A contents page outlines the content/information within a publication or media text. In most magazines you'll find a contents page directly after the cover, informing the reader what the issue holds and where they can find specific content.
We have contents pages to:
Inform the reader of the content and where it is in the magazine
Persuade readers to flick to certain articles
Advertise people/brands
Existing contents pages -
For this research I have decided to deconstruct two pop magazine contents pages and two best selling magazine contents pages to help my understanding of the genre, in turn helping me to produce a product of it's nature. Analysing best selling contents pages can help me in the development of my product giving me an insight into what works well and what doesn't, allowing me to better my productions.
1. Top of the Pops
This is one of Top of the Pops contents pages produced no more than a year ago. This contents page has laid out its information in smaller sections, each with subheadings, making it easier for the readers. This accommodates the target audience of young children. It has used a generic feature of most music magazines which is a masthead placed at the top of the page; however they have added a hint of originality by calling it 'inside the mag' instead of 'contents page' making it more interesting. As the text is laid out at the very top in a bold pink we know its targeting females to make it easier for them to find certain articles/features. To advertise certain features over others, they have replicated a copy of the cover into the contents page with arrowed page numbers again making it that little bit easier for women to find what they're looking for.
The purpose of the imagery is to sell the content of the magazine and give an idea of what it's about. To advertise their shopping columns totp's has inserted small images of items young girls may want to buy, for example the purse and bangles on show. This is to attract young females into buying the magazine as they can view items in store and the best buys in the magazine which is appealing to those without disposable income. The mid/long image of boy band one direction in the right hand corner would appeal to young girls as they're likely to be fans of the x factor pop stars. The posed image looks as if it was professionally shot rather than a quick outdoor pap snap. This connotes that they have time for the girls and for the magazine in order to do the feature - they're not rushing like usual in their busy lifestyle. This represents the magazines well and attracts young female attention.
Although there isn't a great deal of variation in fonts, the font used for the subheadings can be described as very curly and flow-y implying it’s for a younger predominantly female audience. Again following the same format of flow-y and feminine, the title of the contents page is written in what looks similar to 'handwriting style' incorporating a personal feeling within magazine, it looks to be someone’s time and effort. All of the fonts are easy to read yet all connote feminine attributes allowing the magazine to create a young, 'girly - chick flick' style of pop magazine for its primary target audience.
A colour scheme of what seems to be just pink on white highlights the boldness and importance of the fuchsia telling us exactly who the pop magazine is targeting - females! We associate pink with girls and femininity. The use of white connotes innocence and purity which implies to us the magazine is for children who are innocent and pure, telling mums this magazine is daughter friendly.
The purpose of the imagery is to sell the content of the magazine and give an idea of what it's about. To advertise their shopping columns totp's has inserted small images of items young girls may want to buy, for example the purse and bangles on show. This is to attract young females into buying the magazine as they can view items in store and the best buys in the magazine which is appealing to those without disposable income. The mid/long image of boy band one direction in the right hand corner would appeal to young girls as they're likely to be fans of the x factor pop stars. The posed image looks as if it was professionally shot rather than a quick outdoor pap snap. This connotes that they have time for the girls and for the magazine in order to do the feature - they're not rushing like usual in their busy lifestyle. This represents the magazines well and attracts young female attention.
Although there isn't a great deal of variation in fonts, the font used for the subheadings can be described as very curly and flow-y implying it’s for a younger predominantly female audience. Again following the same format of flow-y and feminine, the title of the contents page is written in what looks similar to 'handwriting style' incorporating a personal feeling within magazine, it looks to be someone’s time and effort. All of the fonts are easy to read yet all connote feminine attributes allowing the magazine to create a young, 'girly - chick flick' style of pop magazine for its primary target audience.
A colour scheme of what seems to be just pink on white highlights the boldness and importance of the fuchsia telling us exactly who the pop magazine is targeting - females! We associate pink with girls and femininity. The use of white connotes innocence and purity which implies to us the magazine is for children who are innocent and pure, telling mums this magazine is daughter friendly.
2. Smash Hits
Smash hits is a typically cheesy pop music magazine of which I have previously studied within my media coursework. The contents page takes a scrapbook formation in terms of layout. This is obvious from the use of its dog eared 'lined paper' effect and polaroid pictures. This links in with pop music’s primary target audience of young females, in education who will find this very appealing because they can relate to the style. This creates a more personal, laid back and feminine format. The left hand side of the contents page is laid out in a long 'scrap' list style, which could be described as similar to a shopping or ‘to do’ list; they could have possibly incorporated this to target females who stereotypically do the shopping, house works and errands? This would broaden the target audience’s age therefore allowing more and more females to become regular readers. Smash Hits have incorporated an editorial into the contents, signed in handwriting by the team which implicates to the reader that everyone involved in Smash Hits are very close and put a lot of personal time and effort into the magazine, representing the brand well to its consumers.
