FOLLOWING AND CHALLENGING CONVENTIONS: INSPIRATION FROM EXISTING

PRODUCTS

Contents Pages

TITLEOne convention of contents pages is the title, which is usually positioned at the top of the contents page and reads ‘contents’ or ‘inside this issue’ or something similar. These examples from NME, MOJO and Kerrang! demonstrate how magazines typically use a font similar to the one in their masthead on the front cover and the company logo on the title page. I followed the conventions of using the same font and colour for the title on my contents page, however I decided to challenge these conventions by having the name of my magazine instead of ‘contents’ or ‘inside this issue’. I did this as I followed inspiration from MOJO magazines contents pages, in which the title reads ‘MOJO’.

ARTICLESContents pages conventionally list articles chronologically in a column, along with page numbers for the readers reference. I followed this convention so that my list of articles look similar to MOJO’s contents pages, evident through the images on the right. By following this convention, this makes the structure of my contents page more clear and easy for the readers to find a particular article inside my magazine. It also means they can get a quick overview of the content that is inside this issue. Magazines often vary fonts or colours in this list of articles to make certain parts stand out, therefore I followed this convention, by choosing red and black to distinguish between the numbers and articles, as well as the cover story section.

SUBHEADINGSAnother convention of contents pages is separating different articles into categories using subheadings. These examples from NME, MOJO and Kerrang! show the variety of subheadings that different magazines use – news, competitions, regular features, review, gigs etc. I have chosen two subheadings on my first contents page and three subheadings on my second contents page, to help the audience navigate around the magazine, these subheadings are: features, cover story, regulars, what goes on and the rock filter. 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.

CONTRIBUTORS‘This weeks contributors…’ is a convention throughout MOJO magazines contents pages, therefore I decided to include this particular section on the second contents page. As you can see on the right, the top image is my contributors and the bottom image is an original section from MOJO’s contents page. This allows the audience understand who composed this issue and what roles they played during the creating of this issue. MOJO chose to place the contributors section at the bottom of the page as it adds nothing to the aesthetic of the page but further informs the reader about the creation of this magazine. I took inspiration from MOJO magazine as I know this is a successful classic rock magazine that distributes globally to a mass audience.

ISSUE DATESThe issue date or issue number is conventionally repeated on the contents page of a magazine, usually in a small font and positioned near the title at the top of the contents page. I followed this convention, drawing inspiration from MOJO magazine as demonstrated on the right. I particularly like the style of this MOJO magazine issue, featuring Florence Welch. With a clear date and issue number, the audience are made aware of which issue they are reading, perhaps persuading them to purchase another issue in the future. I have made my date and issue number clear, similar to MOJO’s issue meaning I am following the conventions set by MOJO. On the other hand, as you can see, I have covered part of the word ‘issue’ by my models head. I have done so, so the model stands out to the potential buyer and reader.

IMAGESWhen researching existing products, I found that all music magazines follow the convention of using images to advertise articles. I chose to use multiple images along the left hand side of my second contents page in order to reinforce specific articles that I thought would attract the audience. Images are also a selling point for a magazine, as they make the content of the magazine attractive for the audience. On my first contents page, I followed the conventions from MOJO’s magazine again, by just using one simple image occupying the full right hand side of the page. I chose to position my model with her hand resting on her hip, to convey attitude. This helps reinforce the genre of my magazine as classic rock. As you can see on my second contents page, I have created a montage of images that I feel will reinforce specific articles that I feel will encourage my audience to read my magazine.