The two contents pages I have analysed both use different conventions to help the reader navigate the magazine and make the reader interested in the articles that they are presenting. I aim to analyse what they use and how they use similar techniques but also how they differentiate in styles.

 

Sibford School’s magazine has a theme of green that endures throughout the contents page. This is because it is a neutral colour and is inviting to the reader. Meanwhile tfs' magazine uses many colours in their contents. Despite this they are all faded colours and green is still used vastly on the contents. Again this is to invite the reader to the magazine and also suggest to the reader that they are exciting (due to the variety of colours) but also serious (hence the fading of the colours). This is appealing to the target audience, who will be teachers and parents of the children. Despite this, in my contents page I plan to use more vibrant colours as I feel it will be more attractive to the reader and also my target audience are the students of the school which means they will want a more contemporary and exciting magazine.

 

Both contents pages have multiple entry points. This gives some positive and negative aspects to the contents. On the one hand it allows the reader to read at a certain point that interests them and it may cause them to read on. Also it is good for regular readers, perhaps parents, who want to read about certain things. On the other hand, in Sibford's case it may cause a new reader to be confused as there isn't any clear listing of what articles or other such things are where. Tbf's magazine contents can also be confusing as the contents is very small and not necessarily very clear to a new reader. In my contents page I plan to have a very clear and concise contents that only include a contents, an editor’s message and some images to anchor the contents as I want to appeal to new readers so that they feel welcomed to my magazine and do not feel bewildered.

 

Sibford School’s magazine has many images on the contents page that are anchoring the text. While it helps you understand the text, I feel it again makes it feel complicated from a first glance to a reader and this may put off someone from reading it. I feel that Tfs' magazine have done it more effectively as they have only two images that anchor the text clearly and makes the contents feel clear and inviting once again. Because of this I will follow the example of Tfs' magazine in that I will have a few pictures that clearly anchor some of my text.

Tfs' magazine has the conventional grid style layout to their contents page meanwhile Sibford's magazine uses an alternative grid layout to their contents page. I feel that both are effective for different reasons in that the conventional layout is recognisable and most likely familiar to any person who has read a magazine and therefore the familiarity will likely attract them to the magazine. Despite this, Sibford's use of an alternative grid method is effective as it is fresh and may attract a reader as it is unconventional but still well laid out. Personally I will use an alternative grid layout as I feel my audience are more likely to appreciate a less conventional layout as they are younger and enjoy new aspects.

 

The font of both magazines’ text are very formal and shows the professional touch of the schools. Despite this I feel my text may have a more informal font as again my target audience differs with the two contents I am analysing and therefore our target audiences want different things and I feel my target audience want more contemporary and less formal writing.

 

Sibford's logo is very small on their contents and Tfs' logo is not on the contents at all. This is because they do not feel it is necessary and there is no space for it. I feel it is more important that my logo is apparent on my contents so I will make it much more prominent on my contents page contrary to what is on my example contents pages.

 

Overall I feel that both contents have given me many good ideas for my contents page but also it has helped me to create my own ideas as I feel some aspects of them are weak.

 

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How I will apply what I found:

 

 

• I decided to use the conventional layout as although I want a contemporary and innovative feel to my school magazine, I feel that this is the easiest way to lay it out for readers. Also my target demographic for my magazine will have short attention spans therefore it is essential to set out the contents so they can find the articles and such that they want to read before they become disinterested.

• Despite this I used much more text comparatively to the front cover as I felt the front cover is needed to attract the reader so should be image heavy but the contents is needed to be more text heavy as it needs to inform the reader who is most likely already enticed to the magazine on what is inside this particular issue.

• I also used similar colours in my contents page to my front cover. This is to create a pattern of familiarity to the reader that will be welcoming to repeating audiences but also to new audiences. Despite this I used duller, more darker versions of the colours as I feel it is important not to distract the reader away from the information.

• I used 6 small images in the contents to anchor some articles that I had put within each column. Again I did not use more to keep the reader focused on the text but I did not want to create a boring, text filled page with no images or colour to liven up the page.

• I divided the articles up into 3 sections- “What's new?”, “The regulars” and “the important stuff”. I did this firstly because it allows easy access to the contents page and therefore easy navigation throughout the magazine as readers will be able to choose what they want to read from the magazine and then be able to choose a sub section of that (e.g. an article). I used informal titles for these to make the reader feel comfortable with the contents page as my target audience will likely be able to relate with the style of writing.

• In my contents, similarly to the front cover, for the titles I will use “sanserif” for my titles and “comic sans” for my text. (see front cover analysis to see reasoning). Also I feel again that it will create familiarity the magazine and that consistency with font, colours and such is important in all magazines to make the magazine seem more independent from other magazines.