Music Magazine Analysis: Contents Page #1

Contents Page Analysis #1

This contents page, taken from XXL, is clearly image dominating. The designer has used a mid-shot of a well known artist of the specified genre of the magazine, filling the full page. By doing this, the magazine reaches out to its target audience of young people by introducing a well recognized artist in the beginning of the magazine. His relaxed yet serious appearance emphasises his composed yet authoritative place in the music industry, which demonstrates that this magazine has knowledge on significant and major musicians at this moment in time.  
I will make sure to take into account the positioning of my model when creating my magazine, and consider what impression different poses will portray. Although I don’t think I will use a full page image my magazine, as it limits the room available for text.

The text involved on this page is positioned in a way which further accentuates 50 Cent’s dominance. Due to the way it is placed carefully around the image, overlapping it as little as possible. The title of this page exaggerates this as it is situated behind the artist, which designates the majority of the readers focus on 50 Cent, displaying his authority on the page. 
Although my image will not be as page-filling as this one, I will keep the idea of equality between the image and the text on the page, making sure that no single element will overshadow another.

The only text we see that has been allowed to overlap the image is a content which regards 50 Cent. This contents text is seen to be particularly larger than the others situated on the page; it creates a hierarchy of importance between the contents, with 50 Cent’s being the most significant. 
When creating my magazine I will make sure to emphasise the most important top story to demonstrate its significance within the magazine.

XXL’s designer has chosen to use white for the text; this is a suitable colour to use as it allows information to be clear and easily read due to the way it contrasts with the dark background. Accents of yellow have also been utilized to highlight important sections of text, such as the artists name and page numbers. The way this bright colour has been used sparingly keeps a balance between text and image, as it doesn’t overpower any other elements on the page. The titles of the contents have been kept white but have been made bold, to ensure they can be read without difficulty without overshadowing other elements. I will definitely utilize a contrasting colour for the text on my contents page as it is essential that all the information I choose to include is clearly visible. I will also choose a specific colour to use as an accent which I will use across all three sections I will be creating; this will add a subtle hint of colour and will also create consistency across all three pages.

In the bottom right corner of the magazine there is an inset image of 50 Cent with the credits of the photographer beside it, this allows the reader to have an insight into a section of the production of the magazine and appreciate the works of the photographer.