ANALYSIS OF CONTENTS PAGES

Using contents pages from popular pop magazines today, ‘Top of the Pops’ and ‘We <3 Pop’, as pop is the closest existing genre to the genre of music magazine I am creating.

Heading spans the top fifth of the page. The typography is presented in a banner to make it more vibrant and interesting. The background colour of the banner is a bright pink which appeals to their target audience (young/teenage girls) because stereotypically this age group likes pink. The text is white so that it stands out against the pink background. The font is swirly to represent handwriting because the editor wants to make the contents page appear like it has been specially crafted, taking great care and time, which it would do if it was handwritten. This gives the audience the impression that the magazine is special/specially created for them.

A smaller picture of the cover is featured in the top half portion of the page. This is used to pick out the key articles from the cover so that the audience can see clearly where the articles the editor deems to be most interesting easily, so that they are more likely to read them. Some of the articles picked out are highlighted in yellow, connoting that these are the most important or most interesting ones. The titles of the articles aren’t typed out again, there are simply arrows to join the page numbers to the articles advertised on the front cover. The page numbers used here are some of the largest typography on the page to make them stand out the most .

The language used on the contents page is informal. For instance, “mag” is used in the heading rather than ‘magazine’ to make the heading shorter and snappier. It also makes the magazine easier and more fun to read than something that is more formal; it contributes towards making the magazine light reading and this helps the magazine to appeal to its target audience because it is designed as a form of entertainment.

The typography is organised into text boxes with headings. This makes it easier for the audience to navigate around the contents page, and thus the magazine, because they can find articles that they are interested in more easily by reading the headings. Relatively small images are used to promote other articles in the magazine that might be of more interest to the target audience. These articles don’t have titles or captions; there is simply a page number in large, bold typography laid over the image. The colour of the typography is changed depending on the image so that it can be seen clearly. For instance, the “26” over One Direction is white because the image features mainly dark colours, so the contrast allows the typography to be seen. However, the colours used fit within the colour scheme.

Page numbers are presented in the same font as the titles of the articles, but a different colour to make them stand out and differentiate them from the titles to clarify for the audience.

Key information is highlighted in yellow, a light colour, so that it stands out but the text can still be seen, like someone may do by hand. This reinforces the connotation from the heading that the page has been crafted carefully especially for the reader. It also allows the editor to direct the audience’s attention to particular articles.

The colour scheme used involves yellow, white and pink – all stereotypically girly colours to appeal to their target audience. The colours work well together and are aesthetically pleasing, meaning that the page is pleasant to look at and read.

Heading spans the width of the page in the top fifth portion. It is written in a bold font, all in capital letters to make it stand out. Furthermore, the font is quirky – the ‘o’ is coloured in which isn’t how the letter is supposed to be formed, connoting that the magazine is fun and a bit different to other pop magazines that you might see on the shelf. The use of “love” shows the passion behind the creation of the magazine that they hope will sell the magazine as it suggests that a lot of care has gone into the creation of it. The ellipsis also serves to encourage the audience to read on and see that they “love”.

The magazine’s logo is featured in the top right hand corner of the page, right next to the heading to draw the audience’s attention to their identity and branding, so that they will remember which magazine they read when/if they want to go and buy it again. It also connotes that they are proud of the magazine and want to take every opportunity they can to say it’s theirs, which again implies that a lot of effort and attention to detail went into the creation of the magazine. This text box reads “For your eyes

only”, making the audience feel special and exclusive. This flattery encourages the audience to read what is supposedly for their eyes only, and buy the magazine again to feel special and privileged. It is presented in a quirky text box at the top of the page, before the heading so that the audience is drawn to it, and reads it before anything else, allowing it to set the tone and the audience’s mood. There is a note from the editor than runs in a column down the left hand side of the page. It summarises what the magazine is about and hints once again about the effort that went into its creation, which encourages people to buy the magazine again because it connotes that it is well-crafted. The personal tone from the editor makes the audience feel special. The typ0graphy is fairly plain and simple to allow the audience to read it easily. The simple black and white slips easily into the blue, yellow, white and black colour scheme. The editor’s name is written in a more swirly font, to give the impression that she signed her name her self and that what she has written is sincere.

A large image is used in the centre of the page to advertise an article which is considered to be important, or that is thought to be popular. Because of its location, size and bright colours, the audience’s gaze is drawn to it immediately, allowing them to read the caption below it, explaining the photo and advertising the article further, so that they can decide whether they want to turn to page “28” and read that article, or not. The page number is written in a large, clear but decadent font so that it is interesting and fits in with the style of the design, but is easy to read. It is placed on a yellow diamond to make it more quirky and interesting, and to tie it into the colour scheme. Smaller images run down the right hand side in a column to advertise other significant articles, but ones that are considered to be less important by the designers and editors than the larger image. They also have page numbers layered on top of them in bold, large typography.

The articles that are considered to be least important are advertised in a list format. Again, the page numbers are large to make it clear what page the articles are on so that the audience can find them. The page numbers are also in a different colour to differentiate them and fit them in with the colour scheme.

A banner including many images of pop stars is featured at the bottom of the page.