Question 7

This was my final question and where i got to compare my final draft to my preliminary task. I compared my total progression in use of knowledge, features that i missed out but have included in my final draft. Basically just an overall conclusion to explain how far my skills and knowledge has came on music magazines.

Question 6

 

This was the question where I talked about editing, camerawork, different software's I used to create my overall magazines but mainly my images. I gave  comparison of my front cover photo for a before and after picture and you could evidently see the editing that took place in Photoshop.

Question 5

In question five I explained how I attracted my target audience by talking about images i have used, what messages are reflected, the language i went with and the formality of that.

Question 4

In question four i could justify how i came about finding out my target audience, giving examples of graph and the questionnaire i created. I then went into further detail about what sort of lifestyle they had specifically identifying my target audience.

Question 1

This was the first question i had to complete for my evaluation, it allowed me to explain how I came about and completing the first stages of producing my magazine. As I explained what market research i did and how I applied it to my magazine.

Question 3

My third question I really enjoyed as i haven't thought about it while going through my magazine so it was something new to me. I got to research and explain ways i will distribute my product including facts and figures, it was fun as I got some good points across while researching different companies.

Question 2

This was my second question on my evaluation, this question allowed me to explain in what ways I represented Age, ethnicity, gender and class. This was good because I got to tell why I used my models in a certain way.~i also explained a bit more about my target audience and how they were suitable.

Final Draft Contents

This is my final contents page that I'm very pleased with. I got feedback on there being a lot of white space so I changed this by taking a new photo and making it the full background. I resized my subscriber box to make it more fit for purpose and not as in the way.

Double Page Spread Final Draft

This is my final draft for my double page spread, this is my strongest page as it looks like a real magazine I believe it looks like it good be a part of one of my style models. I inserted more text into my article to fill it up and maker it look more like a real magazine as last time it looked rather bare and empty. I changed the title of 'Juicy R' to white, underlined and behind his head. This effect makes it look like graffiti which links in with his article. I also inserted a website link at the bottom to act as an interesting touch. I also used an image to act as a teaser for the next page, with a little description below. I also inserted nearly all my white text with a fill of red around to make it bolder and stand out. I also readjusted the quote at the top to make it act as more of a focal point and interesting to my reader.

Robyn and George

This is a photo inserted on my double page spread to act as a teaser for the next page. I didn't have to edit this photo as it's only small and acts just a s a feature rather than a focal point.

Front Page Final Draft

This is my final draft for my front cover. I am extremely happy with the result. As you can see I took my improvements on board and I believe they are fit for purpose. I inserted a banner across the  top to show whats inside, this also match my house style and makes it more interesting. I also changed my title as i believe the one before e look a bit to word arty. I have also changed my fonts to more bold to this makes it more striking and eye catching.
I've also inserted another heading for a teaser inside just to fill up the page a bit more.

Contents Photo

I didn't have to do much editing on Andrews face cause he had quite clear skin with no patchy or spotty areas. The only edits I had to do was a slight crop and changing the brightness up and altering the contrast to black and white.
As we can see I have left quite a big gap towards the right of him where a plain white wall is placed, this is for my content to be positioned here, so I needed a big gap for my words to fit clearly on and not conflict with any of his body parts because he is black ans white it blends in.

Front Page Photo I didn't pick

This a potential photo I took for my front cover. I was extremely happy with the quality of this photo as it's very clear and captivating. When I tried it on my front cover it looked very good but it just wasn't eye catching enough as it didn't look the reader right in the face which I thought looked very good about my other photo.

Contents Photo I didn't use

I was actually very happy with the quality and lighting of this photo, I also really liked his body language as he is posing with his fingers up and to the side to show his 'bad boy', 'I don't care' sort of attitude.
The only downside to this photo and this is why I didn't use it was there was not enough space for my actual content to go, as it conflicted with his body and it was very clear, looked muddled up and confusing.

Double Page Spread photos I didn't use

I came to the conclusion that I wasn't going to use these images, I did like the quality and shot types I did but once I inserted them onto my double page spread they weren't suitable as they didn't look right in the size frame I had and didn't really go well with my layout.

