analysis of contents page

In todays lesson, I analysed a music contents page. This was to help me with my research for my own contents page.

Analysis of Front Covers

Codes and conventions of a music magazine front cover on Prezi
In todays lesson I was told to thoroughly analyse a music front cover, I used Prezi to do this.

Evaluation of school magazine

Evaluation of school magazine on Prezi
This is an evaluation of my school magazine, I used Prezi to do this.

Finished contents page

This is my finished contents page. I am very pleased with it as it very similar to my plan. I used all original images that I had photographed and had the two sections on the contents page, under 'regular' and 'featured'. I made sure to follow the codes and conventions of a contents page for this type of magazine, therefore it suited well to the target audience.

Production of contents page

For the production of my contents page, I used QuarkXPress. I liked this program very much to use for my contents page, as it was very easy to use and I could fully engage in to the task and make a contents page that I liked.

Firstly, I included my title, I used a big bold bright title so the reader knows what page they are on. I kept to the colour scheme to make the magazine recognisable. I added 4 pictures to my contents page altogether, but the first one I added covered 2 columns as it stood out more. I also organised my contents page in to 3 columns, this was to make it very neat and tidy and easy to manage.

I then added a sub-heading which said 'regular'. I kept this bigger than other text, and again as part of my colour scheme. I decided to divide my contents page up in to two parts as this makes it look neater. I had a 'regular' section so readers would know what is regularly in the contents page.

I then began to add the context of the contents page, and what articles are on which page. I used a smaller font so the reader knows that this is the main context of the contents page. I organised the pages by 'Pg.04'for example, because I felt that this is the main way I could gain a lot of organisation within the production of the contents page, and make it look realistic.

After this, I added another sub-heading which was 'featured'. Again, I used a bold font that kept to the colour scheme. I used the word 'featured' so the audience knew what it meant, as it was not a regular occurrence in the magazine.

I then continued to write the page numbers and articles in, under the heading 'featured'. I kept the titles of each article very simple, so it didn't give away too much about the article.

I gave my magazine a background colour which was still part of my colour scheme. I like having a background colour in my contents page as this makes it differ to my front cover, and gives it a bit of colour.

This is my finished product. I added the school website and contact phone number, as a lot of magazines do this in their contents page. I also included 'head teachers notes' which in normal magazines would represent the editors notes. I thought that as this magazine is the 'back to school' special, in most magazines, it would include some form of letter from the person in charge e.g. editor or headteacher.

Finished Magazine front cover

 

This is my finished front cover. I am very pleased with it overall, however obviously there are parts that I would improve. If I could of re-done this task, I would have perfected the layout much more, as I feel as though it is slightly scattered, although as this is a school magazine, it suites well with the target audience. I like how I stuck to my colour scheme throughout, yet didn't over-do it. The images I used are very clear.

Production of my school magazine front cover.

I used Adobe Photoshop to complete my front cover, I included images that I had took around school, and I then added text, including the masthead and quotes from interviews. To make it stand out I used a bold strip of colour underneath the bottom bar of text. I also used a blue and purple colour scheme as this is the schools colour scheme.

 This is the blank page of where I first began to make my front cover. I have shown what I did to complete my front cover in step by step images.

 Firstly I included my main images. I included them first so I could base the other parts of my front cover, including headings around my main images, as the images are firstly what draws the target audience to the magazine.

 I then added my masthead. As this is the main part of the text, and the one that people recognise and as it stands out the most, I put it on the top of the front cover so people immediately could see it.

 I then added my barcode and some information around it, including issue number and price.

 After that, I added some subheadings and labels to the images. I made the subheadings relatively interesting and to not give too much away about the said article or interview.

 I then added some more text and a bottom bar of text, which had a block of colour under it to make it stand out. I kept this block of colour suited to my colour scheme.

I then added some more text, including a quote from an interview for the main story in the magazine. I also added a star with a catchy phrase in, which said 'start of term special 2011' I made this stand out to show that this magazine is the start of term special, which could again make people want to buy it more, as it is a 'special edition' magazine.