Q Contents Page Analysis

Q Magazine opt for a more simplistic graphology, using one main image of the star/band used on the front cover. The image does not rely upon his sex appeal but rather his reputation as a musician. Q is a monthly edition therefore the banners make this known to the reader - 'Every Month'.
The banners use coordinating colours so as to represent the clean cut nature of Q magazine, which wants substance over style.

Quotes from band members are used in order to advertise whats to come in the rest of the issue and to generate interest in the rest of the article 'I fart in your face'.
Q magazine is popular for formulating lists of best Beatles songs, '100 greatest albums ever' etc. This is a special promotional method which entice consumers.
The information is presented neatly and is organised with the text of Sans Serif font on the left hand side, and the main image to the right.
There are no promotional offers, as the target audience of Q magazine only buy the magazine for the purpose of music.

Contents Page Analysis

NME posts many images on their contents pages in order to meet their target audience of a more younger/adolescent age. The Masthead is very dominant and is presented on the contents page like on the front cover - as NME is a weekly edition, 'This Week' is in a bold font to announce their regular appearance in the public eye. 'This week' is basically a sell line to highlight that the publication is released weekly, and is very different from week to week. Cross heads are used to split up the text and enable a more important feel to a specific article or heading - 'the moment that'. NME regularly use banners of contrasting colours to provide the reader with the week's top articles, making the text more structured and readable, for example 'News' 'Live!' which appear on the right hand side.

Their contents pages are mainly compact and neat, in a specific order which appeals to regular consumers as it is easy to find the article they wish to read. There is usually one main image which relates to the front cover and main story.

This type of magazine represents a younger audience and follows the conventions of this type of music genre 'Indie/Rock - using bright contrasting colours, images and to promote new bands. The image usually presented is of either an action shot of a performing band (long shot), or a produced shot (medium close-up) etc. For the readers who like free goods and competitions there are usually promotional offers on the bottom of the page, for example subscriptions which provide the consumer with reduced prices. In all, the contents page supports the style of the front cover - following the colours and conventions of a typical Indie magazine.

Deconstruction Of A Double Page Spread

Jamie T is a 23 year old English singer/song writer from South London. This double page spread portrays the singer in a different light, revealing his most personal thoughts and memories about the build up towards his success in the music industry.

The article basically states; what you see is what you get. This 'Cheeky, gap-toothed' young man, who is constantly cursing, drinking and smoking like a chimney has a specific target audience of a adolescent generation, whom dislike authority and are seen as rebellious. Also fitting in with the house style of the magazine in order to introduce new or original Indie's into purchasing the article.

The opening paragraph introduces a young Jamie T - before the fame. As his lyrics are extremely controversial - with constant chanting of drug and alcohol use, the opening paragraph of this article sounds as though he is over dosing from drugs. 'Jamie T curls up on the street corner in the blue pulse of the ambulance lights, breathing uncontrollably, desperately trying to keep control of his bladder. His muscles spasm, the dizziness comes in waves.' As he is 'scruffy' in appearance it is no shock to the reader how this lead sounds - turns out that he suffers from severe anxiety attacks before he performs live. He uses the word 'geezer' a lot which implies he is a typical 'cockney', who is loud and cheeky. The mode of address and tone of this article is as though Jamie T is talking in continuous prose to the reader, making the text seem more personal and intriguing almost like a one-way conversation. 'Jamie T is a 21st century romantic poet' - this is a PUN, as early before this is printed he talks about 'puking' and drinking excessively, which contradicts the word 'romantic' or aims for a more contemporary romantic. 'Whetherspoons' is a British bar, this makes for an extremely specialised audience of people who only live in the UK. This makes Jamie seem almost realistic, usually with celebrities they come from this idealistic world in which nobody sees, this allows the audience to relate to the star.

The graphology of the text shows Jamie T as everyone knows him, the image of the washing line in the backdrop showing themed t-shirts and checkered Indie shirts which are very common with the youth today. His expression is effortless just like his music. His ripped jeans and discoloured trainers make him seem laid back in a contemporary sort of way, but his tartan jacket represents the London scene (Burberry) which symbolises his hidden wealth and success. The drop capitals of the text is in blue - as is his name and the word Britain, this is mainly what the article is about 'Broken Britain' as revealed on the front cover. The iconography of this image illustrates a wealthy talented young Cockney - who hides within his London culture. The colours red, white and blue shown on the main heading, are the colours used for the Union Jack - representing Britain, the layout itself has connotations of a British theme; the clothes, hair style and the attitude of the artist reveal very British. The layout of the article is taken over by the image itself, the banners stand out as the contrasting black on white is eye-catching yet simple, using a Sans Serif font to enable a traditional feel which takes the emphasis of the cursing.

