Contents Research

Here is the contents page taken from an issue of the popular R&B magazine VIBE. I have chosen to review this as it will allow me to gain a widespread view on all the various aspects and components seen in a variety of magazines.


With VIBE having a majority based male readership, having a sparingly dressed woman is seen as a common convention of a magazine with mainly male circulation and readership (take Nuts or Loaded as extreme examples!) The woman is making a V shape with her legs, showing a continuous relevance from the pictures to the publication. Her facial expression also gives out a look of seductivity, once again referring to the mainly male readership. In terms of composition, the picture shows the closest similarity to a long shot as it allows her whole body to be seen. The woman in question is showing off her body in the shot almost with knowledge of her appearance however, to ensure sales are made without conscientious men with wives/girlfriends or just a disposition to see this kind of picture in a magazine crude or dangerous to buy, it is laid out in a stylistic manner, almost looking business like to ensure it is not perceived as being 'smutty'. 


Colour Scheme has obviously been considered and the consistency of black white and grey's is used effectively in bringing a classy look to the publication's contents page, looking crisp, clean and unaltered, this is translated also in the models clothing, matching in with the magazines coherent colour scheme for this issue. The commonly seen layout of music magazines is not used within VIBE which adds interest into the magazine from an outsiders perspective. The various features are clearly seen and labelled and the reader is in no confusion as to whether they are on the correct page. I personally dislike the layout of the Contents text however with an edgy US based magazine, this works well with the house style.

Here is a contents page from an issue of Kerrang. This is more similar to the stereotypical conventional layout surrounding music magazine contents pages. It features many pictures with a 'This Week' List to help readers navigate the various elements within this week's issue. It also involves a note from the chief editor. This is inserted to create a link between the creation of the magazine to the reader, creating a link of communication and ensuring a personal touch is given to the consumer. It could be argued the layout of the magazines contents page allows readers the opportunity to navigate from the main story, to the top stories, to other features. This is done with one large picture dominating the page with smaller pictures surrounding it and then a bar of the remaining stories such as album reviews and band news. A quote is inserted in the top right hand side of the page below the contents box. It is from a member of a well known band and installs a sense of humour into the magazine, providing a witty response, an insult towards another band, conjuring up intrigue within the readers perspective as to whether this is light hearted joking or whether there malice intended. Sub Headings are used to break up the remaining stories, taking on such titles as news, gigs, features. I like the use of the box surrounding the contents text and feel it provides a distinguished Masthead for the page whilst clearly signifying what the page is. The yellow on black colour scheme is a repeated sight within Kerrang magazine as it intends to match with the Masthead on the front cover. The colours are clearly readable and provide contrast with many plain black and white based publications although you would expect nothing less within a rock magazine with such a high reputation. 


As other magazines take fairly the same aspects from the two magazines above this evidence allows me to gain a real opinion on the construction of a contents page and I will hope to take elements from both as well as incorporating new idea's to ensure my magazine remains modern and to provide relevance to my chosen genre.