Contents Page - Ideas and Analysis of Others

The contents page of Vibe is spread over 2 separate pages - one page for features, and one page for "Departments," which is essentially the regular features of the magazine. There are several adverts between, before and after each contents page too. Personally, although these pages are professionally designed, I do not like the idea of having things between the contents pages. The magazine has a confusing feel to it because of the mixture of adverts, contents pages and actual magazine story's near the front. I would prefer my contents page to be on one page (maybe 2, but they would be next to each other!)

On each separate page, there is one main picture on the right side of the page, and the listings of the contents are on the left. The writing is small, but much like the front cover it varies is colour, size and format. For example, on the contents page with the features on it, the page number is black, the title is white and bold, and the description is white. Here is an example:

84 STORY OF A SHOOTING STAR
Since 17, De Andre "Soulja Boy" Way has
consistently crafted mindless jingles while
maintaining a touch of naivete. Now a
year short of 21, the tatted web fiend
comes clean for the first time about
his most lethal shots fired.

The other contents page (Listing the regular features) Has a bit more colour to it, almost a colour code for each section, with also a little symbol. The layout of each item listed is the same as the other contents page, except the page number has a colour, and about each section is a small symbol which is the same colour as the number. I think this is good because it keeps the same style, but is more interesting to look at, and it mixes things up a little bit to ensure the readers interest in these contents pages.

The contents Page on Mixmag is very different to the contents pages of Vibe. It has a very "square" style, with 1 square picture in the middle of the page, and one smaller image just above where (some) of the contents is listed. Several straight lines separate different parts of the page, for example a Line at the bottom with information about the free CD underneath it, and a line at the top which has "Mixmag December 2010 Contents" written above it. The style is much the same on the other page, but somewhat reversed - the pictures are this time in the middle and on right side of the page, with the contents listing on the left. Personally, I think that this page looks on a lot better than the first contents page, because your eye is naturally drawn to the left side of the page because we read left t right, but also to the right side of the page because of the pictures, which gives the page a good balance. However, on the first page, I found myself just ignoring the contents listing.

One thing that both magazines have in common is the varied font sizes and colours on the contents listing themselves. Much like vibe, mixmag sticks to a simple colour pallet, only using white and yellow to list its contents, with variations in front size, format and even the actual fonts. I think this is defiantly something I will do in my magazine, since it gives the contents listing or more interesting, but certainly not over-the-top look.

Initial Ideas for my own music magazine

I think my music magazine will be about the Genres of Hip hop, rap, and RnB. After speaking with a friend who is very much into this type of music, (And has a wider knowledge of it than me) we have come up with a few names. The best of which (For the magazine name) so far has been "Dubbed." I like the idea of having one main image of the front that overlays the Mast Head like Vibe magazine, and I think my best current idea would be a cover like this, but with the main person being a sort of silhouette. I thought of this idea because it could tie in with my feature article - the silhouette would add a sense of mystery as to who the person is (There could be a cover story with a clue, for example "The Next Eminem)" which might make the reader curious, and want to buy the magazine to read about them. I would like my feature article to be an interview with the artist who is on the front cover. I am not quite sure how it would be laid out, but I have thought of having the same picture that is on the front cover (or similar), but not silhouetted.

There could potentially be other pictures of famous stars down the bottom to ensure the reader is interested in buying the magazine, and to further clarify the target audience of the magazine. I also think that my magazine will aim at a slightly younger audience than Vibe does, with more recent artists mentioned on the front, but still trying to keep the reasonably professional style that vibe has. I have limited ideas for my contents page at the moment compared with the ideas I have for my cover and feature article. I would like it to be a sort of "irregular style, perhaps unorganized, with a generally limited colour pallet (Depending on the front cover) with small splashes of colour, although at the moment I'm not sure on specific details of how it would all go together.

Original Images

All Images were taken with my phone, for the real magazine, I plan to use a better camera to get better quality pictures!