Long shot - With this particular photo I believe there was to much space around the outside and it made my page look rather empty, this was striking or eye catching enough.

Mid long shot - This photo was the only one I debated inserting for real but once I did I didn't believe it looked striking and captivating enough. Also his body language didn't really suit the article, compared the one I have used where he is leaning to the side with his sort of 'bad boy' attitude.

First Draft Double Page Spread

This is my first draft of my double page spread. I have followed classic codes and conventions that my style model has also used, for example I have 3 columns of text, one main image related to the article, title and just the classic layout. On the other and I have missed some such as page numbers and a few more little features. I have put my artists name as the main title centred above him; this makes it clear the reader who the article is about. I have inserted a very important quote below him that basically sums up this article and is part of the rest of the quote at the top of my second page but I believe it's a nice touch to start on the first page. I have followed my house style of red, white and black shown in my main article, titles and nearly all text I have used.
Overall I am very happy with this as a first draft, even though I know there is room for improvement it's a very good foundation to start with. 

First Draft Contents

This my first draft of my contents page. I'm happy with this result and I believe it follows classic codes and conventions of a contents page. For example, I have used different sections for my content to fall under - News, Features and Gossip & quiz. I bold'd this text to make it clearer and more eye catching for my audience.
I have created a subscriber box and a competition just to make it more interesting.
My title 'CONTENTS' works well as it stands out and makes it clear to my audience straight away that this is my contents page. I'm not sure if i like the font and colours used as it looks rather word arty and may not be bold enough so I will be trying out new fonts and colours also looking back on my style model.
I believe my image works well in black and write as fits in with my house style looks professional and effective.
I followed my house style of red, white and black as we can see with my numbers, titles, main text in my description and subscriber box.
I'm not sure if I'm totally happy with this image as it creates a lot of white space, for an improvement I may take a new image and make it cover the whole page and rearrange my layout. I also believe my subscriber box could be a bit to big, i will look at my style model again and see what I can do with this.

Front Page First Draft

First of all I was very happy with this photo as it's very clear and it taught a story very well. As you can see the shadow on one side of his face, I purposely did this to show his dark past but how the future is bright for him, this is related to the article written on him.
I had two main style models here and it was 'RnB' and 'NME', the image and minimal text was based on the NME front cover and the positioning of 'Juicy R' with text below was based on RnB.
I also went with industry standards and used the codes and conventions of a bar code, mobile code, price, bold title, a striking image and titles of related articles. 

Contents Photo

Here is a photo of my friend Andrew also known as G-wiz in my magazine. I made the story that he wins his first Grammy award. This is why I have him holding a trophy to make it clear to my audience that he has won an award.
I didn't have to do much editing here, all i did was crop it, make it black and white and fit to my magazine.
The reason i made it black and white was to show contrast,  also believe it looks professional and more eye catching.
As you can see I have thought about his mise en scene by using an 'Adidas' t shirt which is a well known rnb brand, gave him a cap and a necklace as these are also known as stereotypical items for rnb/urban singers, proven by my style model 'Vibe'.
By pointing at the trophy it attracts the readers attention here and shows his attitude.
I'm happy with this image and I believe it will fit well on my contents.

Double Page Spread Photos

Front Page Photo

I took this photo of my friend Josiah and he play's Juicy R in my magazine. His story is about his bad past and how music changed his life, so I took this to my advantage and have half of his face in shadow to show his bad past but how the future is bright for him with the other half bright.
Because this photo is so clear you can see every mark on his face, so I used the software Photoshop to make his face look clearer getting rid off spots and freckles etc. I also brightened up this photo as it was quite dull and I needed it to stand out more.
This will be placed on my front cover, i believe the image is very captivating and attracts the readers attention as it's so bold and striking.

Photo Table

I have created this table to help me manage my time when taking and editing my photos for my final magazine. It makes it clearer to me and I can identify what mise en scene I need, how long the whole process will take, what types of editing I need to do. This just helps me plan my time better and gives me more time to concentrate other things as I can plan around it.

