Magazine Contents Page Analysis

Brett Moore

On Kerrangs contents page there are many imagesused, defining a lot of the articles. There is a varietyof shots such as mid shots and longshots, of themain features in the magazine. All the imagespresented are boxed making their structure veryrigid and clear to the reader. Furthermore eachimage has a piece of adjoining text, used to showthe reader, what they can find if they read thisarticle.

The main image is presented at the top of the page,thus directly attracting the reader to this area of thepage and therefore what the adjoining article will beabout. The textual part of the contents page isplaced towards the bottom of the page showingthat the page has been split in half to make themain image, more important to the text below.Banners are also used on this contents page,advertising subscription to this particular magazine,giving the reader the opportunity to, should theyenjoy reading this particular magazine. This is a veryuniformed structure, however it does seem asthough the writing has been unnecessarily squeezeddown to make way from the image, and I thereforethink it would have been better to use a doublepage spread of the image (possible due to the angleof the photograph) and display the contents, as selllines around the image.

The main image is clearly presented as the main featurearticle of the contents page, and the magazine. Thesubsequent articles have been categorised, each with theirown sub heading, (written in yellow on a black backgroundto contrast with contents page) allowing the reader toquickly find the genre of the article they wish to read. Ithink this I effective towards making this a successfulcontents page because it prevents agitation from the readertrying to find a specific article, this systems expresses a filelike system, as it is clearly labelled and contents are easy tofind. Furthermore, the fact that the cover stories arehighlighted further accentuates this, allowing the reader tofind the article they were attracted to on the front cover,quickly and with ease. Despite this however there has notbeen any social media included within the contents pageresulting in the article being somewhat isolated and harderto identify online for example. This may effect the amountof readers they have, therefore making it les successful. Thisis one header used in the middle of the page, splitting thetwo sections, up and drawing the reader to this are in whichthe contents is portrayed. Finally the editor has included aphoto of herself, allowing the reader to form a connectionwith the person writing the texts making the process, muchless corporal and more open to the public, also aiding thesuccess of this magazine.

Metal Hammers’ contents page has been inundatedwith a mixture of mid shots, live shots, and close ups.Two location shots have been used (live photos) aswell as seven studio shots. Most pf the images areboxed apart from a mid shot of a female singer in thecorner of the page, as this overlaps two other imagesof which are both boxed, along with the rest on thepage. Although the images are boxed, they all seem tooverlap the other potentially showing how eacharticle is relative to another. A successful and practicaluse of adding a communal feel to the magazine. Theimages are used to replace text, of which could bedeemed as successful as the target audience are likelyto recognise the person/s presented in the image andtherefore a need for text is not necessary thereforeallowing more space for images.

In this contents page the attention is drawn to theimages, as it is in the previous magazine. The imageshowever have been carefully placed to surround thetext, creating a uniformed style to the piece.Furthermore buttons have been used to plug freegifts, in this case it is a free CD, relative to one of theacts presented in the image. Unlike Kerrang however,there is not a specific main image, allowing theaudience to view this page with an open mind ratherthan seemingly being forced to read a specific article.I believe this layout is much more effective than theone used by Kerrang because it provides the readerwith a different perspective of the articles. Thecolours used are mainly red and black against a whitebackground, a seemingly common thing in rockmagazines and something I will consider when cratingmy own.

The text has been sectioned particularly effectively in thismagazine, with one section for feature articles (articles that canbe found in this issue only) and regular articles of whichfrequently appear in this particular franchise of magazines. Thisis particularly effective, because if a reader is enticed by a featurearticle displayed on the front cover, then it will add pressure onthem to purchase this magazine because this will be the onlytime they will get to read this particular article, particulareffective if it is about a particular act or band, that has a devotedfan base. This is therefore successful as it directly appeals to thereader. Each article, irrelevant of the section it is in, has its ownsubheading written in a bold black font, that directly attracts thereader, against the white background. The page numbers arewritten smaller but in a appealing red colour, so it is clear to thereader. Again there has not been any social media involved, withthis magazine clearly targeting a older generation of whom willhave lived through the 80’s as many references to popular 80’sbands are drawn such as ‘Guns n Roses’ & ‘Metallica’. Addingsocial media would make this more successful because it wouldthus appeal to a wider audience as opposed to the niche targetaudience. The header is written clearly at the top of the pagehowever is relatively small. I will be looking to create a moreunique and bolder way to introduce my contents page.

In this Classic Rock, contents page there is justone image, of which is the focal point of thepage, expressing and the feature of this issue;how rock and roll has evolved. This image is aboxed image with the contents listed as a righthand side sell line. This is a long shot of twopeople, one is of a woman of which isparticularly appealing to the target audienceof which is mostly male, and so I may considerusing a woman in my photo-shoots. The mainimage is supported by text, introducing thearticle, that is featured along with the rednumber also used and made clear to thereader.

As previously stated the attention of thereader is directly drawn to the imagepresented, a sit take sup the entire length ofthe page, and is quite a provocative image.The layout is essentially quite straight, withthe contents uniformed as a straight sell linealong the side of the image, and the imageitself being boxed and straight, creating aseemingly basic design. This design does notappeal to me and I will not be using a similardesign because I do not feel it is particularlyappealing or attractive and is quite monotone,leaving much to be desired, and I thereforewould not expect this to be very successful.

The articles have been directly categorised as featurearticles, meaning the regulars are not presented on thecontents page. This could be effective because in doingso it shows that the magazine expects the readers toknow what is always in the magazine and so the featurearticles are the only ones that really need to bepresented, as these are the only aspects of themagazine that have really changed in this issue. Theheader however is very small and isolated at the top ofthe page requiring the reader to have to browse thepage before understanding what this page is offering.The cover stories have not been identified either,further leading the reader to have to browse in order tofind the article that attracted the reader to hismagazine. Once more, similar to the Metal Hammercontents page, social media has not been identified,potentially as a result of the target audience, of whichcan be deciphered as a result of the name of themagazine ‘Classic’ and also the bands presented like‘Status Quo’ and ‘Ozzy Osbourne’ of whom were attheir primes during the 1970’s. There is however aband index different to any other magazine I haveanalysed, that is particularly effective as it identifies thebands the readers can find within, allowing readers tofind some of their favourite bands and go directly tothat article without having to browse to extensively.

What Have I Learnt?

After analysing three different magazines contents pages, of similarpurpose to the genre I aim to portray in my magazine, I haveconcluded, that I will subcategorise my articles into features andregulars. I will also use a majority of red, black and white as this seemsto be synonymous with this genre of magazine and will therefore makemy magazine look a lot more professional and authentic. Furthermore Iwill endeavour to use a variety of images to both support and replacetexts creating a more visual aid for my readers. Finally I will use adouble page spread as I feel this is the most effective and easy to usetype of contents page that I feel let down the singular pages I haveanalysed and therefore I find it important to do so when creating myown magazine.