RESEARCH - CODES AND CONVENTIONS OF A

CONTENTS PAGE

Masthead, bold, house style consistent

Magazine logo placed in same area as front cover

Main image, full shot, takes up most of the page, featured artist, main focus of vision

Larger page number, pulls importance to article

Thumbnail to secondary article

Menu, red underlining makes texts stand out, eye catching, cognitive needs (uses and grats)

Issue number, bold, keeps audience up to date

In style house colours consistent

Lots of images, eye catching, catches possible reader’s interests

Month issued, same place throughout magazine, keeps consistency

Page number, same place throughout magazine, keeps consistency

CODES AND CONVENTIONS FOR Q MAGAZINE

• The contents page mainly consists of images, the main largest image being of the feature artist (Cheryl) which takes up almost a whole page making it the main focus of the contents, this attracts the reader to the main cover line story as it is the one that stands out the most and is something I would consider using in my own magazine’s contents page.

• The style layout of Q is very boxy which gives it an organised, clean look which is pleasing to look at which is a key feature I would want for my own magazine’s contents page.

• Compared to the contents pages of NME that I am about to look at the contents page of Q is over a double page spread which means more content can be put on the page, I think this works well if you want to put a lot of imagery in the contents page like Q which is something I am considering incorporating with my own magazine’s contents page

Headline, informative title

Lots of images,each image a pull on featured articles

Pull quote from article, pulls in the reader to specific articles, affective needs (uses and grats)

Bold page numbers, make specific articles stand out

Variety of fonts

Texts and images boxed off from each other, organised and tidy

Menu, simplistic, plus implies more, cognitive needs (uses and grats)

Hermeneutic code, draws in reader

CODES AND CONVENTIONS FOR NME

• There is a lot of imagery which gives lots of colour and life to the page, this is something I would like for my own magazine contents cover.

• The layout of the magazine is very organised, the white background makes the images and font stand out, I really like the layout of the nme contents page and want to have a contents page layout similar to this.

Colour scheme is bright and varies in colours that contrast

Issue no.Displayed in unique way

Masthead, bold font, colour stands out on white background

Block line of colour separates different menus

Follows a conventional grid, well-structured

Three separate text columns represent different features of issue

Cover story photo larger (not as much), draws audience's attention and page no badge directs them to cover story

Fashion section, draws in female audience

Obvious promo of magazine, attracts audience to buy magazine for freebies, social integrative needs (uses and grats)

Layout is simplistic, organised

CODES AND CONVENTIONS FOR CLASH MAGAZINE

• The double page spread of Clash is set out in a conventional grid where the two pages are divided into two sections of text and images. This is something I want to incorporate within my own magazine as this style looks well-structured and tidy.

• The cover story image is larger than the rest although not by much in comparison, however there is a badge in red which contrasts against the image labels the page number of the cover story showing it’s importance which pulls the audience to the specific article.

• The house style colour palette is black and white, which looks simple and clear. Other bright blue and pink colours add energy and style to the pages and suggest that this issue is based on more on pop music. I think for my magazine I would choose a house style colour palette where another colour is also used consistently throughout the magazine.

CODES AND CONVENTIONS OF ALL 3 MAGAZINES

• All 3 magazines have a bold masthead displaying the page as the contents, I plan to have a masthead for my contents page that is in a bold font.

• There is multiple images on each contents page to make the contents more visually appealing, I plan to have a minimum of 3 images on my contents page that relate to the content.

• Both Q and Clash use columns to layout the contents text, I plan to have my contents text in a column layout as it keeps all content in one area and the layout is simplistic and easy to read.