FOLLOWING AND CHALLENGING CONVENTIONS: INSPIRATION FROM EXISTING PRODUCTS

CONTENTS PAGES

TITLESOne convention of contents pages is the title, which is usually positioned at the top and reads ‘Contents’ or ‘Inside this issue’ or something similar. These examples from Q, NME and Billboard magazines show how magazines typically use a font similar to the one in their masthead and sometimes include the company logo in the page title. I followed this convention by using the same font as I did for my masthead but decided against adding the logo alongside the title. I didn’t think it suited the overall look of the page and so instead left it as just the word ‘Contents’.

ARTICLESContents pages conventionally list articles chronologically in a column, with page number references for each one. I followed this convention so that my list of features looks similar to existing products, as you can see in the examples below from Q, NME, Vibe, Kerrang and Billboard. Following this convention makes the structure of my contents page more clear and makes it easier for readers to find a particular article inside. It also means they can get a quick overview of the content of the issue all on one page. Magazines often vary fonts or colour in this list of articles to make certain parts stand out and I again followed this convention, choosing to use different colours for different sections of the magazine.

SUBHEADINGSAnother convention of contents pages is separating different articles into categories using subheadings. These examples from Top of the Pops, NME and Kerrang show the variety of subheadings that different magazines use – news, competitions, regular features, reviews, gigs etc. I have chosen four subheading for my own product in order to be conventional: regulars, exclusives, reviews and competitions. When looking for inspiration for my contents page I found that I really liked the look that a lot of existing products went for – using a block of colour for the subheadings and then listing articles underneath. I therefore decided to follow this convention in my own work.

SUBSCRIPTIONSSubscription sections are a conventional feature of contents pages that I chose to incorporate in my own work. They advertise to readers and encourage them to pay a monthly or weekly fee for the magazine. Many magazines actually choose to place them on a different page to allow more room for feature listing on the contents page, so I took inspiration from NME who advertise subscriptions on their contents page. I liked the look of having a box that was a different colour to rest of the page in order to make it stand out, so I took that look and adapted it for my own magazine. I also wanted to use the idea of showing previous issues in the subscription section and so I used some other drafts of my front cover to do this.

EDITOR’S LETTERS

Editor’s letters – like subscription sections – are a convention of contents pages but are often placed on a different page within some magazines. I chose to put mine on my contents page like the examples here from Kerrang and Top of the Pops. I followed conventions, keeping the letter relatively short and informal to address my readership. I included a signature from the editor and positioned the letter in a corner again drawing inspiration from existing contents pages.

ISSUE DATESThe issue date or number is conventionally repeated on the contents page of a magazine, usually in a small font and positioned near the title at the top. I followed this convention, drawing inspiration from examples like the ones shown here from NME and Q. I particularly liked the style of Q, where the issue date and number were placed on the right side of a coloured bar across the top of the page, with the title on the left. I consequently decided to use this in my own product.

SOCIAL MEDIAAn area that lists the company’s social media accounts is another convention of contents pages that I adhered to. Some magazines, like Billboard shown here, have a whole separate section for social media. I didn’t want to take up too much of the page with just social media so I again drew inspiration from Q magazine, listing my social media alongside the issue date and number. I think this ensures that it is still visible but doesn’t monopolise a large part of the page, which I like. This section encourages interaction from my audience and expands my readership by reaching them in different media formats.

IMAGESWhen researching existing products I found that all music magazines follow the convention of using images to advertise articles. I chose to use one larger image for my main story to ensure that it is easily recognisable as the main selling point of the product. As these examples from Kerrang and Billboard show, contents pages also often have a minimum of three other smaller images to advertise more feature stories. Again I followed this convention, particularly drawing inspiration from Billboard and having the page references actually over the pictures.