Half Term what I did

This week I have been evaluating and looking at magazine front covers, contents page and double page spread. I have looked at five double page spreads, front covers and contents pages. Through looking at these this has helped me to see what I like and what I don’t like about magazines. This has really helped me to use what I want to do with my magazine. 

NME Contents Page

This is the fifth and last contents page Research, this contents page is from a NME music magazine. I have done five front cover research, five double page spreads and now five contents page researches.

At the top of this contents page there is a title that says “Inside this week” the date is that the magazine was released is then under this title. I like the way that the title has been shaped so that it fits in in-between the pictures. I will not be using this type of title for my contents page I will be having a bar that runs along the top of the page, as I like the way that this is done.

The colour scheme that is used for this contents page is very plain as there are only really to colours of white and black. I don’t like this as I feel that it is boring and also very plain as well. I will be having three colours in my colour scheme.

 There are main different types of font that are used on this page for each of the different boxes under the images. I do not like this as I feel that it looks very inconsistent. I will not be having lots of different types of fonts on mine I will just have either sans-serif font or serif font not both of them with different fonts.

This contents page is a bit different from some other contents pages that I have looked at. The layout of this contents page is very square like there are three pictures down the left side of the page with page numbers that they are on and a small description. There is the one bigger image with the page number with the description of the page. There is then another two images to the right in a column again with the page number and also the description. Under these to images there is a box white is trying to get you to try and subscribe to their music magazine. There is then another image with the page number and description to the left of the subscription advert. There is also a very thin column which is titles plus. This has numbers of pages and then the name of the pages. There is no real list of what is on each page which I do not like as there are just mainly seven boxes which have the page and other things in like the photo and the page description. And then there is the small list of some of the other pages. I will not be doing this on my music magazine contents page as i do not like the way that this contents page has been done, I like it more when there are certain headings and then the pages are under them in order within each section. 

Spin Contents Page Research

This is my fourth contents page research, this contents page is from spin music magazine. I will be doing one for contents page research after this one then I will have finished all of my contents page researches as well as all of my research on cover pages, contents page and double page spreads.

There is not a really in your face colour scheme for this contents page there is just the two colours of black and dark blue. The text is in black and the numbers and other little things are in dark blue. I will be not having this little amount of colours as I will be having three colours in my colour scheme. I will also not be having so main dark colours as I feel that these colours are very dark.

This is a very different type of contents page as the picture that has been used is the size of the whole page. This means that it leaves a lot less space on the page for the actual contents. So as you can see the content list as been fitted in where it can be, so it is under Duffy’s raised arm as the is a small amount of space here. I like the way that this page has a bigger image on it but I will not be doing this on my own music magazine as I feel that it leaves to little space for all on the things on this contents page.  There are only the feature show in the list of the pages on this content page, I feel that this is because of the small amount of space that there is on the page. I will not just be having he features on my contents page I will be having other pages as well as i feel that there is only a small amount of pages on this contents page.

There is a shadow that comes off from Duffy as there is light shining on her. This has meant that the shadow has left even less space for having things on the page as the text has be to spaced around the shadow as well as Duffy. When looking at the logo for the magazine that is in the top left hand corner it can be seen that her hand covers up some of the logo and that the date and year of the magazine as gone into the shadow which makes it harder for the date of this issue to be read.

There is a quote in the top right hand side of this contents page. I like the way that there is a quote from the singer that is on the contents page. I may do this with my contents page as I like this idea but I may not I do not know yet.

NME Contents Page Research

This is my third contents page research that I am looking at, this is a contents page from NME music magazine. I have as ready looked at to Q contents pages; I will be looking at two more other contents pages after this one.

The colour scheme to this is of red, white and black this is the same to the colour scheme that is used on the Q contents pages.

There is a bar that runs along with has the words NME this week in it this is in bold block capitals. Under the word week is the release date month and year of this issue of the magazine. I will be having a bar on the top of the page, with important information about the magazine in. But I will be having more information that just the date, month and year.

