I have answered evaluation question one by using Slideshare.

1. FOLLOWING AND CHALLENGING
CONVENTIONS: INSPIRATION FROM
EXISTING PRODUCTS
Contents Pages

2. TITLEOne convention of contents pages is the title, which is
usually positioned at the top of the contents page and reads
‘contents’ or ‘inside this issue’ or something similar. These
examples from NME, MOJO and Kerrang! demonstrate how
magazines typically use a font similar to the one in their
masthead on the front cover and the company logo on the
title page. I followed the conventions of using the same font
and colour for the title on my contents page, however I
decided to challenge these conventions by having the name
of my magazine instead of ‘contents’ or ‘inside this issue’. I
did this as I followed inspiration from MOJO magazines
contents pages, in which the title reads ‘MOJO’.

3. ARTICLES
Contents pages conventionally list articles chronologically in a column, along
with page numbers for the readers reference. I followed this convention so
that my list of articles look similar to MOJO’s contents pages, evident through
the images on the right. By following this convention, this makes the
structure of my contents page more clear and easy for the readers to find a
particular article inside my magazine. It also means they can get a quick
overview of the content that is inside this issue. Magazines often vary fonts or
colours in this list of articles to make certain parts stand out, therefore I
followed this convention, by choosing red and black to distinguish between
the numbers and articles, as well as the cover story section.

4. SUBHEADINGS
Another convention of contents pages is
separating different articles into categories using
subheadings. These examples from NME, MOJO
and Kerrang! show the variety of subheadings
that different magazines use – news,
competitions, regular features, review, gigs etc. I
have chosen two subheadings on my first
contents page and three subheadings on my
second contents page, to help the audience
navigate around the magazine, these
subheadings are: features, cover story, regulars,
what goes on and the rock filter. When looking
for inspiration for my contents page I found that I
really liked the look that a lot of existing
products went for – using a block of colour for
the subheadings and then listing articles
underneath. I therefore decided to follow this
convention in my own work.

5. CONTRIBUTORS
‘This weeks contributors…’ is a convention
throughout MOJO magazines contents pages,
therefore I decided to include this particular
section on the second contents page. As you can
see on the right, the top image is my
contributors and the bottom image is an original
section from MOJO’s contents page. This allows
the audience understand who composed this
issue and what roles they played during the
creating of this issue. MOJO chose to place the
contributors section at the bottom of the page as
it adds nothing to the aesthetic of the page but
further informs the reader about the creation of
this magazine. I took inspiration from MOJO
magazine as I know this is a successful classic
rock magazine that distributes globally to a mass
audience.

6. ISSUE DATES
The issue date or issue number is conventionally
repeated on the contents page of a magazine,
usually in a small font and positioned near the
title at the top of the contents page. I followed
this convention, drawing inspiration from MOJO
magazine as demonstrated on the right. I
particularly like the style of this MOJO magazine
issue, featuring Florence Welch. With a clear
date and issue number, the audience are made
aware of which issue they are reading, perhaps
persuading them to purchase another issue in
the future. I have made my date and issue
number clear, similar to MOJO’s issue meaning I
am following the conventions set by MOJO. On
the other hand, as you can see, I have covered
part of the word ‘issue’ by my models head. I
have done so, so the model stands out to the
potential buyer and reader.

7. IMAGES
When researching existing products, I found that all music magazines
follow the convention of using images to advertise articles. I chose to
use multiple images along the left hand side of my second contents
page in order to reinforce specific articles that I thought would attract
the audience. Images are also a selling point for a magazine, as they
make the content of the magazine attractive for the audience. On my
first contents page, I followed the conventions from MOJO’s magazine
again, by just using one simple image occupying the full right hand side
of the page. I chose to position my model with her hand resting on her
hip, to convey attitude. This helps reinforce the genre of my magazine
as classic rock. As you can see on my second contents page, I have
created a montage of images that I feel will reinforce specific articles
that I feel will encourage my audience to read my magazine.