Existing College Magazine Analysis:

Click The Image To
View Annotations.

Researching the Product

From conducting a Questionnaire around the College, I discovered that nearly 95% of people do not read the college magazine, so it clearly does not attract it's target audience. Also, nearly Three Quarters of people would not be prepared to pay for it, and those that would would only be prepared to pay a small amount, (Maximum £1) so if I where to be creating the whole magazine it may need adverts to fund it.

A lot of people said they wanted the magazine to be colourful, and have lots of pictures and graphics, grab their attention and have more publicity. Because of this, I searched for colourful images which I could edit and use as a template. I also found out what students would like to see in their college magazine, which effected what I planned to have on the front cover. I tried to make the most important things stand out with small bubbles or images behind them.

Since whatever the current college magazine looks like clearly is not working, I decided to directly appeal to my target audience with a lot of colour and quirky images, something completely different from the current college magazine. I kept "conventional" ideas the same such as the Name of the magazine at the top, and one main image in the middle of the magazine. This is so it keeps the basic look so that people do not have to think about what it is - despite it's unique design people still understand it is a magazine without having to look twice. I think this is important if you want people to buy and read your magazine.

College Magazine Pages

Click
to
view
better
quality

Front Cover - Ideas and Analysis of Others

My magazine will be similar to "Vibe" magazine, since it it mainly about the rap/hip-hop genres, and it also has a slight focus on the celebrity's themselves, and you can see from the twitter article on the magazine to the right.
The cover of Vibe magazine usually has the mast head at the top, with one main image of a particular artist that usually overlaps the title. I think that this works well, since everyone will still be able to easily work out what is says, but will also get a good idea of the type of magazine Vibe is judging from the person on the front cover. If you have no idea who the person on the cover is, then it may say who it is (Bottom Right) or it may just not be the magazine for you.
This magazine is probably aiming for a young audience, and this may be why there is a limited amount of writing, and what writing there is is large, and brightly coloured. However, there are only 2 colours for the writing (White and Yellow) and they vary in front sizes. This is to keep make sure the writing is easy on the eye, and appealing to read. Having not to much to read means someone may be more like to read everything that is written on the front page, and obviously these headings will be the main features that drag people in and make them want to buy the magazine. I personally think that having minimal - but attractive and important writing will be good for magazine too, since my magazine and vibe will be aimed at roughly the same audience.
The combination of one main image and small amounts of highly visible writing gives this magazine an interesting, lively, but still overall professional look. Judging from the artists the magazine is about, (but also considering its more professional look) I would say Vibe magazine is aimed at young people who are lower middle class.

I think that mixmag is aimed at roughly the same age group as vibe, (Perhaps a little younger) but still around the same class. Mixmag is a more of a clubbing magazine, which maybe a slightly different culture, but this still is not a cheap hobby, and the adverts inside of both magazines are generally about expensive items. However, Mixmags front cover is quite different to Vibe's. The front cover of Mixmag is a lot more vibrant (which suggests a younger audience) and once again, has minimal wording. The masthead is at the top with writing above it (similar to Vibe) however there is only one main cover story, which is compiled in a short sentence on the right. They make use of varying font colours, but the sizes remain the same. They also make use of 1 main image, (Partly obscured by the CD) although the main image on Mixmag is a computer generated one as appose to a real image - it is a bright and vibrant image which keeps with the colour scheme of this particular colour, a sort of "neon blue." It also has a blue "Star" near the top0 right which includes more information, which again adds to the information on the front of the magazine, but keep it interesting and appealing to read - this is something I made use of when doing my preliminary task. Personally, I think that my magazine will be more like vibe - I like the idea of small bits of writing with different sizes and colours rather than a whole sentence, and I also prefer the idea of a real image.I also prefer the more professional look of vibe compared to the more vibrant look of Mixmag, and when I asked my friends (Aged 16-17) which magazine they preferred the look of, near enough all of them said Vibe.