The four magazine contents pages we looked at were called Q Magazine, NME, Mixmag and We Love Pop. The target audience for We Love Pop is younger teenage girls whereas Mixmag would be aimed at older teenagers or young adults. The target audience for both Q magazine and NME is men or women but more for men aged between 30 and 40.
NME and Q Magazine are both very similar. They both use a lot of pictures and very little writing. All the pictures on both of the contents pages are of people posing with very few action shots. NME uses quotes under every single picture which give a little information about the picture and the article they are about. Q Magazine has information next to the picture but it is smaller and quotes are not used. Both magazines have the page number of the article they are in next to them. Neither of the magazines are really set out in chronological order instead they are more spread out because the pictures are spread out. However Q Magazine has a small section of the contents page called “regulars” where the articles are set out in chronological order. The language used is more complicated because the magazine is aimed at older people and there is a sentence about each article that is linked to a picture instead of just having one line. Different fonts are used and bolder fonts are used for the main title and for the name of each article, with smaller font used for the information about the article. Colours are used to show the different title and writing. Both magazines use different colours for the smaller and bigger fonts. Q Magazine uses red and black and NME uses black fonts but bold and lighter shades. Q Magazine's title also has comical cartoon characters which add humour to the magazine. I will use this when I come to create my own magazine by having information or quotes next to the picture because I believe it helps the reader know more about what is featured in the magazine. Unlike these magazines I want my contents page in chronological order as I feel it is more organised and looks better on the page. Also because my magazine is for younger people I wouldn’t want to use such dull colours as I would want it to look a bit more appealing.
We Love Pop uses lots of different types of pictures and quite a lot of writing. The pictures are all ones that have been purposely posed for although a few of them have not been posed for in a studio but on the street. We Love Pop has writing under every picture it uses to tell the reader what the article is about. There is a letter from the editor of the magazine on the contents page talking about the issue of the magazine and what is included. Each picture has a number next to it telling the reader what page number that article and picture is on. We Love Pop has a section where the main articles and the page numbers are listed but not all the contents. The language is very simple and the titles underneath the pictures are also as it is a magazine for younger people. Instead of using bold writing for the titles it uses italic bold writing for the main titles and just bold writing for the information under the titles. The magazine mainly uses pinks, blacks and blues. It uses these colours because they are bright but also uses them so the magazine isn’t aimed at just one sex, using pinks to attract girls and blues to attract boys. It uses the logo of the magazine and the website address on each page to advertise the magazine more. I will use this to create my own magazine by having a lot of pictures but not as many as We Love Pop because my target audience is a little bit older then the target audience of We Love Pop. I think I want to use a few different colours to attract different sexes. I want to use pictures and quotes as it gives the reader information and is easier for them to flick right through the magazine and get to the articles they want to read straight away.
Mixmag uses 2 big pictures on its contents page and different fonts. The pictures links in with the main articles and like the others have the page number written in the corner. Both large pictures are posed for and not naturally taken. The pictures link in with the audience as the people in the pictures are teenagers or older which makes it clear what age range the magazine is aimed for. Unlike the others it doesn’t have writing under the pictures only the page number and title of the article. The writing is white against a black background so it stands out with the title of the articles bolder then the information underneath them. The language used is still simple but plays with words more and has more tongue twisters aimed at the older target audience so the words don’t need to be as simple. The contents page of this magazine also has information about the free gift with a picture which is helpful to the reader as they can just flick to the next page to find out more about it. It uses black and whites for the background and then bright pictures against it so that the writing and the pictures stand out and look interesting and make the whole contents page look better. It also uses the page numbers and email address of the magazine. I will use this in my magazine by using simple words but also using tongue twisters and interesting words to make it fit my target audience. I will use bright images maybe against a darker background because I think it looks the best and fits in well with the target audience I am aiming for.
By analysing these magazines it has made me think about what types of things I want to include in my magazine and what type of things I don’t as well as making me think about what things would be suitable for my target audience and what type of things wouldn’t be.
From doing this analysis the things I want to include in my contents page are a few pictures and a bit of writing but making it interesting and not to much. I also want the page numbers and email addresses on the bottom of every page including my contents page. I want to use a colour that is aimed at female and males and have a few pictures with the page number underneath and a caption. I will then have some of the other articles and their page numbers but I do not want every single article listed as I think that is too much and gives too much away about the magazine by just flicking to the second page. I want to use contrasting colours because I think that worked on the other contents pages and made things stand out more. I want to use simple language like Mixmag as it is aimed at younger people rather than older people and is quite a simple magazine.
Thanks for this Bethany. Can you add some detail about what you are thinking for your own contents page?
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