Feeback

These are two examples feedback I received on my first draft on my front page, contents and double page spread. the point was for my target audience and pees to give a couple of points of what they like but also where to improve, I am going to take the points that occur the most and improve them on my magazine. Overall I got around 15 pieces of feedback and i can clearly see where to improve.

RnB Target Audience

R&B fans are usually from a African American black background due to R&B being rhythm,  blues and soul which comes from African America in the 1950's. This type of music would have been followed throughout generations as it is very traditional, now there is a spin of hip hop on it, it interests younger ages and this is proven by my research. These younger generation take real pride in hip hop/rnb so i really need to prove my magazine to be worthy enough and reflect younger generation RnB.
Here is an example of someone who could be seen as my target audience -

TA Charts

I went back through these 10 peoples surveys and collected this data -
We see first of all that the majority of my target audience sometimes buy magazines which is good as they have experience into that market which i don myself bar completing my research as I don't buy magazines.

7/10 people selected £3 - £3.99 for a reasonable price for a music magazine, I think I will go towards £3.99 as I think that's more reasonable that the £3 bracket.

5/10 people selected red for my house style, I'm happy to go ahead with this as it suits the genre of RnB well as red has connotations of danger, love etc.

7/10 people selected the name 'CHAINZ' for my magazine name, I',m happy with this as I preferred this one myself over the other two as it suits the RnB genre more.

I gave the option of what y content should include so I gave two options as a vague overall, but 8/10 people selected both, this makes it clear to me on my target audiences views on content for a music magazine.

Charts on Specific Target Audience

Going of just these 3 pieces of data here I can find out my target audience. I can find out who the 10 people interested in RnB were and what age and gender they come under.
So I went back through these 10 peoples surveys to find their gender and age. I found out:
Gender
Male: 4
Female: 6

Age
12 or under: 1
13-20: 8
21-30: 1
31+: 0

So from this data I have found my main target audience is male and female, ages ranged from 13-20.
These ages maybe because of the explicit lyrics and RnB artists usually relate to these ages through lyrics. For example it's usually females attracted to RnB because female artists usually sing about heartbreaks or being in love, this will appeal to a lot of teenage and young adult girls because it's relate able.
Males are attracted to the RnB women artists, as there known for being 'Sexy' and attractive. Male artists also relate to teenage boys with trouble in there life, male artists can be seen as rebellious and fashionable which is what also attracts the male audience.

Target Audience Survey

I have created this survey to find out my target audience and what they would want from my magazine, what sort of colours they would like in my house style, what genre usually goes with what age, what will make people want to buy my magazine over my competitors. I have asked 30 people around the age that I believe would be interested in an RnB magazine, hopefully this will give me a good understanding of my target audience.

My Front page so Far

This is my front page so far. As you can see I have came up with the name 'CHAINZ, i picked this name because it has connotations of RnB. For example a lot of RnB artists wear a lot of chains and necklaces to show there wealth. They show it in a vulgar way with the goldest, biggest shiniest chains and rings.
I have added two bar codes, one that is used when buying the magazine and the other is used for smart phone scanner, to link you to the website. My bar code actually links me to my blog page,
Going off my target audience research I came to the conclusion to charge £3.99 for my magazine.
I included the date I created this magazine as this was a convention that I found on other front pages.
The rest of this text is titles and sub headings relate to my article inside.
From my target research i was advised to use a red house style. I was happy with this because red has connotations of danger, love, passion, all things related with RnB.

Preliminary Task

In this section I had to do a preliminary task to get me used to the software such as Photoshop and in design. It also allowed me to be hands on with the camera getting me used to shutter speed, focus, aperture etc. I had to create a front cover with a mid-shot image and a contents page the way we though it should look. So as you can see I stuck to these requirements. I did take more than one image for the front cover as the first time I uploaded some they were a bit blurry, so I retook this image and it was perfect.

