Contents Page Research

Here is an arrangement of the magazines showing the contents pages, from this i can compare them all on the impact they have. The contents pages which i find are the most effective and why are mentioned below:

Top Middle - This one is effective as it uses a very large photograph of a musician and this large image creates a very big impact on the reader, this is a good technique however is very dependent on the quality of image, to pull of this technique the image must be a very striking image making it high risk

Left side Middle - This contents page is effective as it uses colour very well, the large block of colour makes it stand out from the page. It also uses an interesting style on the title which stands out a lot on the page. This technique is very good as it is simply done and works very well.

Centre - This stands out as it disobeys the obvious convention which is of using a white background. it also stands out by using a reasonably large photograph which is very colourful. This technique is very effective as you see a relevant image which represents the themes of the magazine and it also has individuality.

Bottom left - This page is very effective as it uses a lot of smaller images, this is good because they do not take over the page and stop you from reading the contents but they give you a good insight into what the magazine is about.

Problems with the rest - One problem with the other contents pages it that they do not have one thing which catches the readers eye, there must be something on the page which is either big enough or colourful enough to attract the readers eye, otherwise the reader will just skim past the page. This issue can be resolved by using a larger image or larger subheadings or blocks of colour. Another issue is that they have too much on the contents page, when there is so much it confuses the reader and makes it so you are not sure what it is you are to focus on, therefore it is best to have a little less and keep it simple but attractive.-