Analysis of Q contents page

The contents page is on a double page spread and spaced out neatly surrounded by images. As the front cover is related to Cheryl Cole, the contents page is also dedicated to her as well; this is due to the release of her new album and a promotional technique. The images that are used are music artists showing that this is a music magazine and that there main focus is on music. There is a title for the page “Q Contents”; this shows the signature and the unique style that Q magazine has. Also on the other page, the title block shows what number issue that the magazine is. The colours that they had use for the title are black and red which also illustrates the signature of the magazine. Changing of fonts and style for each page will make the magazine look unorganised and cheap. From just looking at the contents page, the only colours that they use are black and red and the same style of font is used which follows the conventions of the front colour.
The image has a number of images are used on the page. Pictures have been blown up to initiate that the image of the person is important and that the article must be read. The images that are used interpret that the audience are a female target audience as there are images of main artists and the layout of each image has a brief of the article which shows us gossip and women tend to enjoy gossip. There could be a use of a male audience as well as there are music reviews and men are more likely to read them. On the second page on the top right hand corner is a small image of the front cover. This allows the audience to remember what the magazine’s main image is and can be easier for the audience to interpret from this. From looking at the contents page, a house style has been developed as the information has been split according to the information that is represented with the image. This makes the magazine look creative and neat. The logo is shown in the title block to show that the signature stays put throughout the magazine. It is bold and big for the audience to see and as said before this keeps the magazine’s signature stay within the magazine.

Analysis of NME contents page

Looking at the NME contents page, the layout of the contents page illustrates a newspaper article. This is shown by the cut out of newspaper typo which is placed just below the picture. The picture of the band “Blur” controls the contents page as this is the first time since they have been pictured together and have reunited. The front cover of the NME promoted the band “My Chemical Romance” and as the contents referred to a different band; this shows that NME is based on all music gossip rather than having articles. As the band that is showed they are male members, this is mainly targeted to a young male audience. At the corner of the bottom right page, there is a small snapshot of the January 2010 issue of NME which is a promotional offer at a discounted price. On the left is a long strip of articles that will appear in the magazine. The colour scheme of the contents page is similarly the same to the cover page; black, white and red. From looking at the page, a house style has been developed. This is because information has been divided into sections making it neat and presentable for the audience. The 3 sections are the page numbers and titles, the central image and text explaining the image and the subscription shown on the bottom of the page. The logo is placed on the top right hand corner and is not outstanding for the audience to be appealed to as it is small. Even though it is small, having the logo on the page still shows its signature.

Questionnaire Results

As I know that R&B magazines are a major competition in the music market and is hard to gain the reader’s attention, I had picked an unfamiliar genre which is Korean pop to market the magazine as a unique magazine. Even though I had asked the audience of what type of music they would listen to, majority had said hip hop and R&B. Therefore I must also include these two genres to keep the audience appealed. The audience was then asked how much they would pay for a monthly magazine, £2.00. This is an average cost and therefore tells me that the cost of production is average. I asked the audience how often they would buy a magazine and that was fortnightly; this straight away tells me that my magazine should be released every two weeks. I also asked what attracted them to buy the magazine and the majority said the cover and the gossip. The name did not appeal to them as much as the other two and this immediately tells me that my name of the magazine must be catchy and appealing. Looking at the results, the audience wanted a variety of things in the magazine such as fashion, gossip, reviews and competitions. This tells me that the audience will be targeted to young female teenagers as fashion and gossip occurred the most numerous of times. Also, as I had asked the question of what they prefer as freebies the majority said mini gifts. Mini gifts would have a major cost to the magazine than the production and as the audience preferred the magazine to be released monthly the magazine should be priced at £2.00. The final question of the questionnaire asked whether they wanted the magazine to feature upcoming new artists, a large percentage said yes so therefore I must include that in my magazine.

Overall the questionnaire has told me that the audience would like a monthly magazine priced at £2.00. That it should contain not just Korean Pop but hip hop and R&B to keep the audience appealed and that they preferred mini gifts as freebies.

Questionnaire

I am conducting a questionnaire to find out the audience’s opinions and requirements are in a magazine. Please circle the answer to each of the following questions.

1. How often do you buy a magazine?

Weekly
Fortnightly
Monthly
Yearly
Never

2. When buying a magazine with freebies, are you more likely to buy it?

Yes
No

3. What encourages you to buy a magazine?

The Cover
The gossip
The Name
Free Goods

4. What type of music do you listen to?

Rock
Classical
Pop
Hip Hop
R&B
Korean Pop

Other please specify ____________________________

5. How much are you willing to pay for magazine if it was released monthly?

Up to £1.00
Up to £2.00
Up to £3.00
More +

6. What do you expect in a magazine?

Gossip
Fashion
Competitions
Music Reviews

Other __________________________________________________

7. Would you like the magazine to feature upcoming new artists?

Yes
No


8. What type of free merchandise do you prefer?

Posters
Book
Mini Gifts
CD’s
Stickers

9. What type of magazine would you prefer?

Weekly
Fortnightly
Monthly
Bi-Monthly

Preliminary Task: Contents Page

Preliminary Task: Front Cover

Preliminary Task