The main image of the contents page is a long shot of pop band 'Blue' in a boxing ring with their gloves on, ready to go. This connotes to us that the boys are in conflict/arguing or they're competing against each other. This intrigues the young female audience who would presumably be fans of the 'heart throb' boys and want to know the latest gossip about the band. Smash Hits has added speech bubbles to the image that match their facial expressions to intrigue the reader even more! The boy’s facial expressions flare fight talk with frowned eye brows and cocky pouts again tempting the reader as it non-verbally connotes to us that they both think they're going to win, win what? We ask.
The contents page flicks between two fonts through out. A large bold and easy to read curvy font in the colour of pink; which implicates femininity and is easier for a younger girls to read. And a handwriting style of font creating a personal touch for the girls, as it looks like 'jotted down notes' which young females in education can relate to!
Both being typical bubblegum pop magazines Smash Hits and Top of the Pops use the similar colour schemes of pink and white. This must be a generic feature of young girly pop magazines to connote femininity and innocence, targeting mums who will purchase this for their daughters. Therefore I have incorporated pink and white into my magazines colour scheme.
A highly distributed magazine, Billboard is known for its quality content related to popular music and artists. Therefore the layout of their contents page incorporates the American Top 100 singles chart to inform its readers. This attracts pop lovers to buy the magazine because they can find out the weekly chart within. The layout is quite simplistic which is appealing to girls in education looking for a relaxing, easy read. Sectioned into subheadings to make things even easier, the spacey niche segments outline each form of content in a traditionally formal format; in terms of font and colour. Generically laid out, Billboard's masthead is placed at the top of the page on a bed of horizontally lined up pictures of featured pop artists. This gives a sense of familiarity in its publications as the magazine is so diverse and widely distributed.
The main image of the contents page is a long shot of a young Asian singer who looks very relaxed. Placed bending down on her knee's she promotes confidence and comfort, the image is striking yet has a laid back feel due to her stance. The magazine uses image to create enigma and intrigue readers to turn the page by aligning direct images under the title, with no puffs or secondary leads. This attracts readers by tempting them to buy the magazine and find out what the images are about.
The fonts Billboard has used for it contents page appear to be very formal which could be perceived as boring due to their plain, black, small format. Unlike most magazines who aim to achieve unique features. The simplistic font, similar to Times New Roman, gives a dull and traditional message. This would not appeal to young females as they would be looking for entertainment and feminine features. Perhaps Billboard is for a middle class, multi gender audience?
Billboard uses a colour scheme of white, black and blue. The contrast in black and white creates a tone of formality yet is still effective, although simple. White connoting innocence and purity and black having dark twisted connotations of betrayal, grief and sadness the magazine portrays a balance, connoting its variability. This is a good quality to have in a popular music magazine as it targets a wider audience. However the blue is commonly associated with boys, is Billboard targeted more so at males?
The main image of the contents page is a long shot of a young Asian singer who looks very relaxed. Placed bending down on her knee's she promotes confidence and comfort, the image is striking yet has a laid back feel due to her stance. The magazine uses image to create enigma and intrigue readers to turn the page by aligning direct images under the title, with no puffs or secondary leads. This attracts readers by tempting them to buy the magazine and find out what the images are about.
The fonts Billboard has used for it contents page appear to be very formal which could be perceived as boring due to their plain, black, small format. Unlike most magazines who aim to achieve unique features. The simplistic font, similar to Times New Roman, gives a dull and traditional message. This would not appeal to young females as they would be looking for entertainment and feminine features. Perhaps Billboard is for a middle class, multi gender audience?
Billboard uses a colour scheme of white, black and blue. The contrast in black and white creates a tone of formality yet is still effective, although simple. White connoting innocence and purity and black having dark twisted connotations of betrayal, grief and sadness the magazine portrays a balance, connoting its variability. This is a good quality to have in a popular music magazine as it targets a wider audience. However the blue is commonly associated with boys, is Billboard targeted more so at males?
Another previously studied magazine, Q is a multimedia platform dedicated to music distribution and knowledge. Q’s contents page has used a similar layout to Billboards by holding a lot of the text to the left hand side, listed with subheadings in a column format. This layout allows the publication to attract the reader’s attention by focusing on what catches our eyes the most, imagery and bold mastheads. By having this bordered layout style the readers are given a choice, some may prefer to view the images, scan a bit of what's inside and read on whereas some may want to see specific articles and take in the information. This represents the magazine well as it gives the readers an option, implying their readers are priority.
By laying out another section at the bottom of the magazine promoting one specific review of an artist, Q advertises that particular feature as they think it will attract the most readers which gives the audience direction.
