1) The document describes the design elements of two magazine contents pages - Kerrang and Billboard. Both pages display the contents in columns to structure the information and appear professional.
2) Kerrang maintains a balance of images and text to appeal to music fans, while Billboard contains more text to thoroughly inform readers about article topics.
3) Design principles like positioning logos in attention-grabbing areas and dividing content spatially are employed to optimize page layout and guide the reader's eye across each contents spread.
1. House Style
The house style is looks quiteinformal so,itwill
appeal to the target audiencewho are young
adults,however is still looks professional so,will
encourage them to read on to find out about
the artists featured. The main colour scheme
used uses the colours red,yellow, black and
white suggestingthe bands featured may be
rock bands as the colours used areoften
associated with this genre of music,as the
colour black symbolises thedarkness within the
music and,matches with the image bands
within this genre try to create.
DesignSymmetry
The design is divided horizontally atthe centre
with images in the top section and, mainly text
in the bottom which creates a professional look.
The bottom section of the page is clearly
divided into 5 columns which helps make the
contents easier for the reader to see and, find
an articlethey arelookingfor.
Use of Rule of Thirds
The main image is on the top left pointof the
grid usingthe ruleof thirds meaning itis one of
the main points people notice first.The
secondary images are also placed on or near
points within the grid so, the audiencenotice
these images quicker than the rest of the page.
The audience can tell from this that it is a
professionally designed magazineas they have
considered this rulewhen designingthe page.
Imagery
The main image used show the main artist
featured dressed in black gothic clothes which
are often associated with this genre of music.
The darkness of the image matches with the
house styleand, suggests the dark tone within
the music.The contents page also features
some secondary imagewhich mainly matches
with the dark colour scheme, creatinga
professional lookinghousestyle.Some of the
images show double page spreads from inside
the magazine so readers know what to expect,
which will help encourage them to read on and,
buy it.
Design Balance
The page try’s to create an even balance
between text and images.There is a large
amount of text within the bottom section which
provides to purpose of the contents page; to
informreaders what is in the magazineand the
correspondingpage numbers, whilethe top
section is predominantly images which makes
the page look more interestingto appeal to the
target audience, whilealso creatingan even
balancebetween text and images making itlook
more professional.The contents are separated
through highlighted black and,yellow headings
which help dividethe magazine into main
sections makingiteasier for the reader to
follow.The text is easily spaced over the
bottom of the page although itis packed more
tightly together within the editors section as it
doesn’t provideimportant information of the
audience.
2. House Style
The main colour scheme used is blue, black and
white, which would appeal to a more
mainstreampop audience. The colour blueis
seen as a calmingcolour which suggests what
the genre of music featured is often like. The
page uses a serif font which makes it seem less
formal which will appeal to the target audience
as they arelikely to not enjoy readingmore
formal media pieces such as newspapers,
meaning this font will make itlook different to
these types of media and, therefore more
appealingto the target audience.
Imagery
The contents pages uses images to illustrate
some of the articles within themagazine
meaning the audience can easily identify what
the main articles within the magazinewill be
about. The images used arequite bright in high
key lightingmatchingthe house styleof the rest
of the page, and also usewhite and,black
within them matchingthe colour scheme for
the magazine. The images followthe
conventions of what the target audienceexpect
by usingmainly pop singers which is the genre
of music the magazine mainly focuses on.
Design Balance
The design is informally balanced as onesideis
mainly text whilethe other features images.
There is a lot more text on the page than
images creatingan uneven balancesuggesting
that there is a lotof information insidewhich
may appeal to the audience as they think they
are getting more for their money as there will
be a lot of articles inside.This will appeal to the
target audienceas they are likely to be students
with low income so want good valuefor money
and, to find out a lot of information within the
magazine.
DesignSymmetry
The pages is clearly divided into two sections
with the left sidebeing a listof the different
articles within themagazine whilethe rightside
describes the main articles often with images
creatinga more informal look.The left sideis
divided further into two columns which
provides a lineof symmetry through the
contents table so, it’s easy to follow.
Use of Rule of Thirds
The page is divided into sections along the
left hand line and, the bottom line. The
magazine uses the lines to divide the page
to draw attentions to the various different
sections. The images used are also divided
using this method with the main points
within the image being on the points of
intersection.
3. Both contents pages have displayed a contents masthead at the top of the page. Kerrang’s masthead is displayed in
the top righthand corner which usingGuttenberg’s design principleis thefirstarea the reader will look at,compared
with Billboardswhich isdisplayed in a fallowarea drawingmore attention to these areas meaningall the spaceon
the page is utilised.Kerrang’s masthead follows the house stylefor the rest of the magazine by being in the same
font as the main masthead and, followingthe colour scheme by being yellow,relatingto the rock image. Similarly
Billboard’scontents masthead follows the colour scheme however is in a different font to the masthead and, rest of
the text so doesn’t directly followthe house style.
Both pages display thecontents within columns makingit easy to followfor the
reader so they can clearly seewhat articles featurewithin the magazine. This
gives the pages some structure givingthem a professional look which they will
want to create so the target audiencewill purchasethe magazine.
Kerrang fixtures an even
balancebetween images and,
text which fans of the genre of
music will likeas they want to
see largepictures within the
magazine, and looks more
appealingto the audience.In
comparison Billboard’s content
page is mainly text heavy to
informthe reader about all the
different articles within the
magazine, so they know exactly
what the articles areabout
encouragingthem to buy it.
Kerrang is divided horizontally
with the top section featuring
the images while the bottom
section is mainly text. Similarly
the images in Billboard arealso
mainly separated into the top
rightsection of the page
dividingthem between the
text.