Contents page block out

To do this block out i firstly chose an existing magazine, similar to my genre and used it as a template. I decided to use thirds in my contents page so everything is easy to find. 

Contents page evaluation

         This contents page is from the famous rock magazine, kerrang and has used thirds: main image, the editors introduction and the contents. Using thirds is effective when doing a contents page because its organized, readers can find things easily and clearly. It also gives the magazine an appealing look.

         On the top of the page there is a bright blue banner, on the banner is the masthead of the magazine in white and ‘contents’ in bright yellow. The colours have been chosen carefully as white text will stand out among any colour and the yellow stands out among the blue as the two together are complementary colours. Both pieces of text are bold capitals which is also something that makes this piece of text stand out for the reader. The banner also includes the cover date and the issue number.

         The content is really well laid out, using black banners with bold, capital, bright yellow text which is the same font as the masthead. This text will stand out among the black banner because its such a bright colour. Which is effective as the reader can be guided around the contents page easily if they're trying to find something specific. They have also put the page number in red so its clear and what the page is about in bold, black capital text against a palin white backdrop. The contents page also includes two small images of the pages featured in the magazine on the blank areas of the main image, they have also added the bold page numbers which can be easily seen next to the image so readers can just look to the left, find the number next to the picture and find out what the picture is about. 

          The main image  is of a teenage girl, possibly a famous artist in the 'pop punk' industry. Holding her hands up towards the camera lens, making it look like she's reaching out towards the camera. The main image includes a white backdrop to the main focus (the girl) is easy to see. Like the small images around the main image, this also has a bold page number which can be easily seen next to the image  so readers can look over to the contents and see what the image is about. 

On the bottom right corner the contents page has used a puff, telling readers they can get a free book. They have made the puff stand out by putting a bright yellow banner over a black rectangle and have also included a picture of the book. This is effective for the magazine as readers feel like they're getting something back for buying the magazine, some people may also just buy the magazine because they want the free gift guaranteed inside, creating more money for the magazine. 

         

         

Front cover block out

Typography Moodboard

In this piece of work I created a typography moodboard on photoshop. The purpose of doing this task was to collect a range of mastheads with different typography to give me an idea of what type of text i wanted to use for my music magazine. While I was gathering images for my moodboard I found that mastheads that use the colour red stand out the most, which we can see on the moodboard as are most eye catching. This is effective as it makes readers pick the magazine up. Also the magazine genre I am doing is rock and I found that a lot of rock magazines use the colour red on their masthead, because of this I am considering using red for my masthead. I also found the mastheads that stood out the most were the ones that used  unique, bold and upper case typography which I have also decided to do as I want my masthead to stand out. I also think the mastheads that use this typography are the ones that look the most interesting.

Magazine Analysis

Below i have analysed three real selling magazines focusing on the masthead, images, colours used, typography and cover lines.