I believe that in order to read and enjoy this article, it requires some official knowledge of the artist. It is extremely specific, talking about his opinions on the likes of 'Pete Doherty and Lily Allen' whom people need to have heard of in order to follow this text.

Deconstruction of Q Magazine

Q Magazine are famous for compiling lists. Here their double page spread is a tribute to the Beatles - '200 things you didn't know about the Beatles'. The choice of band featured in this double page spread targets an audience of older music lovers - mainly those who lived through the reign of the Beatles fame.

As Q Magazine devotes most of its space to interviews with stars - it must maintain professional throughout, with the use of high standard photography and prints. The lead paragraph is prominent as it is set on coordinating banners, in a bold serif font for the purpose of following the magazines house style and persisting its simplicity. The gutters and kerning of the text are all neatly aligned as to fit in with the iconography of Q magazine - due to the target audience being mainly older music lovers. The numbers are neatly kept in the same colour scheme, in a bold font to show the numeric order and allow coherency. Red, white and black are the colours of font used throughout this edition, this creates a systematic style and looks easy on the eyes. The double page spread is set out as a compiled list - numbered with the most interesting facts highlighted, many images are used also - but these are spread out around the text to create cohesion.

The text is no longer than 6 lines per number and is mainly factual with a hint of humour to hold the interest of the audience. 'One girl lunged at Starr, only to be rugby-tackled by Beatles PA'. The text is quite brief, determiners are missing. The tone used is mainly informative - also big uninformed fan.

The pictures are mainly black and white - suggesting an old well loved band, of who must have been extremely popular in order to be recognised in modern magazines. As this is a compiled list it requires no real knowledge of the band, it is informative and lightly humoured depending on the reader.

Double Page Spread Research

A double page spread is an article that fills two facing pages of an open publication. Normally affiliated with the main story on the front cover.

A double page spread could include an interview with the star/band, an article of what icon has been recently up to, their views on a particular subject - maybe a promotion for a new album etc. Also could contain a list of most favourable artists, or headliners at festivals. Double page spreads contain up close and personal images with the stars, and down to earth publishings of events and personal details.

Deconstruction of a School Newsletter

The purpose of deconstructing the Deyes High School
newsletter is for my own personal research. In order to determine an audience for my Preliminary magazine front cover I need to establish the contradictory audience that the School newsletter targets, so I follow a different criteria.

The school newsletter represents the school's ideology, which is a set of ideas that produce a partial and selective view of reality. Mainly talking about successful exam results, new staff, money investments and refurbishments - which, in my opinion do not interest a teenage audience. The School is ameliorating its identity by using vocabulary such as 'major rebuild' in order to convince the parents that the school is extremely successful - and their children are lucky to be in such a fine establishment. Using formal standard English to engage the audience.

The graphology of the text appears extremely professional, with a demographic approach in order to appeal to its target audience of parents/guardians. The Iconography represents the school badge which is something important to the school, as it is on all the uniforms and represents the school as a successful establishment. This graphology is tidy and professional exactly how the school is wanting to be represented. The connotations of colour are taken from the school badge this enables a more specialized approach for the purpose of appealing to a more mature audience.

As this newsletter is designed mainly for parents/guardians of the students for the principle of informing and insuring them that their child is getting a good education, I believe my preliminary task has to be the complete opposite. Something fun, eye-catching, bright, bold and not so much informative but more recreational.

Preliminary Magazine Front Cover

Primarily, after I created a mock-up front cover of a school magazine I then designed it accordingly using Microsoft Publisher. Baring in mind my target audience and the mode of address (how the magazine talks to the audience) I came up with this draft front cover. The Demographics of my magazine is directed at students between the ages 11 and 17, therefore the layout was vitally important. I chose a style in which I believed would appeal to teenagers - using connotations of red and yellow for the purpose of giving a more contemporary appearance, fitting in with the conventions of your typical NME magazine, in order to encourage a specific audience. Sans Serif font (Aerial Narrow) applies a youthful tone to the magazine, easily readable and attractive to look at, this gives my magazine a simplistic approach, enticing a young audience.

The only thing I adjusted, other than my main image was the heading itself. I believed that in order to distinguish my magazine front cover from a school newsletter (which is targeted mainly at parents and guardians) I had to change the main article.

The main focus of the school magazine was the image itself, I opted for complementary colours to allow the maximum amount of effect for the readers. The medium close-up shot enabled me to apply the rule of thirds which made the head of the image the central focus. I purposely utilized the programme PhotoShop for the benefit of altering the image - making it more prominent and the use of the contrasting tool entitled a more professional appearance. I aligned the puffs around the main image in order to prevent ambiguity, also for the purpose of symbolising the importance of the main image and following the conventions of many NME magazines. I used the contrast tool in order to give the 'Oxford' writing more emphasis - as this is the main heading and article, therefore this is vital to the magazine.

