Contents Page Analysis: the differences between mixmag and Q magazine's contents pages

1. MediaStudies ContentsPage Analysis
House Style
The house style of thiscontentspage isminimalist
and doesnothave many imagesor colours. This
relatestothe target audience asthe clubculture
mixmagdealswithismainlyadult,asclubsdon’t
accept youngpeople,andadultsdon’twanttheir
magazine toappearchildish,theywantittolook
professional.
Imagery
The main image of thiscontentspage isof a
youngwomandancingina clubwith
deliberatepoorqualityasa stylisticchoice,
possiblytocreate a ‘retro’feel.
Both Kerrangand mixmagtendtohave people
dancingon the contentspageshowever
Kerrangtendsto show the wildconcertculture
of rock while mixmagisemulatingthe cool
and trendyapproachof clubmusic.
DesignBalance
The page isdividedintotwohalves,withthe righthalf reservedforthe contents
and minorarticleswhilstthe leftisbasedaroundthe mainarticle,givingabrief
descriptionandavisual representation. The article onthe leftismostlikely
sponsoredsoithas beengivenmore attentiontoencourage peopletoreadit. So
the moneyspentonit isnot wasted.
Design Symmetry
The contents page is
symmetrical, as shown by the
red lines. Whilst there is not an
even distribution of space it is
clear that the sections are
symmetrically divided so as to
be visually appealing rather
than unorganised and messy.

2. MediaStudies ContentsPage Analysis
DesignBalance
The designbalance forQappearsto be more eventhanmixmag,asthere isnot a large central
image withthe contentssurroundingit like inmixmagbutthere isa clearand fairlyevendivide
betweenthe imagesontopandthe contentsonthe bottom. Thisshowsusthat unlike mixmag,
Q has equal investmentinthe qualityof all theirarticlesandsowantsa potential buyertoread
all the articlessothe moneyinvestedisnotwasted.
Imagery
There are more imagesinQ than there are
inmixmag,andalmostall of the imagesin
Q are of famousmusicartistslike Florence
Welchand Alice Cooper.Thiscontrasts
mixmag’scoverwhichhasjusttwo(clearly
visible) people. Thissuggeststhatmixmag
isa lesserknownmagazineandassuch it
strugglestogetbig name artiststo feature
init. Alsothe dance musicgenre focuses
more heavilyonthe musicandlessabout
the DJs and artiststhat make music.Q
takesthe opposite approachasit is
alreadya well-establishedmagazineso
artistsare more willingtobe interviewed.
The music genre Qfocusesonis notset in
stone so ittendsto be the latestand most
successful artistsintheirgenresrecently.
DesignSymmetry
There is design symmetrywiththe contentspage of Q,as
seenby the green dottedline dividingthe tophalf of the
page withthe bottomhalf. The top half isdominatedby
imagesandtheirassociatedarticles inthe while the
bottomhalf has articlesthatwere notsignificantenough
to have images.Thishelpspeople whowanttoknow at a
glance whetherthe magazine isforthembyseeingwhat
artistsare beingdiscussedstraightawaywithoutsifting
throughthe entire magazine.
House Style
Q magazinescontentsare splitupovertwopages,
contrastingmixmag’sdesign.Thishasbeendone toshow
more summariesof the articles,suggestingthatQ
magazine hasmore contentthan mixmag. Thisrelatesto
the nature of mixmag’sreaders,wantingshortsummaries
of the latesttrendswhereasreadersof Qwantmore in
depthbutlessfrequentcontentaboutmusic.