Sunday 31 October 2010

Contents page research.

In preparation for making my contents page, i will look at those used in magazine's previously. I will comment on the colours used, the layout, and the images.

Keeping in mind that Elle is a well known fashion magazine, we notice the attention paid to detail. The title; kept big, bold, and clear stands out on the bright salmon pink background. Additionally, we see that pink and peach play a definite role within the magazine as it is used throughout. The background has the pink and peach compacts, the salmon pink background for the title, the contents text is pale pink, as is the dress to the left hand side. By doing this, everything is linked together, making the design appealing. The contents page is also engaging; as it ensures that there is a balance between the amount of text and images, which is why i like this contents page.

Both of these contents pages could be compared as they share a similar layout, but differ on things such as colours and images. Q have kept the red from their logo and used it for the page numbers, and the headers for each area. In contrast, although NME have also kept the red from their logo, they have used it for most of the band index, a few of the headers, and the advertisement at the bottom of the page. Red is also used a little in the main picture. Both magazine's have a very similar layout, with the contents down the sides, advertisements at the bottom, and an artist or band's image close to the centre with writing overlapping it. Q have kept their page fairly clear and plain, using mainly white and black, which also links to the bands image. They have used the green from the field background for some of the text to the side. NME have done the complete opposite, keeping everything very bold, big and bright. The text in Q is easier to read as the text is slightly bigger, whereas the left side of NME has quite small text. Overall, i prefer NME's contents page as although some bits of text are a bit too small; the page is very bright and appealing, which would attract their target audience, which is mostly teenagers.

This magazine's contents page, although quite clear, has no page numbers, which would make the pages mentioned harder to find. The only colour comes from the images, the "T" from the title, and "Fashion Rocks", leaving the page quite dull and plain. The text on the images is a little too small, and the image in the top right hand corner does not seem to link to the others used on the left. In comparison, it is a lot darker than the other two, which both have sky blue used in some way. In addition, the "On The Cover" part of the contents seems to be almost just thrown onto the page, as it is both too small to fit the space given, and is too far over to the right, leaving a blank empty space with nothing to fill it. Overall, i do not like this contents page as it seems almost too plain, the text is a little small in some places, and the layout does not seem very well thought out.

This contents page is also one of my favourites, along with NME. The colour purple has been used throughout the page on the entire left hand side, one of the headers, parts of the title "Contents", page numbers, and on the clothes. The text is clear and bold, keeping everything easy to read. The white on the purple background links to the logo. The layout is also well thought out as the main image is to the right, but kept near the centre, with a dark grey background that links to the models top, and the suit the woman on the left hand side is wearing. There is also text underneath the main image which is bold and clear, with a few more images added to it, which relate to the text itself. To conclude, i would like to try and incorporate some of the ideas used on this contents page and the contents page for NME onto my own contents page for my school magazine.

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