Contents Page Analysis

I am going to analyse the contents page from Empire magazine, to get a better understanding of the common conventions.

Target Audience – The primary target audience for empire magazine is people that are interested in film, aged from around 15-30 and it’s not gender specific. The majority of the people reading this magazine will fall into the demographic C1 down to E.

The title is bold and stands out, this is appropriate to the target audience, as they will be looking for something that stands out and is attention grabbing. The font used is also effective for the target audience because it is very modern looking; also the colour red is very attention grabbing, which will appeal to the target audience of 15-30 year olds.   The title resembles a masthead that you would see on the front cover of a magazine, this is because the contents page, as well as the front cover, has the job of selling the magazine to the reader.

Colour – The contents page colour scheme is good, and follows the common conventions of most magazines, as it only has 3 main colours in the colour scheme. The use of the colour red is also good because it is a vibrant, bright red that stands out against the contrasting black and whites that make up the rest of the page. This is relevant to the target audience because the ages range that the target audience covers, 15-30 years old, will be more interested in more vibrant colours, rather than dull, unattractive colours. As well as the colours being relevant to the target audience the chosen colour scheme gives a professional feel to the contents page.   

  I am going to analyse the contents page from Vogue magazine. This magazine is directed at women aged 21-40.

The title of of this page is styled differently, but is still a good size, compared to the common convention of 1/8 of the page. It is also appropriate for the magazine as it is seen to been a very stylish title. The font used is effective as it is modern looking and the font is again stylish looking. The title resembles the masthead that you would see on the front cover of the magazine and does the same job of selling the magazine to the reader.

Colour - The colour scheme of the contents page is again effective as it is very sleek and looks stylish, which is very appealing to the target audience. It also follows the common conventions that you'd expect to see because it has no more than 3 main colours in the colour scheme. The use of the shiny, and elegant colours is effective as thats the image the magazine is trying to give off, being a fashion magazine and all.