Contents page analysis

Target Audience: The target audience for this magazine is for people aged around 16 who are usually just discovering what type of music they like. The genre of music is rock which is quite an informal type therefore the target audience would not commonly be seen as middle aged people such as 35 and older. We see how it will be targeted as teenagers as the text is mainly informal and the images contain things such as guitars and people screaming.

House Style: The house style of the magazine is mainly colours like black, white and yellow. On ‘Kerrang!’ contents pages, the background is white and the writing is black. However, the magazine contents shows its significance as every contents page with this magazine shows the headings in a gold colour with a black background, and the contents are always in red number points. On the “Kerrang!” contents page, the layout always shows the Gutenberg principle shown in a same way, with the main image in the primary optical area, and the masthead in the strong fallow area etc.

Design Balance/Design Symmetry: Within the design balance/symmetry, the design seems to be informally balanced as the masthead is on the right hand side and the main image takes up more than just half of the page. However, the contents have a slight balance to it as they are shown in 3 columns. The informal balance helps to represent the genre of the magazine.

Gutenberg Design Principle: In the primary optical area, the contents page shows the main image of a popular band. This will be placed here as it will be an important part of the magazine, therefore the readers eyes will be drawn towards it first. On the strong fallow area, the masthead has been placed in an unusual design and it is not common for the masthead to be here. The readers eyes , however, will be drawn towards the masthead almost straight away, which makes it still noticeable for the reader to see as it is important information. The weak fallow area contains an image of a male artist playing the guitar and singing, with the headline ‘SHOTS’ in bold, yellow text. This helps the reader to look more in the weak fallow area as it is eye catching. The terminal area contains as badge with images explaining who helped to create the magazine. This is a slightly different colour to the rest of the contents page, making the reader notice it more.

Imagery: The imagery of this contents page shows a range of different images which represent the magazine genre and what this particular magazine will contain inside. The main image contains 4 males, all part of the same rock band, which are stood in a friendly position with a caption saying that they ‘really want a hug.’ This is humorous to the people who are reading the magazine as it challenges the stereotype of the rock genre being quite fierce and aggressive. There are other smaller images such as an image of what looks like a famous rock artist performing at a concert. The artist is shown to be screaming and playing electric guitar which is synonymous to the genre of the magazine and informs the reader that the artist will have information in the magazine. There are other images on the contents page showing things such as what looks like a rock band album cover which also informs the reader of what’s inside. Within the contents page, the imagery is used more than text to indicate what is in this magazine which also suggests how the target audience may be younger and informal as the reader may prefer to look at the images to discover what’s inside rather than reading writing.

Masthead: The masthead of this contents page is on the right hand side which is not a usual place as to where the masthead would go, however, the text is bold and in capital letters and is surrounded by a big and black circular shape to make the bold, white writing more eye catching. The shape around the writing shows white marks which come across as it is worn out, or possibly scratch marks or broken glass which shows the aggression of the genre of the magazine, which represents what the magazine will have inside. Underneath the masthead there is also a heading which is in bold, red and white writing. This is eye catching to the reader and would have been placed underneath the masthead so that the reader will definitely see it as it may be to give information to the reader which may become important.

Text: The text of this contents page tends to be bold and sans serif to suggest informality. The text is commonly black or yellow, which are two different types of colour, showing informality again. There is a lot of text within the contents a which is shown by headings such as ‘NEWS’ and then contents shown in a list underneath which is easier for the reader to find what they are looking for.

Contents page analysis

Design Balance/Design Symmetry: Within the contents page, the design is informally balanced as there is no form of balance or symmetry. This is shown as the image is the predominant part of the page to represent and provoke the genre as the female is dancing and bright colours are used. We also can see how it is informally balanced as the contents text is more on the right hand side of the page rather than taking up half.

Imagery: The imagery of this contents sheet shows a girl partying in a club which shows the magazine as part of the dance genre. The main image shows the female wearing provocative clothing and dancing in a similar way. The female has shades on which is quite random which is synonymous to the genre. The imagery is also dark but with LED lighting to show a night club and the female has bright clothing and jewellery.

Gutenberg Design Principle: The Gutenberg design principle is used in a slightly different way to normal contents pages as the masthead contains 3 different type of information, the name of the magazine, the date and the title of the page. This is shown as a banner which goes through the primary optical area, making it so the reader will read this first, and then it goes to the strong fallow area; where the reader will automatically look to after the primary optical area. In the weak fallow area, the contents page has an insert to capture the reader’s attention saying ‘124’ in large, informal writing. Starting from the weak fallow area going into the terminal area, there is an insert/banner advertising the free CD you get in the magazine, making the reader look everywhere on the page.

Masthead: The masthead is different to usual magazines as both the masthead of the magazine name and the ‘contents’ label is seen as a banner across the top of the contents page. ‘Mixmag’ is seen in the primary optical area following into the strong fallow area where it says ‘Contents’ and the month/year of the magazine. The masthead/banner is in white writing and each font for the text is difference which may show informality as the magazine consists of dance/party music.

Text: The text for this magazine is all in white coloured writing over a black background which makes it easy to read. The contents on the right hand side are presented in a modern way, looking as though that they are tracks on a CD. The overall text which is used is mainly sans serif to make it less formal and there is a range of different fonts to keep the magazine looking exciting and interesting.

House Style: The main house style of this magazine is black and white, making it easy to read and interesting. The fact that the colours are inverted (white writing on black background, not black on white) may suggest the informality of this magazine. As well as the black and white theme on every mixmag magazine, all contents pages also have an image on the left hand side, along with the contents in ‘CD form’ on the right. The image usually contains a female, which may objectify females, and they are usually in a club, partying, with LED lights making the image more informal and colourful.

Target Audience: The target audience for this magazine is around 18 and over. This is because most of the images, information and music represents the dance genre and also suggests what people that enjoy going clubbing will like to read. For example, the young girl in the image is shown dancing at a club. The advertisements in the magazine also consist of mainly alcohol which also suggests this as the target audience.