Analyses of Five Music Magazine Front Covers

This magazine is one of the most popular R&B magazines out there with information inside on all the latest artists, fashion trends and new singles released. As you can see the front cover of this magazine is mainly taken up by the image of Eric Bellinger, which is also clearly shown by the large, bold, red writing underneath him. This image is there main focal point on this front cover and attracts the reader in straight away as it basically takes up the whole page. I believe when I create my music magazine I will have one big main image on my front cover as it attracts the reader’s attention and shows them who the main artist of the week is. There are also two other main focal points which are the title of the magazine – ‘Rnb’ and the artist’s name – ‘Eric Bellinger’. I believe it is important to have these two as focal points so we know who the artist on the front is and we know what the magazine is called. I will ensure I have a similar layout with focal points as this, having one artists name as a focal point and the name of the magazine, it’s important for the reader to know a man article in the magazine and what the actual magazine is called. 

I believe it is important to recognise that they seem to stick to the house style of red, white and black on this front cover. I believe these colours work well together. Also the colour red has connotations of danger and energy, this can be linked to the genre of R&B itself as it can be considered as ‘bad boy’ music and some artists can be seen as quite dangerous characters. When creating my magazine I will think hard about colour connotations, and what they infer about this genre of music and the magazine itself as colours can be used as a very strong message.
On this front cover is two barcodes, one which is a code that can be recognised by blackberry phones which takes you to a web link, assuming to be related to this magazine and a normal barcode to be scanned when purchased. These are two features that we don’t always think about putting on but in fact they are both very important and are a nice little added touch and I will remember to incorporate this into my music magazine. There are also related stories on this cover that are inside the magazine such as ‘Sexuality in today’s music’ and ‘Karma the new girl group’. There are also different stories on the right hand side as well.
As you can see there is different fonts and different sized font used on this cover, I believe this is for the importance of certain articles, i.e. the more important and interesting stories get a larger bolder font. When creating my magazine I will take examples form this by adding different headings on the front related to the stories inside, this is a good way to get across what’s inside the magazine without the reader having to look in it.

I also like how the background colour does not change and just stays plain white. I will remember to keep one solid background colour on my cover as it looks professional and not confusing.

 This magazine is by NME who could be considered one of the most popular music magazines in the whole media industry in these recent years. I like how they have one image taking up the whole cover as its attention grabbing. When creating my magazine I will just use one related image on the front cover to cover the whole page as like I said it is attention grabbing and intriguing. I like the fact the NME have kept this front cover quite plain and there is not a whole lot going on as sometimes it can become too much and confusing if there is loads of text and colours crammed into one page. I will make sure I don’t try and fill the whole page with text and colours as it can be quite overwhelming and confusing for the reader. It can also look unprofessional which is not the correct message my audience should receive.

As you can see NME have stuck to the house style colours of black and white and kept it plain, I would usually say stick to 3 colours used on a front cover as its more attention grabbing but I believe this works well and ties in with the genre of music they use. For example NME usually have Indie music but they also have a variety so if they used the colour red it wouldn’t tie in with some of the bands or artists they show inside the magazine, so I believe they have took the right option stuck with black and white as it doesn’t great major connotations but in fact looks professional and presentable. I will ensure I don’t go over the top with colours and make sure the colours I use are for a reason and I have not just picked them at random, because of what looks good.

They have used a variety of 3-4 different text used here, this is a good idea as it’s adds that touch of professionalism and variety to it, especially because they have not used bold colours they need to make up for it in a different way and I believe it looks good. I think when I create my magazine I will take ideas from this and definitely use a variety of fonts as it adds change and individuality.

As you can see they have used a bar code in the bottom right hand corner, this is because it needs to be there but not to distract the reader. When I insert my bar code I will use this idea and make sure my bar code is not in the way but is visible if the reader wants to check it and for the employer to scan it through.

Q is another very popular magazine that has kept its good reputation for while, being the most bought music magazine in 2006. They have a mix and match of artists from Tinie Tempah to Liam Gallagher. My first impressions of this magazine are okay, as they seem to stick to 3-4 colours of the red text linked in with the logo, the green text linked in with his jacket and the black and white text used because they both look good. I may use this technique of linking the mise en scene colours to the font colours used such as his jacket and the green text as I believe they work well together. Also linking the logo colour to main headline colours to attract the reader’s attention as they link up well with one another.

