Relatable Contents Page Analysis

Relatable Contents Page Analysis

I have titled this 'Relatable Contents Analysis' as I wanted to do an analysis of a magazine that I feel fits the genre and style of how I want my magazine to look like. I chose this edition of Q magazine to get a rough idea of what a contents page consists of and the key features that it should include. It has a very clear layout using different sized rectangular and square boxes to outline the text and images. I wanted to get a feel for the types of layout used in this contents page and the key features in the house style. 

Contents Page Layout

CONTENTS PAGE FLAT PLAN LAYOUT

Following on from my contents page research I have decided to lay my contents page out in this style after researching various magazine house styles. This is the flat plan layout for my contents page. I aim to have the title as I do on my front cover with a heading underneath saying 'THIS WEEK' to show what is inside this weeks edition. In the top left hand corner I will have the name of my main artist featuring in my magazine which is Connor Stevens and I will have the page number below his name in a large font so it stands out. I will then have the features in the column on the left. Featuring I will have the page numbers of what is inside the magazine. You will notice there are question marks next to the pictures in the featuring box, these are there because I am not sure whether to have pictures in the features yet, however I will decide when constructing my contents page as I will be able to identify what works better. I will then have the main photo dominating the page being a very large picture taking up a lot of the page.

Contents Page Ideas

Contents Page Ideas- Possible Layouts

I have chosen these two images to see what it would roughly look like using these images on my contents page. I am simply playing around with images and the layout of the cover lines to get an idea of the presentation I wish to achieve on my contents page. In the future I will have to make a decision on which one of my photos to use as a final decision, however for the time being I just put some rough cover lines to imagine where everything would be positioned on the contents page. I would aim to have the word 'Contents' in the top black box. Then either some text in the middle black box or a small image. Then the features of the magazine in the bottom black box. 

Contents Page Ideas- Possible Photos

Contents Page Ideas- Possible Photos

Improved and Final Front Cover

Final Front Cover

Now that I have seen what I need to improve on I went back to my first draft of my front cover on Photoshop and added in the features that were mentioned in my audience feedback. Below is my final draft of my front cover with the improved features from my feedback. I have added in different fonts and sizes, made the date bigger, made headlines clearer and put more cover lines in. Also I have made the image size bigger after looking at the other magazines I have been researching which most have the models from the torso and above.

Audience Feedback on Front Cover

Audience Feedback on Front Cover

For my audience feedback on my front cover I left small sheets of paper by my first draft of my front cover so people could write on the paper what they liked and disliked about it. Below are the pieces of paper and the main targets I am going to focus on putting into improving my front cover. 

Here are the main points I need to focus on when improving my front cover: 

• "More variety of fonts need to be used"
• "Wider variety in sizes of fonts"
• "Could make the date bigger"
• "There is a bit more space on the bottom right, could add more cover lines"
• "Fonts look very simple"
• "The headlines need to be bigger"
• "Make it clearer who is the main person featuring in the magazine"

Finished Front Cover

1ST DRAFT FRONT COVER

This is my first draft of my front cover. I will be getting feedback on what to improve from my target audience and then I will be updating my front cover taking the advice from my feedback and adding improvements.