Analysing Contents Page

Contents Pages

As Bodmin college didn't have there own contents page, I have picked two professional covers to analyse so I can understand the common codes and conventions for when I make my own.

My first contents page is about ‘FourFourTwo’ which is a football magazine. I would say the target audience for this magazine is between 16-46 and is strongly aimed at males. The colours and the images on this contents page back me up as they are all males and all related to football. I would say it is more of a formal magazine contents page and would be for more sophisticated males.

The layout of this contents page is very formal. All the stories are in one column going down the left hand side of the contents page and all the images are placed in a neat way. This is also appeals to the target audience because it is neat and sophisticated.  All the text is the same font and is very clear to read by the customer. The layout doesn't have to much colour to put off the sophisticated customers but has enough to catch your eye and draw you in.

The colour scheme of this contents page follows three main colours which are Red, Black and White. The red is mainly used to highlight the main areas of text such as the page numbers. Red is also a very common colour in football as many of the worlds most known football teams wear the colour red. Black and white complement each other really well and they catch the eye of potential customers. Black and white might also represent a football, as the first ever football was black and white.

There is not one clear main image on this contents page as there is many large images but one of the images really stands out. This image shows a manager is a suit which goes back to my point this contents page being for more sophisticated customers. The image is also mainly black which also relates to the colour scheme. If potential customers was not interested in the main image the other images may draw them in as they are also linked to football but showing different events.

In conclusion I think that the contents page is very well laid out and really works well with their target audience. The contents page has some really eye catching features and this is one I can take inspiration from.

My second contents page is 'Fall Line' which is a skiing and snowboarding magazine. I would say the target audience is around the same as the previous magazine, I would say both genders would be invested but probably more males. The magazine is clearly set out for lovers of winter extreme sports of any class.

The layout of this magazine is really powerful. The first thing you notice is the really dominant photo taking up a large amount of space. Just like the last magazine, all of the stories are positioned in the left hand side of the contents page, expect from one story which is in the top right of the double page spread. The page number really stands out to the audience and then you instinctively read the quote below which draws you in to the magazine. The font is in bold writing against the pale white background which really draws your focus in.

There is not to much of a colour scheme to this contents page as it is dominated by the main image. Although The white background piece behind the main stories gives you an icy, cold feeling which works well as its a winter extreme sports magazine. The magazine follows three main colours (Blue, White and Black) this work really well with the type of magazine they are trying to present as none of them colours are really bright or warm. They also catch the audience eye as they all work really well together especially the white on black.

As I have stated before the main image is the main focal point on this contents page. The image itself is very powerful and really draws you in. Whats so good about this image is that it has made the designers jobs easier to work around it and just fill in the 'dead space'. This magazine unlike the other one only has one main image so all the customer will be focused in one place unlike the previous contents page where their attention could be guided anywhere.

In conclusion I really like the way this magazines contents page has tried to draw their customers in with such an appealing contents page. I like the how the one main image takes control of the contents page but there is also enough information for the reader. 

Eleven Contents Page Conventions

1)   Features of what is inside the magazine

2)   Images that link to the magazine

3)   Should have page numbers

4)   Colour is key, it indicates the contents

5)   Features should be in a chronological order

6)   Using someone we recognise and labelling them

7)   Level of formality

8)   Doesn’t have to include people

9)   Font, Bold? Italic? Lexis = Choice of words: Invitations/ Challenges/ Questions/ Informal/ Formal

10)                 Editors message

     11) Shapes/boxes/arrows/splash/colour

Analysis Of College Magazines

I’m going to analyse two magazines cover, which are for Bodmin College, a student designed one and one was designed by the schools sectary. The primary target audience for these magazines would be students and the secondary would be parents.  It would appeal to both genders but although the main aim is to inform students and teachers the main target audience would be 11-19.  The magazines covers are pitched to middle class to upper class. 

Analysing the covers:

This magazine is not a professional magazine cover. Firstly this magazine is missing a lot of the common codes and conventions; this includes a masthead, barcode/price, main image, colour theme and Text. 

The masthead on this magazine is very poor as you can't really tell where it is which is bad as you really want your masthead to stand out and dominated the top half of the magazine cover so this is not something you would expect to see on a magazine cover. As I said before you would normally expect the masthead to dominate the top of the magazine cover but it doesn't in this case as it is to small and the colour does not work either as it doesn't catch your eye.                           One and if not the most important part part of a magazine cover is a main image which is one image which dominates the whole cover. It would normally be a medium close up of a relevant person or item but here we have three images of all similar sizes and none are a medium close up either. You would normally expect to see smaller images surrounding the main image. Also the quality of these images are very low, they are very blurry and not very focused. On a professional magazine cover you would expect the image quality to be at the highest standard and to be the main focal point for the target audience. Looking at those images they all seem to be about people dancing or performing arts. This wouldn't apply to the whole target audience as some people may have no interest in them what so ever. 

Moving on to the layout of the cover, as you can see it has not followed the common conventions of a magazine cover. On a professional magazine cover you would expected to see the main image dominating the centre of the cover with a large bold masthead above and a few images and texts surrounding that, but as you can see thats not the case here. In most professional magazines they have a image or a short segment of text in the 'SweetSpot' which is what your eyes first see. Here there is no text or anything to really draw your target audience in.

The second Magazine cover I'm going analysis follow most/all of the common codes and conventions. Although I find the the cover itself confusing to see precisely what  the target audience for this cover is. I would say it is more likely to be aimed at student than adults. I would also presume that this magazine is aimed at both genders.
Starting with the masthead again it is central and bold with gives it a strong and powerful look and makes it stand out from the background. The colour of the masthead is also matching the rest of the theme of the cover so it gives it a successful look. I think that the smokey effects around the masthead give it more of edge and its definitely more eye catching but also backs up my point when I thought the target audience was for teenagers. I think that the actually name of the magazine 'Skive' gives it a rebellious look and sounds interesting to read more on. A lot of teenagers would be drawn in my the name of this magazine so that also backs up my reason for this magazine being for teenagers. 
Layout wise, this cover is a millions times better as it has text in the 'SweetSpot' which was not on the last cover and there is also smaller images and little bits of texts surrounding the main image such as teasers and whats inside. This really lifts the cover up as there is less 'Dead Space'. This is when there is a lot of empty space on the cover. 
Also we finally we have just one main image which makes the cover look a lot better. Before there was three main images which gave the cover a very confusing look and didn't look professional at all. On this cover there is a close up of a female figure with a cold look to it which suits the theme of the overall cover very well. The picture quality of this image is a lot better which improves the focal point for the target audience.