Here is an analysis of a contents page from 'TOTP' magazine.

1. CONTENTS PAGE
ANALYSIS
BY JONI SOMMERVILLE

3. The theme of the contents page is
white, yellow purple and pink. These
colours are typically associated with
feminity as they’re found in nature on
flowers, in the rainbow etc. Overall the
magazine looks filled with information,
this is great for the target audience as
young pre-teen girls will revel in this.
However it does have a very cluttered
appearance which lowers the
professionalism of the magazine. As its
all fit onto one page it may look better
if, like the other magazines the
content was spread out over two
pages.
Furthermore traditionally it doesn’t
look like a contents page as there isn’t
a clear layout therefore it is harder for
the readers to navigate around the
magazine.

4. In the right hand corner the logo authenticates the
magazine. The top of the page features a note from the
writer, which hasn’t been done in previous magazines.
The letter includes some slang terms such as “cray cray”
to seem on trend to the reader. However like the others
this is another technique used to get the reader to feel
secure and personal with the magazine. As well as it
provides an even quicker summary as to what is going to
be in the magazine as the features/name drops are
written in a bold larger font. It also tells us a lot about
the audience as we know that they’re into celebrities,
fashion, they hold materialistic values and are
predominantly heterosexual.
To the right of that it appears as though they’ve
incorporated the front cover as part of the contents, this
does make it incredibly easy for the reader for to find the
articles that they’re interested in as they don’t have to
thoroughly scan the page.
The simple layout is perfect for a young target audience.

5. These sell lines and articles grab the attention of the reader as
they’re in a variety of combinations of the theme colours and they
are in a large distinctive font. Like the previous each image has
been assigned a page reference number. Cleverly TOTP have let
companies that sell seasonal products advertise in the magazine
as they know that they’re willing to pay a lot more as they have to
make all their profits over a shorter period of time (this is the
December issue).
Something to admire from the magazine is the fact that they’ve
put down their values, for example how they promise to never
alter a person’s face or body shape. This separates them from
other magazine companies because the majority magazines
regardless of genre alter images to make the quality better. And
so to go against this it shows honesty and subconsciously
encourages the girls to be good girls with morals. As a parent, the
customer who purchases the magazine for their daughter would
feel reassured that their children were reading something that was
so much more than showcasing stars and musicians but that
spreads a positive message also.
The images used contain mostly mid shots and close ups, this is
done so that the target audience can familiarise them selves with
celebrities. The three shot commonly used in magazines is
featured to draw the reader to the what they want them to read on
the most: celebs and gossip. The man gasping intensifies the
drama in a comical way that is likely to get the reader to turn to
those pages. The within the images themselves there is plenty of
symmetry for example facial expressions are mirrored to reflect a
feeling of comfort onto the target audience as naturally studies
have shown that the human brain likes symmetry. Although not
digitally retouched all images use overly high key lighting to
minimalize blemishes as the celebrities themselves have to look as
refined and as “untouchable” as possible to give them the power
to have a following because they’re so “flawless” or other Godlike
qualities.
Thus far the lack of music related content has transformed this
magazine into a fashion, celebrity gossip and lifestyle magazine in
which most aspects aren’t relevant to the development of my own
magazine. Yet although this is a poor example of a music
magazine, some aspects are applicable to add background and
dimension to my music magazine for example gossip between
musicians could be an article that I publish in my own magazine.

6. Again to relax the reader and make the magazine seem
personal and friendly they’ve made this section at the
bottom consisting of collages of the producers of the
magazine with celebrities and captions to denote what’s
going on in the pictures. The majority of the pictures are
group shots, these shots are use to communicate the
ideas in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs of love and
belonging as each are posed intimately with one and
other. Even the layout of the images almost reflects a
layout found in a family photo album, it looks as though
they’ve been cut out and stuck on top of one and other.
The effect is that it gives the reader the longing to be
apart of the community of magazine producers and
celebrities. The overall approach to the celebs is very
casual, for example describing Olly Murs as having
‘popped’ into see them down plays the fact that he is a
famous pop-singer.
The use of the yellow background behind the images
makes the shots look warmer as the yellow brightens up
the dull white background.