The actual image of Liam himself is very good as you can see the other 3 band members in the reflection of his glasses; this shows distance between them which is of course because they have split up. It is clever techniques such as this that make the cover look good rather than just a plain photo with no meaning or expression. This has made me realise when I take my main photo I need to infer certain messages across to my audience in different ways, as an image can be used very cleverly inferring different meanings if took correctly.
What I like about this name is that it’s just a single letter which speaks so many volumes and  is very ironic. I also like it how it how the letter ‘Q’ nearly takes up the full red square because it makes it stand out along with these two colours contrasting with one another. What I have taken from this is that I need a logo/name that links up with my house style for one, but in fact stands out on the shelves and doesn’t just blend in with the rest, because a good name can be the difference between a good magazine and a bad one.

There is a constant occurrence with these magazines, and this is that the artists name is always on the front cover in big bold writing. This makes it clear to me that too be up there with the best music magazines I must take the same approach and I will use this in my music magazine.

Q is also very well known for their significant ‘+’ sign going from one heading to another. This makes them different from the rest and creates certain individuality with their magazine. When creating my magazine I may in fact have something on my front cover that symbolises us, I believe it’s a nice personal touch to add.

Kerrang is very well known for the genre of rock/metal music. I like what they have done with their name because it looks as if it is broken glass, which links with the cliché of loud music breaking glass, so we instantly know this is a heavy rock magazine. If I can find a similar technique to use for my genre magazine I will go ahead with it as I think this is a very clever idea.

Another way we instantly its heavy rock is by the mise en scene in the way the women is dressed and the facial expressions she’s using. For example she has that sort of ‘bad boy’ look on her face as if she doesn’t care and is mischievous. Also I like how she is wearing all black with black makeup, black clothing, and black hair as it just instantly shows us this is a heavy metal magazine as this is the way they look. Mise en scene is a very good factor to take into account when creating my magazine as it creates instant assumptions of the genre it is and is a good use of shortcutting.

As you can clearly see they use four main colours of yellow, red, black and white. I believe they use these colours to create connotations of rebellion, energy, danger, gothic etc. This all links back up with the genre style music. I can clearly see a pattern with these magazines that everything on it is used for a reason whither it be colours, misse en scene font style etc.  I must incorporate this into music magazine as it is a clear pattern shown that all music magazines use it and I want to be just as good as them if not better.

What I don’t like about this cover is that I just think there is too much going as there are several images, and I don’t think the yellow and red contrast too well together as there both really bold colours, there are also a few headings and it feels as if there is something important everywhere you look and I believe a reader shouldn’t feel like this, it also doesn’t seem very clear as it looks like all one big collage. When creating my magazine I will not have it as in your face as this feels because I feel as if it suffocates the reader with too much information. This is not the message my audience should receive. 

Vibe is a very popular music magazine in the whole industry of music. It is by far one of the most popular and well known R&B magazines in the R&B industry. It informs there audience on all the latest news about all the top R&B artists, with their newest look and single or just basic gossip inside the R&B industry.

What I instantly like about this magazine is that you can clearly see rule of thirds has been used. For example the artist Chris Brown is clearly right in the centre column nearly all the way down. His head,      t-shirt and jeans are all split into the three rows in the centre column. The magazine name ‘Vibe’ is also clearly shown in the whole of the top row on significant points, these all attract the reader’s attention straight away. When creating my magazine I will ensure that I use the rule of thirds as it’s such a clever technique as it’s scientifically proven too attract the reader’s attention to specific points, so if you put important information in those places it will most likely be recognised by the reader.  

Another factor I like about this cover is that they chop and change between white and green text on certain information. This is just another way to create individuality to make it their own. I will try and do something similar to this too make it stand out and create individuality just so it doesn’t blend in with the rest, as they can all look very similar.

I also like the fact that it’s not jam packed full of information and I feel as if it has the right balance. I believe balance of information is key on a front cover. I will make sure I have the right balance of not loads of information but enough so the reader gets an idea of what is inside.

I also like the misse en scene foe Chris Brown as you can see he’s wearing his bling of gold chains, big belt and a cap, it clearly shows the vulgarity of R&B singers. I will make sure the costumes I use for my photo clearly fit in with my genre, for example you can’t have a sweet innocent girl in pink on the front cover of a rock magazine as it just wouldn’t be fit for purpose. 

