is the desired look of the magazine to
appeal to the target audience.
The page numbers are written in order
for each of the different sections. This makes navigation easier again as it
means that the magazine seems to have more order and control to it. The use of
numerical order also denotes a neater appearance, keeping again the the minimal
theme that the magazine shows to appeal to the target audience. It also allows people
to quickly find the names of the articles by page number instead of searching
through a jumble of different numbers,
There are also many mini pictures of
other bands or artists, that relate to different articles, shown throughout the
contents page. These all include anchorage and are there so that the readers
are more enticed to read that article as it many be something that they wouldn't consider reading however the visual aid could make them want to.
There are two bold black lines splitting off the contents
for the “Q review” from the rest of the general contents. This is a section
that is advertised on the front of the magazine in a plug graphic and the bold
lines creating a box around this section on the contents page give us
connotations of importance for this. The layout of this section is very similar
to that of the rest of the contents however it includes another masthead which
has the “Q” logo on it to reinforce the brand more. It also contains banners.
These are used as another organisational device for the contents of the
magazine. There are banners or black, red and blue. These are coordinated so
that all of those that are black banners which contain white writing are showing
a review on a “live” performance. The other colours having different meanings.
The use of colour to highlight different things is important for the target
audience of teens to thirties as this helps to aid the readers by sorting and
categorising the information for them. This is needed as people of this age
could be said to have a shorter attention span or simply just less time or
willingness to read a magazine,
