Analysing Magazine Contents Pages

This contents page is from the magazine vibe which is mainly hip hop and urban focused therefore the contents page is designed to attract the younger generation. The mast head is justified to the right of the contents page and is written in a white font. The layout of the mast head fits in with other vibe contents page as the word is always split up into three parts so that it stands out more. The colour white for the font is used so that it stands out against the dark background therefore draws the reads attention to the title.

The contents page doesn’t feature much writing and is designed to be quite simplistic to keep the reader’s attention. The contents page only has four articles therefore the readers have to read more into the magazine to find out more. The background is quite simplistic as its just two plain colours white and black which fits in with the text themes. The main image features Ciarra lying on her back with her legs positioned to form a ‘v’ which is key as it mirrors the v in the background.

The male gaze and Ciarra’s sexuality are being used here as she is wear a tight fitted leotard with her legs in the air. She could be placed like this to be the envy of the female readers and be eye catching to the male readers. The photograph of her is also quite editorial, maybe showing that it is a highly respected fashion magazine. Each title that sections the different articles uses a girly font which could be because it is a magazine more aimed at a female audience. Even though there are 5 different fonts used on this one page it doesn’t look messy as the layout has given it a professional look. The text under each subheading is quote colloquial which makes it simple and easier for the reader to digest.

I like this contents page because of how simple it is. It only uses one picture and this is a photo of Taylor Swift someone who is popular with there target audience (teenage girls). At the top is the name of the magazine and I like how they have put a line underneath it to almost underline it and help it to stand out. The date of the magazine is also found at the top which is something important to add into a magazine. The information about each article is spaced out making it easy to ready and the contents page isn't to busy. I also like how the words ‘Fashion and Features’ is written vertically down the side of the page. The title of each article is in bold so you can clearly see which ones which. The page numbers are in a red to make them stand out and I also like how some of them are circled with a heart which works as this is a girly magazine. The banner across the central image which says ‘Get to know the real Taylor Swift’ makes readers feel that they are getting an exclusive. Things like this are important to have in your magazine to keep your readers interested and up to date.

This is the contents page for the ladies magazine glamour. I like this contents page because of the way it sticks to one colour scheme, the same one as the front cover meaning that both pages link well together giving it a professional look. Down the left hand side there is competitions that readers can enter something that will engage your consumers and keep the interested. There are also images of what you could win to gain even more interest in the competition. I like how they have put an orange line down the middle to separate the competitions and the articles within the magazine. Each section of the magazine has its own title in either orange or yellow and the article description is in black, an easy colour of writing to read. The section are clearly set out for ease of reading a simplicity. I also like how the page number of each article is in the colour of the title to help them stand out. Each important part of the article is in bold so you can see which story is which.

I have chose to look at these 2 contents pages for inspiration for my own. I decided that I would look at one contents page by Elle in 1991, and one in 2008. The change in the contents page's compositions are obvious. Both of them look excellent and are really eye catching in many different ways. The 1991 Elle contents page is very structured, with everything in certain place, and with black lines to emphasize the idea that it has been structured this way. However, although the 2008 cover is structured, it has been made to look like it isn't, With many different images overlapping, but with the actual Contents box on top of all the images. This 2008 contents page looks so good because of how busy it is, And although it looks messy, it still all fits in really well and the overall composition is fantastic. Also, the colour scheme has been thought out well to make all the images in the background go (The neutral colours, along with the pinks and nude tones). However, i do really love the idea of simplicity, and making everything look clean cut and chic, So i really love the 1991 contents page of Elle. With the large title and everything else structured from the title down the page. The plain white background looks so good contrasted against the bold red text and the black text. The fonts all work really well, with 'ELLE' being the only serif font, and the rest being sans-serif (almost as if to emphasize the Elle title). Also, the two images have been placed well on the page. However, when designing my contents page, i think i will try to stick to more of a colour scheme than this one has (All the text/background is red, white & black - but then the image has a lot of blue in it). I think, i will try and create a contents page that mixes the 1991 cover (the chic simplicity) with the 2008 cover (the stylish business)

Here is a image of a women's lifestyle magazine contents page. All the images and borders on the page are girlie and colourful it straight away gives a big hint that the magazine is aimed a women. This magazines has picture of the team that work with it, this suggests they want the readers to feel closer to them as they can know what they look like and their names, it's bringing the audience closer to the people that write it. The writing on the contents page look like it's in a list which suggests to the reader that there is a lot going on in the magazine and a lot to talk about. It has an effect on the audience that makes it look like their is a lot to find out about. OK is a gossip magazine about celebrities and this is made clear by images of celebrities down the side with information about each picture or secretes about the celebrities, a reason why we may chose to read that magazine.