'DHM' is the masthead of the front cover, this abbreviation symbolises Deyes High Magazine - I followed the conventions of many popular magazines like Q and NME, aiming to make my magazine sound more modern. This Magazine is aimed at a very specific target audience of Deyes High students only.

The colour scheme i settled for had to reveal contemporary and eye-catching for the purpose of not only catching the readers gaze but maintaining it. Due to my magazine being aimed at a young age, i felt as though they could relate to my idea of a music magazine feel like NME. Using controversial Puffs and bright contrasting colours, also by advertising free merchandise for every reader, hopefully should appeal to a young audience. There are many different articles of different genres for every reader's taste, this gives me a wider audience, as it will attract musicians, sporting athletes, Sixth Formers and Geographers or people just generally interested in gossip.

The bold font appears youthful and easy on the eyes which in itself young people may be fond of, as there is not heaps of dull 'essays' to read through - only the brief colourful puffs. I know from experience magazines targeted at a teenage audience must provide a vibrant modernised front cover in order for the consumer to be interested in purchasing it - as magazines are for leisure.

Preliminary Contents Page Mock Up And Research

For the purpose of creating a Preliminary Mock -Up contents page, I had to first do some research into the appearance of magazine contents pages, in order to get some ideas and to understand the layout and structure that I must pursue throughout my own work.

As NME is predominantly for a younger generation I aim to influence NME magazine throughout my own work as I believe it appeals to a younger generation of whom share the same type of identity - the same as a School, whereby pupils must conform to the uniform as though they are all equal.

As you can see from the following image of NME magazine - it appears conspicuous with its large images of contemporary bands which enables a youthful tone. NME commonly puts an A-Z list of bands on the left hand side of the contents, in order to appeal to a generation of different music tastes. As, generally the main article of a front cover is the most important - I created a mini article on the contents page in order to give the readers a sneak peak of what may lie inside. By making my headings large and bulky the main stories will be much more prominent for the reader allowing the text more clear to the audience of what the magazine will consist of.

For the purpose of the Heading 1, 2 and 3; I aim to put the main front cover articles in a large bold Sans Serif font, in order for the audience to know exactly where to look for the main stories. Purposely used to make searching for the story easier. In the contents boxes; there will be smaller stories of all different school genres like: sport, music, general gossip, subjects etc. This will enable those students whom have different tastes to read their chosen stories.

The largest image will be off the front cover story. Putting more empathises on the importance of it. The caption below will allow a sneak peak of what is inside the double page spread.

Other images and advertisements are used in order to grab the readers attention whom have not been engaged by the stories and other images.

Preliminary Mock Up

After lots of preliminary research for my school magazine front cover, I designed a Mock up of what i wished my front cover to look like.
I believed that in order to follow the conventions of any young magazine the Masthead belonged in the top left corner, beneath any advertisements or other sources of information. It should be large and noticeable - taking up around 1/9 of the magazine front cover, as to show its importance.

The main focus of any modern day magazine is the image, therefore I left a specific amount of space in order to let this be the pull of my magazine - for the purpose of enticing the reader into purchasing it. With the Puffs surrounding it to the left, as I wouldn't want to obstruct the view of the main importance; being the image.

For my magazine to appeal to a specific target audience, I constructed the Deyes High School badge, applying it to the right hand corner. This gives the readers clarity to what the magazine will contain - something Deyes High School related.

The advertisement on the top of the magazine is just a way to entise the reader, as advertising sells. I believe that this technique is successful especially today as the magazine industry is extremely competitive; consequently this gives any magazine that additional edge - the more free merchandise, the more likely someone is to purchase it.

Preliminary research

For the purpose of completing my main task magazine front cover I had to compose an initial practise front cover, contents page and mock up of a school magazine.

It is necessary to do some research prior to starting my school magazine in order to understand what exactly i want from it, and to follow a specific order. I found that in Deyes High School there is no magazines or newspapers - especially for purpose of the students. Generally the news letters are aimed at parents and guardians, therefore in order to complete my preliminary front cover - I wish to aim my magazine at a target audience of 12-17 years.

In order to do so I had to look at magazines which target a young audience. Instead of focusing on

'teen vogue' and other young teenage girl magazines I came up with NME the more modern music magazine, which appeals to both sexes, it is trendy, bright and colourful also has a lot to offer a young reader. The bands are generally young, the Puffs are large and bulky - as are the main headings. I believe that for the purpose of my school magazine front cover; this style will appeal to a young audince.