The purpose of a contents page is to tell people of other stories that the magazine contains and what page number to find them on. It also gives the reader a sense of control as is allows people to choose what they want to read.
For this activity I analysed 3 different contents pages which were also in the pop music genre. They were Sugar, Billboard and Vibe which are shown below.
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| Sugar Contents Page |
Sugar
This was my favourite contents page that I found.
-It had a pink and black theme.
-One large picture of the same person which was on the front cover which took up a third of the page. I thought this was a good idea as it didnt actually take up much space but it showed that the picture was the main story in the magazine.
-It had 4 sections; On the cover, which had 7 stories, Up front, which also had 7 stories, Top reads, which had 6 stories and The team, which had 7 stories. All stories had a breif sentence or to about the stories.
-There was a total of only 4 pictures on the page including a picture of the front cover which I dont think was enough.
-There were 20 stories altogether.
- It had a white background.
-The masthead was shown about the "Contents" title.
-There were numbers on the pictures to show which story they belonged to except for the front cover picutre.
-The date "June 2009" was printed on the top right hand side of the page.
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| Vibe Contents Page |
Vibe
This contents page was far too plain but I thought I'd analyse it to show the dramatic differences in contents page idea's.
-There was just plain black writing with a plain white background used from the picture.
-The "Contents" title was printed in an odd way with the CO on the top, NTEN in the middle and TS on the bottom which I LOVED the idea of but I think its too risky to use as its a bit too different to try and pull off in my own contents page.
-There were only 3 sections; Departments, which had 7 stories, Seen, which had only 2 stories and V style, which only included 1 story.
-There was then 2 small seperate paragraphs, one saying who took the pictures and the other saying who was in the pictures.
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| Billboard Contents Page |
Billboard
I loved the idea of having this as my design template for my own contents page but it is a bit too complicated to create by myself.
-It contained 4 pictures altogether, 3 were in a row and the biggest was in the centre of the page showing it was the cover story.
-Taking up a 3rd of the page down the right hand side was a "Number 1 Charts" column containing the charts for songs and albums which I thought was an amazing idea.
-There were 5 sections; Up front, which contained 5 stories, Features, which contained 5 stories, Music, which contained 5 stories, In Every Issue, which contained 6 stories and Home Front, which contained 2 sections - Online and Events.
-The colour theme for this contents page was black, white and blue.
I then wrote similarities and differences between all 3 of the contents pages.
Similarities
(these similarities are mainly between Sugar and Billboard as Vibe is pretty boring and doesn't really have anything the same with the other two)
Mise en Scene - They have breif explainations of each story, the title "Contents", one main picture and sections.
Layout and style of language - They are all formal with a colour scheme and columns are used.
Music Genre Conventions - Bright colour themes are used with pictures with well known artists.
Special Features And Articles - Interviews with celebrities (In this case singers or band members)
Regular Sections - Opinion (Billboard) and Write Here Write Now (Sugar)
Interesting Additions? - An Upfront Section
Differences
Mise en Scene - Vibe - Different position style for "contents" Billboard - 3 pictures in a row not placed with its story Sugar - Colour themed writing.
Layout and style of language - Vibe - One large background picture with one column Billboard - lots of columns Sugar -columns taking up most of the page
Music Genre Conventions - Vibe - Has a boring colour theme with only 1 picture Billboard - Has a "Number 1 Charts" column
Special Features And Articles - Vibe - Has a page for "Editors Letter" instead of actually being on the contents page itself.
Regular Sections - Billboard - Opinion, Marketplace, Over the counter, Market Watch, Charts, Executive turntable, backbeat, inside track Sugar -Write here write now
Interesting Additions? - Vibe - Different sections; Departments, Seen, V Style Billboard - Music and Homefront Section, "Number 1 Charts" column Sugar - The Team section, There is also a picture of the cover used.
Techniques used to make me read the whole magazine
- Use good pictures
- Have good brief information about the story
- Have a good colour scheme because if it is boring like the Vibe magazine, it will make me think the rest of the magazine is also boring.
- Have good sell lines
- Use one or two quotes from stories so I will want to know more about what has been said.
- Use good stories that will actually relate to the target audience e.g. don't have stories for young teenages if the magazine has a target audience of 45-60 year olds.
My Own Contents Page Should Include
-In this issue... (Brief paragraph explaining what there is to be read)
- Features Section
- Regulards Section
- Reviews Section
- The Editors Section
- Atleast 6 pictures
-Numbers on the pictures to show which story it goes to
- Brief explaination of each or most stories
- Main Picture
-Contents title
-Colour theme
-Write in and quiz section
- Feedback section