Detailed analyses of five contents pages

This music magazine is by the famous RnB Company ‘Vibe’. To cover nearly the whole page is the very popular artist Kanye West. It’s clear to us that this contents page has gone for the very image dominated style and not the ‘blocky’ look. I like how they have used this technique as it catches the reader’s eye and their attention is drawn straight to the page. This contents page looks very smart as if nothing is out of place and all clearly linked up with the house style. Including the colour contrast of the image itself as it’s got a strong grey tone on it. I personally believe this is the better approach for a contents page and I may use a very similar layout when creating my contents page. I will just be using large image but with nice smart text around it.

As soon as we look at this it’s clear to us that it’s a contents page straight away as it has the word ‘contents’ split up into 3 lines. This creates individuality and makes it their own. It’s also now quite stylish to have quirky little features such as this on your magazine. When creating my contents page I might include some quirky features and follow the trend as it makes it more interesting and what the audience would portray as ‘cool’.

As you can see this whole page is in black and white, including the watermark, the image and the text itself. The only one thing that is in colour is the small red heart mysteriously placed under the women’s hand. This gives a clear message the there is an article about his personal life mainly his love life as the women’s hand and the heart both have connotations of love. They have made the heart red to stand out and so we see clearly what it is. When creating my contents page I will insert an image that will tell a story as I believe this is important to do this as it can be used in a very clever and powerful way.

Another feature that stands out in this contents page is the watermark of the big ‘V’ behind the image and text. The ‘V’ of course stands for ‘Vibe’ the name of the magazine. If you read Vibe magazines you will see this occur a lot and is just another one of Vibes trademarks to make it clear to their audience that this magazine is by Vibe. When creating my magazine I may include something that links with my style or name to act as a trademark so my audience know that it is by the name of my magazine. This is a very clever technique.

            As you can see in large bold writing at the top this music magazine it shows it’s by NME. As you can see there is one main focal point used in the centre of the page which is the image. It is clear to us that this is what we would call the ‘blocky’ look. We know it’s the blocky look because there is a lot of text separated under different sub headings. My personal opinion is that I don’t like this blocky look as I feel as if there is too much going on text, bold writing and a few different sub headings and this specific one doesn’t work well with the colour scheme. This may be the reasons why I personally prefer the image dominated look.  

On the other hand this specific contents page does stick to most codes and conventions. For example it does have stories plugged such as a brief description on the arctic monkey’s story. It also has small little details such as page numbers dates etc. Even If I don’t take the blocky approach with my contents page I will be sticking to the codes and conventions as this is what makes a contents page.

What I like about this page is that it sticks to a consistent house style throughout, such as following the red, white and black theme. I believe they picked this house style to link up with their red and white logo. Everything they do if it has enough detail it will consist of these 3 colours. For example they have a red bullet point with black text and a black/white sub heading. So they try and fit these colours in as much as they can but in sensible way. What I mean by this is that they haven’t gone overboard with these colours but used them enough so we can see a clear a house style. I will make sure I stick to a consistent and clear house style in my magazine; I will try and link it up with the colours of my logo. It creates a certain individuality so the audience can tell going off the colours who the magazine is by.

Another thing I like about this is that they have included something that is completely irrelevant to the content and told the reader how they could save money by including an advert. This is clever as the contents page is important and dedicated readers will check it so they are most likely the audience who buy this magazine weekly and would like to save money on it. I will maybe include a similar feature as I believe e it’s a nice added touch or I might include it on another page as NME have built up a reputation with their audience and I am just new so I won’t have much of an audience so including it somewhere else in the magazine maybe be a better idea for me.

            This magazine is by the company known as ‘Q’. The first thing that stands out to me on this contents page is the layout as it’s the blocky look. Usually the block look will have a ‘Masculine’, ‘unfussy’ appearance or ‘Dotty’ line separators. But I believe this has none of them compared to the NME one. This is exactly what I like about it as it looks stylish, neat and not in your face. These are exactly the features I would use if I were to go for the blocky look because I believe it works really well and makes it clear to the audience what is what.

