Contents pages
- 1. This content page has been crowded with text and big images which gives off the idea to the audience that they are getting their moneys worth. The colours used are mainly white/beige as well as black and white to give the page a good looking colour balance. The bits that are highlighted in red are the mastheads and are seen as the important bits. The colouring sort of represents the band shown ‘Oasis’ voices as it is very simplistic but works very well together. The font used is a simple san-serif in order for the audience to read it clearly and understand exactly where everything is. The layout is simple. It has left handed alignment where all the text is, with a big image on the right hand side covering half the page (image also has anchorage). There is also text down the bottom and yet another image almost just to fill up the page. The mastheads are on the left above each bit of important information/text and is highlighted in red. In order for the audience to keep track of each magazine they distribute number, date and year show top right. The language used is simply to inform the reader where everything is within the magazine as well as describing what sort of things will be shown. As all contents pages are, the gratifications of this would be to inform but what makes this contents page better is the fact that it also offers some sense of entertainment. In the bottom left hand corner it shows how there will be cross-words and subscriptions within the magazine.
- 2. The font is unique as it is a mixture between serif and san-serif. The serif font is to try and attract their target audience which would appear to be teenagers into hip-hop music. The masthead has been put in san-serif font to make it clear to the audience exactly what and who the magazine is. The layout is very jumbled but suits the audience well as it’s almost as if a child themselves wrote it. It appears to have no form of alignment but has cleverly been put into boxes and placed across the whole page so that it is still clear what will be distributed in the magazine. There appear to be a wide variety of colours. These include yellow, pink, white, black, grey and blue. This sounds like an un-appealing colour pallet but as shown on the magazine it seems to work well. It catches the eye immensely which is the main aim. Like all music magazine contents pages it has the number and date in the top right corner in order for the audience to keep up. The language used on this contents page is colloquial much like the appearance of the font. With mastheads such as ‘Latest Gossip’ and ‘Regulars’ shows that the distributers have tried to connect with their audience in a much deeper level. Once again the language is very much to inform the audience on the information that will appear inside the magazine. The gratifications (Blumler and Katz) are as usual to inform as its telling the audience what's what and also to entertain as shown in the bottom left hand corner, ‘Latest Gossip’ which would automatically get the audience interested.
- 3. At the bottom of this contents page it shows some form of advertisement, this is unique as you rarely see this, only normally inside the magazine. The language used is simply to inform the reader in what the upcoming events will be inside the magazine. It also gives a little description on what will be on the pages. The colours used are very bright. Vibrant and eye catching. Pink, black and white are the focal point of this contents page. All the important parts have been put on different colour backgrounds compared to the font which makes it all clear and visual. The font is both serif and san-serif. The san serif- pieces of text are bold and stand out as these are the titles/mastheads. The serif font is just to help engage with the reader and these parts of the text are down the left hand side and in the middle where all the information takes place. The layout would appear to be chaotic as the font is very fashionable and funky. But the layout is actually rather simple as it has text in the left hand alignment as well as an image and more text placed in the middle. Overall I believe this is a good layout as it has a good balance between a complex and simple layout. Like the previous two contents pages this pages gratifications are simply to inform and entertain. The target audience would attract a variety of people by the looks of this contents pages. To me it would attract both male and female due to the boy-stress text and the feminine colours. In addition it would also appear to attract teenagers once again due to the font. The numbers down the middle column help show what will be on each consecutive page.
- 4. Conventions of Content Pages Conventions of contents pages are slightly different to that of front covers and double page spreads. They have the same usual features but are usually laid out in a different style. They have the usual title which is often called ‘Contents’ labelled somewhere at the top of the page, an image which sometimes could be image’s which are placed around the contents page, this is just to make the page look a bit more attractive and eye catching and text which is of course the important part of the page which is also often put in some form of alignment varying from left to right or at times just placed down the centre. Other conventions that could be on a contents page but aren't always and are often placed on the side or at the bottom is little insiders to what content will be distributed inside the magazine (gossip columns). Also what may be placed on the page is little competitions or forms of advertisements which will later be shown bigger inside the magazine which is of course the purpose of a contents page.