Analysing Contents Pages

Analysing Contents Pages

I looked at four different magazine contents pages and analysed each one. The magazine contents pages I analysed were ‘Mix mag’, ‘we love pop’ ‘Q magazines’ and ‘NME’. Each magazine share some similar features, however they all both differ in their own unique way.

The first magazine contents page that I analysed was Mixmag. This magazine is a dance/music magazine. The target audience would be young adults up to the age of around 30 who enjoy club/dance music. The contents page does not contain much language as the majority of the page is filled with big images. This could be because a lot of people enjoy just looking at the pictures rather than reading lots on a magazine. However, at the bottom of the first page of the double page spread; it contains the words ‘your free CD’. This is informing the reader on the artist of the CD and the songs that are included. Where the page numbers are, are the title of the article and underneath is a brief summary of each story included inside the magazine.
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This is similar to the NME (New Music Express) magazine. On this contents page of the magazine, there are 8 images that all vary in size. The text on the page are all quotes that come from the stories inside the magazine. For example, on page number 6, under the picture of a musician playing the guitar, the quote is ‘Someone’s gonna have to go to the hospital’ this is in capital letters which suggests it is an important quote or story in the article. Under the quote, there is smaller but bold font, which says “Howler visits everywhere on the NME tour.”  Both magazines also state the page numbers on the bottom of the pictures and the contents and page numbers are not the main part of the magazine, the pictures are the most important as it can tell the audience a lot just by glancing at it.

Another magazine contents page I analysed was ‘We love pop’. The main target audience would be teenage girls who enjoy listening to pop music. The pictures on this page are varied; there are 6 main pictures. The biggest picture in the middle is of a pop artist Tulisa, which could mean that she is quite famous and popular in pop music, therefore this would persuade the target audience to buy this magazine. Also on the magazine is a strip of 11 little images along the bottom, which are previews of posters that are included inside the magazine. All the pictures are of pop artists, which is relevant to the target audience.

‘Q magazine’ also has pictures on their contents page that are similar to ‘We love pop’. The images are all of musicians; there is one main picture on the right hand side of Adam Ant, which is similar to the main picture of the pop singer Tulisa on ‘We love pop’ magazine. The layout of the contents page is a block containing the title ‘Inside this month…’ along with 10 stories being shown with their page numbers. This layout is similar to ‘Q magazine’ as this contents page also has a box with the words ‘REGULARS’ with a few stories mentioned along with their page numbers. The layout of both magazines are similar because the contents pages are in number order. This has been made so that it is easier and less confusing for the reader.

One other magazine I analysed was ‘We love pop!’ This was the one of six magazines that had their own logo. Their logo was ‘WE ♥ POP!’ and is situated on the top right of the page next to the title. The rest of the magazine contents pages have the name of the magazine (Mixmag) along the top, such as ‘CONTENTS’ on Q magazine or ‘Inside this week’ for NME magazine. Fonts are also varied on some of the magazine contents pages. NME magazine font is different for each story that is briefly mentioned on the contents page. This could be to not make it look simple, but to also give an impression that there is a reason for the font to be different for each story and to make it look more interesting and attractive to the target audience.

Once I begin to create and develop my own music magazine cover and contents page, I will use the magazines I have analysed to get a gain a good understanding of other magazines layout, colour, images and use of language and text. I will also use this analysis of the magazines to see which features looked better than others and which ones could be improved so that I can use this to help me create my magazine so that it is eye-catching and attractive for my particular target audience. I need to gather plenty of research so that I design the music magazine to suit the age of my target audience.