Contents page analysis

1. Abbie Corbett
Contents Page Analysis
NME Magazine
Design Balance:
The design balance of this magazine is quite
formal I would say, as the images used for
example are quite formal and the whole
magazine style looks well set out. The text all
matches perfectly and it has all been placed in
a certain way and it looks like it contains
more text than images, which means more
reading has to be done. Therefore,this gives
me the impression that the contents page is
formal, especially for this target audience.
House Style:
The colours used on the magazine contents page are
mainly red, black and white which are all quite
typical colours when put in a rock/indie/alternative
genre type of magazine. It connotes that the
magazine will feature this rock style and therefore
includes rock/indie music. The colours make the
magazine look edgy and have a sense of danger and
again will make audiences link this to a rock type of
genre.All of the NME magazines use the same house
style, so they keep to the same colours and also have
all the contents pages set put in the exact same way.
They do this so that audiences are familiar with the
magazine and they know that these are the NME
magazines. The fonts used are also quite bold and
they stand out, but they tend to use similar fonts
throughout to again reinforce this certain house
style.
Imagery:
The images on this contents page are of different
artists and bands that are famous mostly in the UK
and they all seem to be artists that are of indie /
rock genres.For example,there is a quite large
picture of Oasis on the cover, which many peoples
attention will be drawn to straight away. This band
is majorly famous in the UK as they are a
Manchester based band and they are a Brit
pop/rock band and this is what the contents page is
all about, so these images represent what genre the
magazine is.
Target Audience:
This magazine looks like it would appeal to young adults or
older teens due to the amount of information that is given in
the magazine. The magazine contents itself looks very formal
and readable for people around the age groups I have
mentioned above. I also think that this magazine tries to target
more males than females by the type of music used and
through the pictures and colours etc.
The Guttenberg Design Principle:
I thinkthat this magazine does use the Guttenberg
Design Principle, as in all of the different areas of the
magazine match well with the design principle. For
example,the top left hand corner of the magazine is
the primary optical area, which is where audiences
are supposedly drawn to immediately and on this
contents page,this area shows the name of the
magazine, which is obviously important to audiences.
The terminal area mentions prices and gives the
option to subscribe to the magazine. This would least
interest audiences,as this wouldn’t be as important,
therefore it seems to be in the right area. The weak
fallow area is at the bottom left and this is where
many people loose interest, they don’t seem to look
very much at this part of the magazine and in this
magazine, is where articles on contributors are which
wouldn’t interest people. Lastly, in the strong fallow
area, shows interesting articles that are going to be
featured in the magazine and therefore is in the right
place.

2. Abbie Corbett
Q Magazine
Target Audience:
Once again like the magazine above, I would think that
the target audience would be young adults/teens
because of the sort of articles that it includes. Again, I
would imagine this magazine is mostly aimed at males
based on the bands and artists that are present and the
colours used all give me this impression.
House Style:
The colours used on this magazine are mainly red,
black, white and a little amount of blue.Like the
magazine above,this magazine tries to keep to the
same house style throughout and this is clearly seen
through the contents page and the colour scheme
used.The typography is less bold, but is still bold
enough where needs be for audiences to see clearly.
All of these colours really represent the rock /
alternative genre that the magazine is trying to
portray. Due to the house style being kept the same,
audiences are able to properly identify with the
magazine as they will be familiar with it, as over a
long period of time the house style has stayed the
same.
Imagery:
The images used on the magazine contents page are
very rock and alternative. They really support this
idea of the magazine genre of rock etc. The photos
are basically of the artists and different bands and in
each photo, the artist looks really rock and they
show how this magazine portrays this idea. All of
the photos seem quite serious and just by looking at
these images alone; you can clearly see what the
magazine is all about.In the photos there is use of
iconography and these artists are posed in certain
ways to once again portray this certain genre. The
images are pretty typically for this sort of magazine
genre.
Design Balance:
The design balance of this magazine contents
page is a little more informal than the above
magazine. For example,the photos used on
this contents page are informal, such as the
two top photos, the artists in these images are
shown to be quite wild and they look really
rock, especially with their tops off or ripped
open. These images just give of the
impression of the magazine as a whole being
informal.
The Guttenberg Design Principle:
This magazine contents doesn’t realty seem to
follow the Guttenberg Design Principle, as the
magazine is quite widely and equally spread out. For
example,in the primary optical area, it does show
the name of the magazine, however in places such as
the weak terminal area shows the main cover story,
which to many people would be very important and
interesting. Also, in the strong fallow area it doesn’t
really show much, as it says ‘the birth of British pop’
but this is repeated elsewhere,so it isn’t really
shown as a strong fallow area. As well as this, in the
weak fallow area, it shows other story lines that
could be quite important for audiences, as this story
lines are what the magazine will be all about.

3. Abbie Corbett
Summary of both magazines
To summarize both magazine contents pages,there are quite a fewsimilaritiesand theyalso have theirdifferences.The reasonthese magazine contents
pages are very similaris because theyare both magazinesfor very indie / rock / alternative genres,therefore theyare bound to have many similarities.
This is because theytend to have the same target audiencesand so to get these certainaudiencesto read or buythe magazine,they tendto copy the
same house style.Many music magazinesthat are based on rock/alternative use the same house style with the same colour schemes,theytend to use
the redand black and white colours,which many people associate with this particular music genre.Both of the contentspages have beenset out in
quite a similarway withthe way the text and imagesare placed,however,the do differ.The Q magazine seemsto have more of an informal design
balance and it looks a lot differentfromthe other incertain ways, such as how theyhave usedthe imagesand the way they have placedthe text etc.
However,both magazine contentpages give off the impressionthat they are trying to target the same type ofaudiencesand they are both trying to do
this through what they put on the contentspage as well as the cover page, as this carries the informationthat people will read and want to buy the
magazine.