Deconstructions of contents pages

Blender Magazine Q Magazine

Top Of The Pops Magazine

This is the contents page of the music magazine ‘Blender’ . This particular example does include the basic needs and features for a contents page. A contents page is important, as it is a source of information for the reader to get an understanding of the current issue.

It includes a professional photo of singer Katy Perry. This is quite effective as it makes the magazine look professional and quite popular as it includes content of a mainstream star, which would seem appealing to a wide majority.

This particular contents page is actually quite bare compared to other prints. Most pages would be covered in information such as page numbers, features and editors messages, however this is quite simple and seems to only include the most essential factors.

The contents page includes four main articles and their page numbers. These would be classed as the most important features that the magazine thinks the readers will want to read most, therefore if they see the most popular and important articles in the contents, they would probably end up buying the magazine just for that.

The big title reading ‘contents’ is also quite important as it is strongly presented so that readers realise that this is the contents page, and can quickly notice where it is and what it is. It also contrasts with the white background, to make it stand out to readers. Under the title, the date is of the issue is included in a way to define and document that issue, and also for the reader to understand the current month and year if they decide to look back on it after a while.

Colours are important in two ways. One is so that it reflects the magazine and its professionalism, as it has to stand out and be appropriate for the age group, as colours can effect this by making it look too childish by adding the wrong colours and shades. The second reason is that it reflects the artist. The use of the colour red on her outfit and the random mushroom reflects her quirky style and music. Both of these reasons is used for impact on the reader.

A quote from Katy Perry is also shown on the bottom, this is to gain the readers attention even more and to try and grasp them in to read more into that particular article and then potentially the whole magazine.

Blender contents page…

Q’s magazine contents page includes of content and information. This is so that the reader can gather a lot of info from the magazine or current issue shown.

They have all the features labelled by page numbers, so that readers can quickly find out where they could find that particular spread in the magazine. They clearly highlight the main articles, but then add a section of other articles and named it under ‘women in music’, this is to sign post a certain set of articles that could be similar.

There is also a review included, which counts as another source of information for the reader. Another interesting factor could be the fact that it still includes the features that are in the magazine every month or week, this counts as a nice touch to the contents page.

Like most contents pages, they have included a picture of the artists from the main feature, or the most popular artist in the magazine or even the media at the current moment. In this issue it is the artist Adele, and the image of her looks high quality, which assures the reader that the magazine is reliable . Also her costume/outfit matches the layout of the page and its colours, which makes it look professional and suitable for the target audience, which would probably be 17-45 year olds.

A title is also included, so that is well sign posted for the readers, which allows them to quickly identify the particular page. Along the same lines on the page, the issue number and date is included, which also adds professionalism.

The colours in the magazine are bold but not as colourful as others. However, it does work and still looks effective, and adds to the music genre.

Q contents page…

This specific magazine has a contrast in target audience than the others, this is aimed for younger people as in 10-15 year olds. Due to this, it has different concepts of factors.

Inside of simply saying ‘contents’ like the others, it had said ‘inside the mag…’ which is quite quirky and fun for children to understand.

Again, instead of just creating a simple list of features, they have put an image of the front cover and shown by arrows, the page numbers of the sell lines on the font cover. This is because it is easier to understand and read for younger people, and some would see it as less boring and a quicker method to finding what you want, rather than just finding an article from a list . However these are just the main features, they do include to some lists of features, but sign post them and put them in several sections, so it doesn’t look too overloaded and boring for the target audience.

The colours in this contents page would indicate that the magazine is particularly made for girls, as a lot of pinks, reds and purples have been used. Other than the colours, we can notice by the language that is specially for girls, as it includes terms like ‘celebs and gossip’ and ‘we love shopping’.

The images used are also significant as we can clearly see two popular male stars, as this would grab the attention of the female audience and entice them to buy the magazine. A purse is also shown, as this would also be found interesting by the reader, as that purse could be part of the latest fashion and if they read on they could find other on trend items, which would appeal to them, and essentially persuade them to buy the magazine.

Top Of The Pops contents page…