The main image featured on Q's contents page is an extreme long shot of indie pop rock band The Courteeners. Consumers of this magazine obviously want to know about the upcoming band, as the boy band is featured so greatly in the contents. The image shows the boys standing behind their front man on a grassy cliff top very casually looking directly over the camera. This connotes the boys are 'too cool' for posed generic 'shoot' shots creating an arrogant vibe about the band. This could actually attract readers to find out what they're like as people and read on.
The image creates temptation and curiosity by giving nothing to the camera in terms of representation.
Another quite dull use of font, Q seems to only write in black, small times new roman like writing - which could make older eyes squint. However Q has used the colour red which is racy with connotations of danger and seduction, Q uses this to attract attention to the sub sections of the information, most likely to encourage readers to read on. However they could be stripping back on their variations of font to focus on imagery.
Using a colour scheme of red and black Q represents its iconic brand and livens up the page creating a balance. The use of red connotes danger, temptation, seduction and all things we shouldn't do which represents the magazine in a fun, racy light instead of dull and boring like its fonts. The use of black connotes its formality and class, definitely not a pop magazine!
By laying out another section at the bottom of the magazine promoting one specific review of an artist, Q advertises that particular feature as they think it will attract the most readers which gives the audience direction.
The main image featured on Q's contents page is an extreme long shot of indie pop rock band The Courteeners. Consumers of this magazine obviously want to know about the upcoming band, as the boy band is featured so greatly in the contents. The image shows the boys standing behind their front man on a grassy cliff top very casually looking directly over the camera. This connotes the boys are 'too cool' for posed generic 'shoot' shots creating an arrogant vibe about the band. This could actually attract readers to find out what they're like as people and read on.
The image creates temptation and curiosity by giving nothing to the camera in terms of representation.
Another quite dull use of font, Q seems to only write in black, small times new roman like writing - which could make older eyes squint. However Q has used the colour red which is racy with connotations of danger and seduction, Q uses this to attract attention to the sub sections of the information, most likely to encourage readers to read on. However they could be stripping back on their variations of font to focus on imagery.
Using a colour scheme of red and black Q represents its iconic brand and livens up the page creating a balance. The use of red connotes danger, temptation, seduction and all things we shouldn't do which represents the magazine in a fun, racy light instead of dull and boring like its fonts. The use of black connotes its formality and class, definitely not a pop magazine!
Planning
Layouts
As a possible layout option for my contents page this structure seems to be quite bland and boring. With a full list of each article/page within, the contents looks daunting and long winded to take in which isn't suitable for my target audience of young women in education; who will be looking for a simpler, more entertaining page. However one possible reason to follow this layout for the contents would be the generic feature of the traditional masthead plastered across the top of the page which is a common feature in pop and best selling magazines!
This layout provides a better opportunity to catch the reader’s attention. By incorporating an editor’s letter the contents page now has added value. I have decided to put less emphasis on the amount of text used on the contents and just advertise what’s on the cover plus specific content young girls will want to read, this is called gate keeping. By straying away from a generic masthead the contents represents the magazine as original and fresh, something a young generation of females will find attractive.
Image
Contents pages are produced to inform and advertise. Therefore the image used should link with the theme and further promote the artist.
I have chosen the above snap shots for the imagery on Pulse's contents page. The polaroid type images bring out Ellie's fun and unique side. The silly and dramatic facial expressions within the images each connote a different side of Ellie and a different part of her life story so far, linking to the features theme. This variety grabs the reader’s attention whilst persuading their opinion of Ellie.
Fonts
To identify a brand and theme within the pop magazine I am using the same font I used for my front covers masthead, for the contents page as well. This will create recognition and uphold its suited connotations.
For my editors letter I have decided to use a handwriting type font to create a personal and distinct feeling the readers can identify with. Its flow like structure connotes femininity and portrays a ‘girly’ image which is perfect for my primary target audience of young females.
The content of information will be written in a variety of fonts, sizes and effects to ensure readers eyes are drawn to certain sections that sell the most popular features, as well as selling the artist. This will also bring variety and an attractive edge to the magazine - keeping readers interested.
The content of information will be written in a variety of fonts, sizes and effects to ensure readers eyes are drawn to certain sections that sell the most popular features, as well as selling the artist. This will also bring variety and an attractive edge to the magazine - keeping readers interested.
Testing
I asked a few of my peers on their personal views and preferences on the contents page so they could give me constructive criticism on how to better the product for my target audience.
'I really like the display of the pictures; it grabs your attention before anything and makes you want to find out what's behind them.'
'The top half of the layout needs more colour, I feel like it looks really bland, especially compared to the lower half!'
'I love the editor’s letter; it’s really personal therefore I think a lot of females will engage with this! Nicely done!'
'You should add more to the 'see more' section, it feels like everything’s on the cover and there's nothing else to see. I like to flick through a mag and have loads of options.'