            I like the fact this contents page uses more than one image. This makes more of variety which makes it more interesting and suitable to the audience because not everyone may like Adele. I also like how they are different sizes because it tells us what the main story is and what the second one is. This is a good portrayal just by using images and is a very clear technique. If I decide to use the blocky look I will include more than one image to just add variety and try and reach out to my target audience in more than one way as I have more chance of hitting them all this way.

This contents page sticks to a strong house style with two shades of grey, white, black and red. I personally believe this is too many colours as I think you should stick to around 3 maximum of 4. On the other hand the colours they have used aren’t extremely bold so I suppose they can get away with it. When I decide my house style it will be around 3-4 colours just so it’s not too over whelming.

I like the fonts Q has used on here because they are all clear and not too fancy. If they had really fancy posh looking font it wouldn’t suit the genre Q are associated with. They also seem to stick to around 3 fonts and sizes. When choosing my fonts I will stick to around 3 as I believe any more than that can look unprofessional. I will stick to a font I believe sits my genre so not anything too fancy but not hard looking.

 It is clear to us this music magazine is by Mojo by the large title at the top of this contents page. This is unusual as most magazines would have the word ‘contents’ at the top but as we see here it’s the name of the magazine. I quite like this approach because it’s obviously clear to us that it’s a contents page so they don’t feel the need to tell us as we can tell this through the codes and conventions used. As I say I do like this approach but I feel if I were to do it wouldn’t be the same and  wold just maybe have my logo and the word ‘contents’.

Even though this contents page has gone for the blocky look it doesn’t seem as bold as the NME magazine. I believe this is because it doesn’t have massive bold headings and sub headings which I believe is better because it’s not so in my face. It is also just one massive long list one under another and is not separates into different sections. Even though it doesn’t have sub headings it has page names which I think is just as good as it tells you what you need to know. I also like it how they have it in bigger bolder font to make it stand out. If I decide to go for the blocky look I may do something similar to this because it looks neater and tells the reader everything they need to know through the page name, so they get a rough idea of the content. This is good as contents pages shouldn’t give you every detail but enough so you know what to expect.

Another feature I like about this contents page is the column of images on the right hand side. The reason there good is because there not related to any of the description in the centre but have their own story, as you can see there is a page number and title next to each one. This creates a good variety and adds there personal spin on it as readings just text can get boring and an image can sometimes tell a better story and give you more of an idea. When I am creating my contents page I must think outside of the box and see what I can come up with to make me stand out like this layout by Mojo.

I like the fonts Mojo have used here as it adds variety and suits there house style well. Using italic fonts can be risky as it can be seen as classy but I believe it works really well with the page title and a little description. With my design I will use a variety of fonts and may in fact use italic because it looks stylish, classy and modern.

 ‘Ebony’ is an RnB magazine with all the latest RnB artists. The first thing that stands out here is the large image of these two artists so we instantly know this isn’t the blocky look but is the image dominated layout. I believe it is important to think about the mise en scene for image dominated layout and this is why I like how they’re both wearing white, for two reasons. It can be seen as a ‘sexy’ colour especially how they are wearing it open with their body language and unbuttoned. It makes us feel there is gossip between these two and we need to find out more. The other reason is that there colours links up well with the word ‘Contents, I also believe rule of thirds has been used to attract our attention and make us drawn in. I will think carefully with my miss en scene and rule of thirds as it can be used effectively to tell a story or in fact draw us in.

I also like how half of the word ‘contents’ is being covered, because we can all clearly see it’s a contents page without that title actually being there. It draws our attention to the two artists to infer they are more important and are the main story. I do like this technique and may use a similar one for my contents page; this is a common future used by magazines by putting an image in front of half of the title, as it does tell a story and attracts you to the image rather than the title.

In the bottom right hand corner there is a promotion for their iPad app. This is a clever technique as it’s a good way to promote as their target audience will read the contents page so will most likely purchase the app. I also like how they have even managed to link there promotion up with their house style of white and yellow text.  I may use this technique and try and promote a feature or maybe a link to a website because it does work and is just another way to promote their brand.