Analysing Existing Magazine Contents Pages

Analysing Existing Magazine Contents Pages

Total Film - April 2012, Issue 191:

 

This contents page is for Total Film magazine with a target audience of men and women, who are interested in films, between ages 15 and 25, who will fall mostly into the social status demographic in bands C1-E.

The layout of the pages makes information easy to find with clearly titled sections which is appealing to the target audience because it doesn't take too much effort to find the pages that interest you. The columns makes the pages look full but not too busy which gives an excited feeling to the reader, keeping them interested. The columns makes the pages look clean and simple to browse, giving the reader a predetermined order of reading, and by putting the most exciting information at the start and and the end, keeps the reader interested. 

The images used reflect the most exciting articles, making it even easier to find the pages of the features, for example the pages about Nicholas Hoult, which it states on the image, displayed in the top left of the second page, that the article about this actor starts on page thirteen. This appeals to the target audience because the information on the cover, which may be the reason they purchased the magazine, is easily  located from the contents page. The amount of images used is good as it adds colour and keeps the pages from looking boring, without making them busy and messy. The main features are: the Blipp Interactive application advertisement and the "The Hunger Games" film article. The Blipp ad stands out from the double page because it uses inverting to make it look completely different from the magazine article information, which works because it gives a distinct indication that it isn't information about the articles themselves. In fact it is about digital viewing within the magazine and therefore the colours used are very relevant to this information. The "The Hunger Games" image seems 3D-like with the bow seemingly coming out of the photograph, which represents modern cinema and the new forms of film viewing developed eg IMAX 3D and thus the fact that "The Hunger Games" film is available for viewing in 3D. Furthermore, the colours in the image stand out from the pages, with green filling most of the image and not being used anywhere else within the double page spread, immediately drawing the reader's eyes to it.

In addition, the colour palette of the spread in black, white, red and yellow, which reflects the colours on the cover of the magazine (seen top left) and furthering the visibility of the "The Hunger Games" feature as there are no colours in the palette that are similar to or complement the colour green. The repetition of colour through the text and headings makes it look smart and easy to read with the different colours relating to different aspects of the page, for instance red showing sub-headings and secondary sub-headings, shown in the 'Screen Reviews' section, and the yellow indicating the Blipp technology on the relevant pages. I think this colour palette is good for a magazine of this genre because of the connotations of each colour. For example, red connotes love, fire and blood, black connotes death and danger, and yellow connotes fire as well, which are popular traits for action movies. Also, all of the fore-mentioned traits are seen in The Hunger Games, so the colour choices correspond with the main feature of the magazine. 

The typography used is quite simple, easy to read and is in three distinct types. The first is the word 'Contents' which is large, bold and in a font unique to itself.  This makes it easy to find which page you're on and fills space to avoid blankness on the page. The second is what fills most of the spread, with the same font coming in red and black and in different thicknesses for clarity. The third is a more computerised font in white, blue and yellow for the Blipp advertisement, denoting the modernised technology that keeps the magazine up to date and appealing to the young target audience. All of the typography used appeals to the target audience because the type looks clean and generally nice to look at, as opposed to being vulgar and repelling the looks of the reader. 

Overall, I think this magazine contents page is very effective in that it appeals to the target audience very well, it includes everything that a contents page should have and, as a person that would be included in the target audience, I would  want to buy, if not already purchased, the magazine and/or continue reading it after seeing these pages. 



Elle - July 1991:



Elle magazine is all about fashion and it targeted at a female audience between 18 and 49 years old, who are likely to fall in the social status demographic bands C2-E. 

The layout of this contents page is simple to the point where people may find it boring. Some may say that minimalism was a current trend at the time of publishing and this demotes that, although it might just be down to the lack of technology at the time. The page is in four columns, the first giving information about the front cover, which may be helpful to the target audience if they are particularly interested in what the cover represents or its background, and the next three giving information and page numbers for the rest of the magazine, which makes the page successful in giving clear information about the contents, as it should. This may appeal to the target audience because the simple appearance stops the reader from getting "bogged down" in reading the contents and therefore they can get straight onto reading through the main articles in the magazine. 

The images used on the page aren't particularly inviting  as they do not evoke any excitement in the reader to make them want to read more. The portrait shot of a female in the first column an the medium shot of a different female that are featured clash with the simple colour palette and have little impact on the reader, as before mentioned. The smaller, medium shot may be relevant to the information in its column, however, the main image seems to be of little relevance to the rest of the page, though there could be a link to the 'Travel' pages, however the choice of image could be improved. That said, these models or the clothing/location could appeal to the target audience who may enjoy these pictures and/or styles.

The main colours used are red, white and black, of which you may not usually associate with fashion magazines due to their connotations, however the creators may have been going for clarity as opposed to deeper meaning through colour. 

The typography used features the 'Elle' logo in red, representing the well-known brand, however whether it is necessary here after already being on the cover I do not know. Next is the red subheadings, which are useful for guiding the reader to the topics they will enjoy with the magazine, There subheadings are larger and bolder that the text beneath them, which makes them stand out and add much needed colour to the page. The plain text comes in different sizes and cases, however I believe it all uses the same font, which carries on the simple theme of the page and makes reading easier for the reader. This all appeals to the target audience because they can then navigate through the medium easily and without much distraction from this page. 

To me, this contents page is not very effective in that there is too much blank, white space and the space that it filled doesn't particularly interest me. However, I am not part of the target audience and the minimalism may appeal to them due to the straight-forwardness of the page, meaning it's not busy and it is easy to read.