The way that this page is laid out is through there being one picture on the page in the middle, with a small interview with the band. There is a drop capital used at the start of the interview. There is the word “The moment that” in red and the words “Kasabian got romantic in a church” is in a bold font.

There is then a band index down the left hand side of the page which has the words band index in bold black font. There is then the bands names in red font with the page numbers that the bands are on in black.

There is also another column that is on the right hand side of the page. This has the names of the pages, the numbers and a small description about the page. These pages are under different headings. The pages are in order under each of the headings but not overall as they are under the headings. I will be doing this with my contents where the pages are in sections and the in number order under the headings.

There is a subscription advert for subscribing to NME magazine in the bottom left hand corner; this has the colour scheme of black, white and yellow. This has all of the information in about how to subscribe how to call and the website address. I will not be having a subscription advert as I will be having all of the important contact information in the bar that runs along the top of the page.

There is a large red arrow at the bottom of the page this has the words in “The UK’s No 1 gig guide starts p58” this helps to show you that there is something on p58 that may be linked. There is also three smaller black arrow as well that are for things that may be linked. I will not be putting arrows on to my contents page.

Q Oasis Special Contents Page Research

This is my second contents page research, this one is from Q magazine as well like the last contents page that I looked at. 

The colour scheme of this magazine is always the same with the red, black and white. This is a colour scheme that is recognised with Q magazine.

There is a bar that runs along the top of the page, this has lots of important information on the left there is the Q logo and then the word contents. On the right there is the magazine issue number, the month and year of the magazine. There is also the Q magazine website and also there MySpace page.  This is really all of the important information in one place on the contents page. This makes it easy to find the information that may be wanted. I will be doing this on my magazine so that all of the information is in one place where it can be easily seen.

The way that this contents page is laid out is through there being the one really big picture and then there being a list of the page in a column on the left hand side of the page. There is also a box that is at the bottom of the page which has the pages in for the pages and also a smaller picture. The column that is down the left side of the page has three headings the first one is features then there is oasis special and then every month. Under each of the headings there are the page number listed in order with the names of the pages next to them. The pages are in order within each of the sections but they are not in order overall. There is a box that is on top of the picture which has the page number and what the page is called and also a bit of description.  I like the way that the pages are in order within each of the sections and also the way that they are in sections. As this makes it easier to find something that you are looking for. The box under the picture has the page numbers and pages in for reviews. There is the Q logo with the word review next to it; there is then a picture which has the same type of box like the other one, which has the page number in and the name of the page. There is also the other pages listed in this review box. I like the way that this section has the picture in as well as the pages.

There is a really small number that is in the right hand corner of the page, to show what page in the magazine this page is. There is also an arrow to show you to turn the page. I don’t like the little arrow as I feel that this is no need for it as people know that they turn the page. So I will not be putting something like this on my contents page of my magazine.

The font that is used on this contents page is sans-serif font; I feel that this is the best type of font that could have been chosen for this contents page. I will be using sans-serif font on my contents page as I feel that this is the best type of font that could be used on the contents page. I like the way that the numbers for the pages are in a different colour to the rest of the font for the page name and the description. I will be having my page numbers in a different colour to my other font as I feel that this looks better and also helps to make the number stand out more. So I will be doing this with numbers.

Q Contents Page Research

This is the first contents page research that I am going this is a contents page from Q music magazine. I will be doing five of these, I have all ready done five covers and five double page spreads.

The first thing that I see when look at this contents page is the way that there are the squares with the photo in of the people that are on that page, there is also the page numbers. The photos and the page numbers are in squares. Most of the page is taken up with three of these squares. There is then the column down the left hand side with the rest of the pages in. I feel that this looks good but these pages also have descriptions in the column which is important otherwise there is no idea how they are if the reader does not need them. But something that I do not like is that there is then only five pages listed on the contents page. Which I feel is not enough, so on my contents page there is going to be a lot more than just five as I feel that this is a to small amount of pages to give information about.

There is the column that is down the left side of the page which has other pages in but it does not have all of the pages in this list there are only the pages that they feel that will be the most popular. I feel that this is not very good as then you have no idea of what is on the other pages. The column just shows features that are in this issue of the magazine.

Within the features column there is the top page that has a picture with it but the others do not have photos so this shows that this is the top one. The text is also different with this one as there is black bigger bold font for the name of the page and then the description of the page is in red and in a bigger font. There is also more of a description about this page. Something that I like that has been gone for this pages photo is that there is a mouse next to the name of the page and the photo, to show that this page is about “140 songs to download now!”. I like the way that they have used another thing to link to this page I may do this with one of my pages in my contents page.

The colour scheme that is being used on this contents page is the normal colours that Q use which are red, white and black as these are the colours that are used in every issue of their magazine. I think that it would be good to have a colour scheme that is really well know and runs through the whole of the magazine like with this magazine.

There is a bar at the top of the page that has the music magazine’s logo with the word contents next to it and then there is Q’s slogan under this which is “Discover Great Music”. Under this there is a circle which is red like the magazine main colour which they always use in there magazine with the issue number of this magazine inside of it.

Something that is small and normally forgotten about is the page number the issue month and year and the logo that are in the corner of all of the pages in magazines.  These are important when reading a magazine. I will be having all of these things on the bottoms of all of my pages. There is also something else at the bottom of this page but this is on the left side, which is the website address that you can subscribe to the magazine at. This is something that is one a lot of magazine contents pages where they try to make people subscribe to their magazine. I will be putting a website address on my contents page.

When looking closely at the background of this contents page it is not just white, it has very faded out photo from things that are in the magazine like in the top left corner there is the cover of the magazine with Lana on faded out there are also other photos as well covering the whole of the page. I do not really like this i think that it look a bit weird as you can just see the photos and also they can be seen through the main picture on this page.

Q Ed Sheeran Double Page Research

This is my last double page research, this is my fifth research on double pages. I will be doing five contents page researches after this.

  The colour scheme that has been used for this double page spread is white, blue and red. These are the colours that are on the UK flag. This helps to show that this artist is a British artist. The colours have been used in the picture as well. With the telephone box being red and also this telephone box is something that represents the UK. The colours of blue, white and red are on Ed Sheeran’s clothing so this helps to link the colour scheme into the picture. This is something that I will be going to try and do with my photo and my colour scheme, so I will be trying to use my colour scheme in my photo.

I think that the costume that Ed Sheeran is wearing in this photo is cleverly chosen as it has an S on for superman but it also links to his last name of Sheeran. This also links to the title of the article which is “up up and away!” This sound like it links to superman as he is a super hero so he goes up up and away. I think that this would be a good thing to go by have links between the photo and the title through the costume or location.

Something that this double page spread has that other double pages may not have on them is the shape that is with the word winner in this is an outline of a shape this shape does not have colour within it. This means that the background is shown through the shape. If I was to put a shape on my double page spread then I will have a colour on the inside of it as I feel that this looks nice on this, but may not look as good on other 

photos.

The background of this double page spread is a picture, there is the main part of the right hand page and then the text is the main part on the left hand page. The white box that is on the left hand page is faded so that you can see the picture through the white. There is also the blue shape that has the title in which is white that is faded as well. There is then the text that is below in three columns I will be having three columns for my article. There is a drop capital that is used at the start of the article. There is then also numbers at the start of two of the parts of the articles. There is some red text that is at the start next to the numbers. I like the way that the different colours from the colour scheme have all been used really well, and also the way that the numbers have different colours of the colour scheme. This shows the colour scheme being shown well I will be trying to use my colour scheme like this by using all of the colours.

The type of font that has been used for the title here is the serif-font and the type of font that is used for the font in the article is sans-serif font. I think that this looks very good. The font that is used for the title I would not have used as I think that the font looks to thin and would have been better in bold. I will be making my title bold so that it is eye catching.